The first day of kindergarten comes but once in a lifetime and yesterday, Joanie Creato’s son was ready for it. “He just kept saying, I’m going to kindergarten! I’m going to kindergarten,” the mother of two said yesterday morning. “He was very excited. I bawled my eyes out.”

Many parents tear up — or heave a sigh of relief — when their students step into the kindergarten classroom for the first time. But for Mrs. Creato, the moment was a triumph.

When her son was 12 months old, a Boston doctor diagnosed him with autism-related disabilities. After Island educators assessed his educational, social and behavioral skills, Mrs. Creato enrolled him at Project Headway, an Islandwide public preschool which serves students with and without special needs. This year he was ready for kindergarten but still required more individualized support than Island public schools have traditionally offered. So she enrolled her son in the Bridge Program, a new program launched this fall by the office of school superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss.

Her son is one of three students to pioneer the program.

The Bridge Program allows students in kindergarten through second grade to be a part of a mainstream classroom while receiving individualized and comprehensive assistance from specialized teachers. “I wanted to make sure that he would be included,” Mrs. Creato said. “And they were great. [Bridge Program teacher Kerry Branca] said, You’re going to kindergarten. First and foremost, you’re included. You’re going to be in so and so’s room and you’re going to be a part of that classroom, but you’re also going to get time alone with me and that’s very special.”

The program was created in response to an increasing number of preschool-aged children with learning disabilities on Island.

“Our goal is to have children with disabilities be included as much as possible with kids who are developing in a more typical fashion,” said Ann Palches, early learning coordinator for the Martha’s Vineyard public schools who in 1981 created Project Headway. At the time there were no services for preschool-aged children with disabilities on the Island. “Consider a kid whose language is not developing as expected or hoped,” Mrs. Palches continued. “If you pull them out of the classroom, they have no one to talk to except adults. We want to expose them to as normalized an environment as possible while still giving them services.”

For many years, Project Headway operated one classroom from Camp Jabberwocky in Vineyard Haven. They later moved into a classroom at the Edgartown School. The program can legally serve up to seven students in one classroom, and last year, due to increasing demand, it expanded to include a second classroom.

The state will not release official numbers until Oct. 1, but Daniel Seklecki, director of student support services for the Martha’s Vineyard public schools, said roughly 20 per cent of Island school children — about 450 students — have special needs. According to the Massachusetts department of elementary and secondary education, 16.9 per cent of students in the state have special needs. That number has held steady over the past 10 years while the numbers on the Vineyard have increased.

The increase of special needs students on Island comes at a time when the number of students in Vineyard schools is on the decline. “It’s a little odd where overall enrollment has lessened or flattened out,” Mr. Seklecki said. “One would think that perhaps as the overall number decreases, this would decrease as well, but there is no evenness of what needs kids bring to school.”

Nineteen students are enrolled in Project Headway this year. Ten have special needs. In its history, the program usually catered to roughly 10 students each year.

When the Project Headway program begins for the year next week, its two classrooms will open at the West Tisbury school. The Bridge Project began yesterday at the Edgartown School.

The changes meant an increase of some $496,000 in the superintendent’s budget last year, Mr. Weiss said. State and federal grants to Vineyard schools for special education are steadily declining, and the programs rely primarily on local monies, Mr. Seklecki said. Mr. Weiss said Bridge Program’s creation is more cost-efficient than catering to each individual student in their town elementary school. “It took $150,000 to put [the Bridge Program in place]. It would have been triple that if we had to do it in the individual districts. There is an educational and financial benefit,” he said.

It is an educational benefit which the parents of students in the system can feel. “I was blown away because they really do go above and beyond,” Mrs. Creato said. “They look at parents and say, What are your goals with your child? If something doesn’t work, they listen to you. You don’t feel judged.”

She was quick, however, to list the ways in which Island living complicates life with a special needs child. “There are doctors appointments. Off-Island, there are more parents to work with, more play groups. A lot more parent education is offered off-Island,” she said. “There are more kids to set up with your kids, more day care opportunities.”

“For us parents, they’re our children and we want them to have the best possible chance to succeed and be educated to their potential, just like all the other kids,” said Gabriella Camillieri, secretary of the Island Parents Advisory Council, a network for parents of students with special needs. “Sometimes that does not seem like it’s possible.”

She said the Island lacks many resources for special needs students, from educational advocates and behavioral therapists to a swimming pool where they can be uninhibited.

“Certainly the teachers and the staff do their best,” said Mrs. Camillieri whose son, a middle schooler, also deals with autism-related difficulties. “But it’s a system that needs a lot more money, first and foremost, and needs to think outside the box a bit and be more creative about how to think about individual children. But again, it takes money and the willingness for some people to really push for it.”

“It’s a tough road for kids on the Vineyard,” said Kate DeVane who has twins in Project Headway. Ms. DeVane has no way to predict what the future needs of her children will be, but she knows one thing for certain: she will have more options thanks to the Bridge Program. “If there wasn’t something like the Bridge Program within the school system, you know . . .” she trailed off. “It’s a requirement that the schools provide assistance, but without [this program], I don’t think it would be a very happy experience for any kid with autism. I might have to consider moving if we didn’t have a program here.”