In this podcast, Linda Cox describes the importance of finding the right school for her twelve-year-old son Brett, and how she discovered that Crotched Mountain's approach of viewing a child as a whole person and gentle learning is more important than "teaching."

For people with disabilities or older folks with trouble getting around, getting away from civilization and fully enjoying nature can be a challenge. Crotched Mountain Foundatin in Greenfiled, NH recently opened the largest high mountain accessible trail system in the U.S. Crotched's trails were built to exacting U.S. Forest Service specifications. In this podcast we talk with nationally regarded Forest Service accessible trails expert Janet Zeller who advised on Crotched Mountain Foundation's groundbreaking trail project.

Carol Stoner's son John was a student at Crotched Mountain School from 1993 to 2008. In this podcast we talk with her about the process of transitioning a child from the school environment to a residential setting. Her advice? Take as much time and care with this decision as you would helping a child choose the right college.

David Hajjar, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech language pathologist and coordinator of Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Hospital's cognitive rehabilitation program. He has worked in educational and medical settings providing assessment and treatment services to individuals with a wide range of communication disorders. He has intensive clinical experience in all care settings including: hospitals, classrooms, communities and homes.

David Hajjar, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech language pathologist and coordinator of Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Hospital's cognitive rehabilitation program. He's a specialist in the area of brain injury rehabilitation and intervention for individuals with autism, who require augmentative and alternative methods for communication. He has intensive clinical experience in all care settings including: hospitals, classrooms, communities and homes and is a frequent speaker at brain injury conferences.

Our guest this month, Keith Conley, is a teacher at Crotched Mountain School. He has a Masters degree in education and has taught students with a wide range of disabilities for more 15 years. For the past four years he has taught at Crotched Mountain School, focusing on students with autism through the schools learning collaborative, a holistic approach to learning designed specifically for students with autism.

Dr. Cooley is a developmental pediatrician and also serves as a professor of pediatrics at the Dartmouth Medical School. After many years of working with families with disabilities, Dr. Cooley has come to follow a model known as resiliency. He outlines how it shapes the way one views and works with families in this podcast.

Crotched Mountain Director of Assistive Technology David Kontak has adapted a wide variety of musical instruments for use in therapy by people with sensory, motor or cognitive challenges. In this podcast we discuss how this is done and why it can can make rehabilitation more rewarding and fulfilling.

David Kontak is director of assistive technology at Crotched Mountain. In this podcast we discuss the adaptation and use of off-the shelf video games (like Nintendo's Wii) as skill building and motivational rehabilitation tools.

Dr. Rocco Chiappini is medical director of Crotched Mountain and heads Crotched Mountain's Brain Injury Clinic. He specializes in treating people who have sustained head injuries. In this podcast he discusses sports-related head injuries and what coaches, athletes and parents need to know about them.

Dr. Cooley is Medical Director at Crotched Mountain, a charitable organization serving individuals with disabilities and their families since 1953. Dr. Cooley is a developmental pediatrician and also serves as an associate professor of pediatrics at the Dartmouth Medical School.

Today we’re discussing autism, a condition that appears to be on the rise and is a subject of increasing concern to parents and families. In our discussion, the term "autism" includes the entire autism spectrum including classic autism, pervasive developmental disorder--or PDD--and Asperger disorder.

Reliable information on autism may be found at: www.firstsigns.org, autismspeaks.org, www.autism-society-nh.org and www.autism-society.org.