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The Student

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The Student

We believe that students with learning differences learn best when given opportunities to:

·        Be viewed and taught as individuals with unique strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles. 

Children are grouped according to academic strengths and weaknesses for each subject.  Curriculum is not dictated by a child’s chronological age or grade level, but rather by their specific needs in specific subjects. Therefore, children who struggle in reading but excel in math are allowed to receive remedial help in reading while continuing to progress in math at whatever level is appropriate.

·        Understand and respect individual strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles in others. 

Because all students come to The Joy School after having struggled elsewhere, every student here has identifiable weaknesses that must be addressed. However, it is important for all students to recognize and embrace their personal strengths as well. Recognizing that all people have areas in which they excel and others in which they struggle is important for students to accept their own unique differences without feeling as if they are somehow damaged. Understanding that all people have different ways in which they learn also helps students take ownership of their own preferred modalities for learning.

·        Set reasonable, achievable goals for themselves.

All students, parents and teachers participate in goal setting conferences at the beginning of each year. Most goals will have an academic focus; however, some goals may be related to social issues, attention difficulties, or behaviors.

·        Discover and accept their personal strengths, weaknesses and learning styles and practice advocating for themselves based on these qualities.

From their first days at The Joy School, students are taught to understand their personal strengths and weaknesses without regard for labels. For example, students are discouraged from saying, “I am dyslexic; that’s why I can’t read” and encouraged to talk specifically about their areas of need, such as, “I am able to decode words fairly well, but I must work on my fluency to be a more proficient reader”. Students are also taught to determine their best mode of learning. Some prefer written directions, while others do better with oral directions. Knowing this information will help them be better advocates for themselves when they transition to their next school. 

·        Receive remedial instruction in areas which they find difficult, while at the same time being allowed to excel in other areas.

Because students can be in different groups for different subjects, students are not only able to spend a portion of their school day addressing their academic deficits, but also a significant time of their day in areas in which they find success. Students are not held back in subjects of strength because of subjects of weakness. In this regard, students are encouraged to pursue academic goals that may someday lead to career choices. In the words of Mel Levine, “Success in life is dependent on the strength of your strengths, not your weaknesses”. People choose careers in areas in which they excel, not those in which they struggle.

·        Participate in activities which allow them to work directly on social skills.

For some students, their learning differences do not impact their social lives in any significant way. In fact, outside of the school day, no one would recognize a learning problem. However, many students exhibit the same kinds of delays in social skills as they do in the classroom, and require as direct and systematic instruction in this area as they do in the academic arena. Teachers at The Joy School are trained to see social faux pas as teachable moments rather than discipline situations. In this way, students can be taught appropriate pragmatic skills---body language, eye contact, appropriate social distance, safe conversation topics, etc.---in authentic, real-world contexts rather than in simulated social skills group settings.