Welcome to the 2023-2024 School Year

Welcome to the Norman A. Bleshman Regional Day School.  Bleshman educates students, three through twenty-one years of age, with multiple disabilities. Our comprehensive school offers an academic / functional / career-based curriculum with an intensive therapy program that includes Occupational, Speech, and Physical Therapies as prescribed by the students’ Individualized Education Plan (IEP). A key component of our program includes offering an integrated approach in instruction and therapies.

It is the goal of the Bleshman Regional Day School to help our students reach their greatest potential in their communities.  To reach that goal, we work collaboratively with the students' team including, but not limited to, the student, parents/guardians, teacher, school case manager, nurse, speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, behaviorist, local district case manager, individual nurse or assistant and principal.  We also utilize specialists in the areas of augmentative communication, assistive technology, and adaptive equipment in order to meet the unique learning needs of our students.  Academic instruction is aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards; lessons and activities are differentiated and individualized to meet the diverse learning styles and strengths of the students.

Bleshman Regional Day School offers a specialized preschool program that provides a strong foundation in language, literacy, science and mathematics via a multi-sensory approach.  By utilizing an integrated therapy model, the concepts are reinforced throughout student therapy sessions. 

We continue to focus on our in-house technology programs and how technology can increase student independence in various areas.  Our Makerspace Room is tailored to our students’ abilities; it includes robotics and coding equipment, a 3D printer, and interactive technology.  The Bleshman Sensory Room (check out the video on this page) allows for heightened and calming sensory experiences.  We are currently putting the finishing touches on the farm bot, a robotic hardware system that assists with gardening tasks such as planting, watering, and weeding.  Our latest space is our state of the art “smart” apartment.  The apartment includes a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, living room, bedroom, and entry area.  This functional space replicates the home environment with accessible features such as cabinets with pull down shelves, a wheelchair accessible induction stovetop, water faucets controlled by touch, a microwave drawer that opens/closes through touch (and is accessible for all heights), lights that can be turned on through a touch panel and window shades that are controlled through an iPad.

Our backyard offers our students a fully accessible playground that includes a covered swing set, picnic tables and a paved pathway.  Students attend adaptive physical education class, music class, and art class on a weekly basis. The in-house Career Awareness Center and our school store as well as field trips, provides opportunities that are closely aligned to real life community experiences.  The Child Study Team at Bleshman Regional Day School works closely with families in navigating the processes involved in planning for the transition from the education setting to adult life.  Bleshman has three nurses on staff to address the medical needs of our students during school hours.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Bleshman Regional Day School at 201-343-6000 ext. 6440.

Warmest Regards,

Gail Coe, Principal

I am pleased to share with you a video of our new, state of the art Sensory Room at Bleshman Regional Day School.  The Sensory Room is a unique, therapeutic space designed to engage our students in stimulating or calming activities to facilitate self-regulation.

Our Sensory Room addresses the following sensory areas: auditory, tactile, visual, proprioception and vestibular.  The variety of sensory equipment within this space offers a range of opportunities for our students to engage in fine motor, gross motor and interactive activities based on personalized sensory needs.

Through the use of technology, students are able to access their environment with increased independence.  With a touch of a button on an iPad, students can activate choice equipment as well as to control the lighting in the room.  

Each piece of equipment was chosen with a specific sensory function in mind. The fiberoptic ropes and lighted marble board enhance therapy sessions through visual and tactile stimuli while the somatron transmits computer-generated musical frequencies into vibrations to provide vibro-acoustic therapy and auditory input.  Our Funtronic system engages students in an interactive visual, auditory and kinesthetic experience and our projection system allows the room to be transformed into a whole new environment. 

If you should have any questions about the Sensory Room, or other programs offered at Bleshman, please do not hesitate to contact me.  

Warmest Regards,

Gail Coe