Most mornings, there is an audible rhythm to the sound of footsteps in the halls of First Baptist Church Hendersonville, as the students from the non-profit organization Peer Place make the trek from the entrance to their classrooms. 

That sound is peppered with the joyous greetings they give one another, as well as anyone else they happen to pass along the way. According to Director and Lead Teacher, Laura Poteet, “It's so much fun, because you have this group of students laughing and walking down the hall every morning, and their greetings are just fantastic; everything from, ‘I love you,’ to, ‘Have a good day!’”

In just five years, what began as a pilot program with five developmentally and/or intellectually disabled students at the Indian Lake Peninsula Church has become Peer Place, a ministry of First Baptist Church Hendersonville (FBCH), meeting the needs of 40 differently abled adults ranging in age from 22 to 57. 

According to Laura, they moved to FBCH in August of 2021 and became a part of the church in January of 2022, when FBCH fully absorbed Peer Place as a ministry.

Initially, the concept for Peer Place was born out of a need to bridge the learning gap for adults with learning differences over the age of 22 who had aged out of the traditional school system. 

After the move to FBCH, the 22-year age requirement became more flexible in order to meet the needs of students who did not attend traditional K-12 schools. “We recognized that there were adults who had either attended specialized or private schools or were homeschooled, who would be finished with school before the age of 22, so we needed to acknowledge and attend to other learning gaps beyond the public school system.”

On any given day, the students of Peer Place begin with a biblical lesson that supports a month-long theme designed to enhance independent skill-building. This skill building can be lessons on performing household tasks such as laundry, or social lessons such as how to build and maintain friendships, and anything in between. They also take field trips that relate back to their monthly themes to give their students more exposure outside of the classroom.

A recent theme centered around how to be a better friend, and taught students how to carry a conversation, have empathy, resolve conflict, and communicate via text and email. Even more, Peer Place often employs the use of metaphors to help make learning engaging and accessible. “At the beginning of the month, we planted pumpkins, so we were watching our friendships grow while we were watching the pumpkins grow.”

Although the majority of students at Peer Place have been diagnosed with Down syndrome or Autism, they accommodate students with a wide range of developmental delays and physical disabilities caused by a variety of disorders. In doing so, Laura and her staff of four are keenly aware that the use of outdated terminology can greatly affect learning outcomes, as well as self-esteem. To that end, instead of being divided by skill levels, classrooms are broken into maximum, moderate, and minimum support levels with students ranging from nonverbal to a high level of independence. 

Furthermore, children and adults with developmental delays are commonly referred to as having, “special needs,” outside of Peer Place, however, as Laura describes, “These students need to be able to do all the same things that other students do, so their needs are not special. What we say is that the students here are ‘differently abled.’”

Perhaps one of the most important lessons Peer Place teaches its students is that learning never stops, even after the school years have ended. While building sustainable life skills such as managing a budget, maintaining health and hygiene, navigating household chores, and cooking, the students of Peer Place are also building so much more in the process; lasting friendships and interpersonal relationships that are necessary in order to have a healthy, successful, and fulfilling life.

To learn more about Peer Place Ministry, you can visit their website or follow them on Facebook.