RUMSON — Due to the success of a program tailored to students with languagebased learning differences, Rumson Country Day School will expand the initiative by adding faculty and resources.
In the eight years since the program began, enrollment has steadily increased from seven students to the current level of 23 students, according to officials at the school, located at 35 Bellevue Ave.
“We are making this investment in 21stcentury learning to build on our success and offer a level of focus and experience previously unavailable in Monmouth County,” said Whitney Slade, head of school.
“This is not just great for our students with learning differences. … This elevates teaching and learning for everyone at Rumson Country Day School.”
Plans include adding one to two fulltime teachers, as well as a math specialist, school psychologist, occupational therapist and speech pathologist.
Natalie Diehl, a teacher with the program since its launch, has been promoted to director of student services.
According to Slade, Diehl has been a great source of support for the students, aiding them and developing individualized learning plans and profiles. Diehl also coordinates training for teachers in the latest technology and programs to ensure that the best practices available are being implemented across all disciplines within the program, Slade said.
“This program really focuses on the individualized, one-on-one attention to the students,” Diehl said.
“Students attend regular classes with the rest of the student body and still feel that they are a part of the bigger school community. … They just don’t attend their language arts and literature classes with their peers.”
While their peers are in their regular language arts and literature classes, the students in the program are being taught the same curriculum in a separate classroom, Diehl said. The only difference between the two classes is in the presentation of the material, which is tailored to the needs of the individual student.
“For some students, one-on-one instruction is what they need, but for others we use programs such as Megawords, Stevenson [Learning Skills], Wilson Reading [System] and many other learning systems,” she said.
The program, formerly known as the School Within a School, has been renamed the Jayne S. Carmody School in honor of the current head of the Lower School at Rumson Country Day School. Carmody was instrumental in designing and launching the program in 2007.
Diehl said she is pleased to see how far the program and its students have come.
“It is amazing to believe that when we first started the program in 2007, we had seven students enrolled in it,” she said. “Today we have 23 students, and I am so proud.”
The mother of a student in the program since second grade said she has nothing but praise for the initiative.
“I have two older children, and neither of them really had a problem with reading or writing when they were growing up. … It just felt like it came naturally to them,” she said. “I was at a loss as to what to do when I began to see that my son did have difficulties with these skills.”
She said she loves how the program tailors the lessons to meet the specific needs of each student.
“It’s not just one formula or plan that is used for each student, and that is so important,” the parent said.
Founded in 1926, Rumson Country Day School educates students in first through eighth grades and has a current enrollment of more than 435 students from 35 towns.

