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The halls of Foundations Christian Academy look a little different from other public schools in the area.
They lead to cozy-looking classrooms with “calm corners,” dimly-lit sensory rooms with swings and rooms with balance beams. Inside the classrooms is an intimate setting with only eight to 10 backpacks that belong to both neurotypical and neurodiverse students.
It’s part of what Executive Director Monica Howard calls a one-stop shop.
How it works
At the faith-based school, children with learning disabilities can receive the additional help they need while still receiving an education with their peers, because “that’s how they learn from each other,” Howard said.
Children aren’t placed in classes based on age, but instead on learning ability, offering a personalized curriculum for each student that is tailored to his or her individual needs.
Howard said the teachers, who are all trained in the Trust-Based Relational Intervention model, will teach a lesson to the entire class before teaching assistants divide the students into groups based on ability, and appropriate modifications are made.
“We build strong relationships with these kids in a very trusted environment and trusted space because they might be that little square peg, but we're not trying to make them fit into that round hole,” Howard said.
The framework
Along with modified learning, the academy also offers occupational and speech therapy, so parents don’t have to leave work to take their student to therapy.
The school’s model is based on the Faith Alliance Learning Connection of Neurodevelopment (Falcon) Center, a specialized educational facility focused on neurodevelopmental, sensory-motor and cognitive development.
“We’re identifying feelings, we’re identifying those big emotions,” Howard said. “We’re teaching them it’s okay to have those big feelings; what’s important is what you do with them.”
Going forward
This past January, Foundations Christian Academy moved into a new school building with 70 students enrolled and over 20 staff members. Howard said she hopes to one day do a capital campaign so the school can build its own Falcon Center.
“I mean, what bigger privilege than to link arms and to be able to help these families, and that's what God allows us to do here every day,” Howard said.
