An 8-year-old boy at the Academy of Precision Learning is a “brilliant kid,” in the words of the school’s director, Alison Moors, but he has a difficult time with writing. His teacher broke down the skill into component parts, and he works on them each day, assessing and charting his progress and – with his teacher – making precise adjustments to his strategy. Failing to meet one goal, he did not give up as he had in other school situations. He suggested to his teacher that he might be able to hold the paper in a different way and improve his progress.
The Academy uses a technique called precision teaching, which involves collecting data and logging all aspects of a student’s achievements with daily assessments through timed practices. The goal is for children to become fluent and comfortable with the skills. Within that context, the school fosters social skills, creativity and community for typically-developing students and those on the autism spectrum.
Parents do not have to choose between “special education” or “gifted” programs because the school believes that students can be both autistic or learning-disabled and gifted, Moors says. Indeed, the school’s motto is: “Every child is a highly capable child.”
The curriculum follows state education standards, but “the program is tailored to each child, versus the child having to fit into a pre-set curriculum,” Moors explains. Thus, a second-grader and a fourth-grader at APL are working together on a third-grade curriculum. Another student may be on a fifth-grade level for reading and a first-grade level for math.
After a first year in the basement of a Mercer Island synagogue, the K-5 school is moving to the University Heights Center in Seattle’s University District for the 2008-09 school year. Multi-age classrooms will be limited to 15 students with a 1:4 adult/student ratio, and enrichment programs in music, art and physical education will be offered. Staff will have regular consultations with speech/language pathologists, occupational therapists and sensory integration specialists. Enrollment is open on a rolling basis, and there are scholarships available for general education students.
The Birth of a School
The inclusive, academically rigorous school is an outgrowth of Moors’ passion for working with students on the autism spectrum and several parents’ dedication to finding the right fit for their children once they graduated from the Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washington. (The EEU is a comprehensive early-childhood center providing inclusive educational services for children with and without disabilities.)
Moors is a former elementary teacher who began tutoring children with autism in the early 1990s. She earned her master’s degree in educational psychology and applied behavior analysis, and could “work with rats and pigeons or kids and people.” She chose the latter, and became part of a cadre of behavior analysts applying Precision Teaching methods in general and special education classrooms. Moors refined her knowledge of Precision Teaching at Morningside Academy in Seattle, which serves children with ADD/ADHD and learning disabilities.
But Moors’ main interest was in applying precision teaching to children with autism, and so she worked for 10 years as a consultant, providing in-home services in the Puget Sound area and expertise to governments around the world. “Home-based consulting, one-on-one, is not the most efficient way to deliver services,” she says, and as early as 2000, she wrote a business model for a school. For five years, she ran a summer program for Families for Effective Treatment of Autism, or FEAT.
Her dreams for a school dovetailed with the wishes of several of her home-based clients, including Erin Brewer, mother of 8-year-old Morgan.
“Morgan had been at the EEU since she was 2; she’s just emerging with verbal skills,” Brewer says. “We wondered what our options would be – she’s not high-enough functioning for the Seattle Public Schools’ inclusive classrooms. I was at a total loss.”
The Brewers and three other families organized and established initial funding for the school. “We had a chance to build it and shape it together,” Brewer says. The board of researchers and educators includes the principal of the EEU.
“Morgan is just blossoming” at APL, Brewer says. “They keep tweaking her program. She’s happy and calm and has even made a friend.”
Brewer and Moors believe that the school’s individually-tailored curriculum and small class sizes will benefit typical or general education students, and they are using the scholarships to actively recruit them. “Typical kids learned so much through the EEU,” Brewer says. “We think the APL will appeal to parents of children who don’t quite fit into public schools, but can’t afford a private education.” Moors added that some parents may prefer having a state-mandated curriculum without the strictures of Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) testing.
“The inclusion model works,” Moors says, referring to FEAT summer programs she ran. “Typical kids and others all made big gains.”
Academy of Precision Learning is located at 5031 University Way N.E. in Seattle. For more information, call 206-427-0115 or visit www.aplschool.org.
Wenda Reed is a Bothell freelance writer and mother of a young adult son on the autistic spectrum. When he was a student, she did have to choose between special education and gifted program.
