On a recent spring day, Shawana returned from school to find several visitors at her home at building B at Casa Salama, including a particularly tall man standing not far from her room. Timidly, she asked staff supervisor Elizabeth Pitts if she might ask the stranger a question. Ms. Pitts assured her it was perfectly fine.

"Did you play basketball?" the 5'10" Shawana asked in a voice barely above a whisper. "Yes, I did," the visitor responded. "I'm this much taller than Michael Jordan," holding index finger and thumb an inch apart. Sixteen-year-old Shawana may be too young for the Jordan reference to have registered, but she smiled and said thanks, before going to her room for "transition time."

Shawana, not her real name, is one of about 30 intellectually disabled girls with the additional burden of a mental illness who stay at Casa Salama, make friends, go to school, and learn skills that they can take into adulthood. Many girls arrive at Casa Salama after numerous unsuccessful placements that follow after their families' have abandoned them. They range in age from 13 to 21.

"Our hope is that they can heal here as much as possible and get them to recognize when someone is trying to be nice to them. We want them to learn to live in peace with others, and prepare them for their lives after they leave us by giving them daily living skills," said Dr. Rocco Cimmarusti. "It might start with something as simple as learning the difference between a dime and a nickel and evolve into their being able to read a train schedule."