GREAT FALLS - Peace Place back-to-school bootcamp continues through this week and aims to prepare children with special needs for the upcoming school year.
Founded in 2011, Peace Place is an annexation of the Presbyterian church, but just recently became its own separate non-profit organization.
The focus of the bootcamp is improving executive function, explained director of operations Louisa Libertelli-Dunn.
“Executive function skills are skills the skills that we all have that help us keep track of time, scheduling, and self-regulation of human emotions,” continues Libertelli-Dunn.
The camp has seen promising results for those that have come through it. Statistics say that it takes about October for children to get back into the swing of their curriculums.
Students in the past from Peace Place have "gotten back into the swing of things in just a couple of weeks,” says Libertelli-Dunn.
For director of administration K.C. Beall, the mission of Peace Place took meaning long before she ever accepted the job.
“I got involved with Peace Place initially, because I have a son with special needs, my oldest son has down syndrome. He benefitted from the free respite provided here at Peace Place,” says Beall.
When the position became open, Beall jumped at the opportunity, saying, “It was my chance to give back to Peace Place.”
The camp is currently booked through the start of the school year, but staff encourages families with children who require special needs to sign up for next year.
There are also morning programs for children aged 0-5 and afternoon programs for all ages which run through the year.
Click here to visit the Peace Place website.
