Exceptional education: Holy Family School adapts curriculum to include special needs students

Caroline Powledge asks a question to her class using a pink microphone held by student Kamilah Gonzalez at Holy Family Catholic School on April 2, 2025. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)

Jan Barker knows the perfect remedy for a bad day.

“Come sit in my classroom and listen to Kamilah and Andrew read — your day will feel so much better,” she said. 

A teacher of 33 years at Holy Family Catholic School, Barker took on a new position this school year as a learning support specialist to assist the Fort Worth school’s students with learning differences, including two students with Down syndrome, third-grader Kamilah Gonzalez and fifth-grader Andrew Matasso.

“Jan [Barker] is very talented and has many skills. She is accepting of all students,” Holy Family Principal Brenda Conway said. “Jan was the perfect fit [for the position]. She said, ‘I am bound and determined to have this become a real official program.’”

Barker researched curricula to help supplement her students’ instruction. With a targeted focus on helping Andrew and Kamilah improve their fine motor skills and reading abilities, Barker’s students have vastly improved in both aptitude and confidence. 

“Their confidence is just — they’re beaming, and discipline is not an issue anymore because they have what they need; they’re so happy,” Conway observed. 

Gifts of joy
Daphne Gomez met Andrew just as the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions lifted.

Initially, the first-grade teacher had felt some apprehension about the shift in expectations and procedures as she began teaching Andrew. “We weren’t sure what the expectations were, but once we got him in the classroom, I mean, he could manage just about everything on his own, just a little bit differently.”

She quickly learned how to communicate with Andrew, who at the time was nonverbal and would express himself using sign language.

“When he had to go to the bathroom, he would do this for me,” Gomez said, pointing her index finger up. “I still incorporate that in my classroom now.”

With the dedicated support of Andrew’s mother, Amy Matasso, who had moved from Kansas with her family and was determined to raise all of her children in the Catholic faith, the school came to understand, know, and love Andrew.

“We would play with other kids, and he liked to play sports,” Gomez recalled. “He liked basketball because he’s tall, which was a good advantage for him.”

She shared that Andrew’s presence in the classroom helped “make the kids more empathetic towards their peers” and taught them “to be patient and understanding and to be kind.”

A few years later, when Gomez came to meet Kamilah, she felt even more equipped to see some progress due to Kamilah’s bubbly and talkative nature.

“I communicated more with Kamilah because she spoke a lot, and we had a good rapport,” Gomez said. 

Kamilah’s parents came to learn about Holy Family after meeting Andrew and Amy at an early intervention program called KinderFrogs held at Texas Christian University.

“When she came, we accepted her because how could we not? We have one, and we could have another. It wasn’t even a question,” Conway said.

Exceptional children

When third-grade teacher Caroline Powledge’s mother was pregnant, she was notified her baby had tested positive for both spina bifida and Down syndrome.

After receiving the news, Powledge’s mother said, “This is perfect. This is the baby I want, and we’re just going to pray for her to be happy and healthy, and God will do the rest.”

Powledge was born with no complications and with a heart to “help students that are exceptional — that’s the term I think we need to use more. Not disabilities but exceptionalities.”

The Holy Family teacher now applies what she learned from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, where she studied special education, to teach Kamilah and Andrew, who join her class for science and mathematics.

“Every single student, no matter their ability, is exceptional in their own way,” Powledge said. “How do we honor that life that God chose to bring into this world? By recognizing the exceptional parts that make them and just helping them grow from there. 

“The fact that I get to be here at Holy Family and have this experience [working with Kamilah and Andrew], it’s like checking all the boxes.”

Andrew’s exceptionalities lie in his generous and decisive nature. 

Academically, he shines at math whereas Kamilah leads in reading. Her exceptional vivacity “brings out the best in everybody and whenever someone’s having a hard time, she can just sense it,” Powledge said.

During Mass, as Andrew joins the Communion line, he will pass Powledge sitting with her class, approach her, touch her hair, and give her the sign of peace. 

“What else can make your day better other than that? When you receive just that little touch from them, which means the world to them,” she said.

Sometimes he serves as an altar server, and sometimes Kamilah cantors. 

“Kamilah has a strong Catholic identity and watching her receive holy Communion, it will bring tears to your eyes,” Powledge said. 

Gomez agreed to the power of seeing the young student at Mass.

“Kamilah will sing at church, and you always hear her when we’re doing Psalms and responses — you will hear her little voice because she’s always participating. It’s great to see that and hear that,” Gomez added.

A blessing to share

When Conway shared with the diocese’s Catholic Schools office the need for a dedicated teacher to help support Kamilah, Andrew, and several other students with learning differences at her school, Conway said Superintendent Dr. Melissa Kasmeier-Millard quickly extended her support. 

Conway noted that Dr. Kasmeier-Millard, being a former principal of Holy Family, has seen firsthand “the blessing and the overall love our students have developed for someone who is different than them and how special it was and how it can really work.”

A highlight for Conway was seeing the outpouring of love and sincere compassion she saw in her students and faculty as they recently celebrated Down Syndrome Awareness Day. It reminded her of the lessons of acceptance and empathy they have all learned since Andrew and Kamilah have blessed their halls with their smiles.

“They come here, and they're loved, and everyone takes care of them. Everyone does their part to help them,” Conway said.

Student Andrew Matasso works on word exercises with teacher Jan Barker's help at Holy Family Catholic School. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)