WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- A school for children with special needs continues to thrive 35 years after being founded by a woman who recognized a void in special needs programs.

When she was a young nun, Sister Helen Dowd said she realized that she was drawn to children with special needs.

"Special education really wasn't in vogue when I was teaching and I was in the first grade. It was a very large school and I asked -- it was the first year that we started to test children to see what levels they could be in. When the testing was finished, I asked if I could take the children who came out the lowest," she said.

Dowd said she knew that the lowest-testing children had different challenges and needed individualized educations so she began her own school for special-needs children.

She began the school, the Intensive Education Academy, 35 year ago in the basement of her Hartford convent, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery.

"It was the lower level of our convent and it was really beautiful, but we were there for five years and we were outgrowing our space," Dowd said.

Ten years ago Dowd purchased a former Jewish temple near Bishop's Corner in West Hartford and converted it into a school.

Since its inception, the school has been credited with helping children with learning disabilities, including autism.

Jen Urbanski said her daughter, Sara, has been attending the Intensive Education Academy for the past two years.

"She's 13 and her primary diagnosis is autism, but she's multi-handicapped," Urbanski said of her daughter.

Laura-Lee Caroll's son, Benjamin, attends the school.

"My son has autism. He is higher functioning where he can speak and can do most things, but he has a lot of trouble in social areas and he's not up to grade level," she said.

Both Sara and Benjamin initially attended public schools, but their parents said they felt their situations needed extra attention that public schools couldn't offer.

"You send your kids here and they're loved like they are at home. They're safe here," Urbanski said of the Intensive Education Academy.

The private school currently has 62 students ranging from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The teacher-to-student ratio is one to five.

"All of our teachers are special ed. degreed," Dowd said. "We're approved by the state to teach special ed., but I think the main ingredients is that there's a calmness."end quote

Urbanski credits much of her daughter's success to the school's founder.

"It just comes down from her," she said. "It leaves me speechless. It's a miracle, she's an absolute hero."

Dowd said a key ingredient at the school is love.

"If they see love and they know that you really want to help them, they're going to respond," Dowd said. "The school was labeled, 'The school built on love,' and we've never lost that."

Dowd said that she is proud of all of her school's graduates, including some who have gone on to own their own businesses.

"We have children who have become electricians. My first little boy who was a preemie … has his own business in refrigeration. We have a boy who will be at our function who has played in Broadway."

She insisted that all of the school's graduates are successful, despite their job titles.

"Success doesn't come in maybe getting a big position. It's their inner peace that they think they're good," she said.

The school will hold its annual fundraiser on Sept. 28 to raise money to increase the program's technological capabilities.

Channel 3's Scot Haney will emcee the event, the Stars Cabaret Night.

For more information about the school or its upcoming fundraiser, visit its Web site or call 860-236-2049.

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