MLA’s Post-Secondary Program

Has your child completed high school?

Is he or she not yet ready to enter a college program?

Has he or she aged-out of most school programs?

Would he or she benefit from an opportunity to upgrade their skills in preparation to enter the workplace or a college program?

Then MLA’s innovative post-secondary program may be the opportunity your student needs to boost their basic academic skills, practice essential life and social skills, and ease the transition to adulthood. Our innovative program is designed for young men and women with a developmental disability (including those on the autism spectrum) who have completed between 7 and 14 credits but do not yet have the skills necessary to function independently in a college or workplace environment.

We offer young adults aged 19 - 22 with an encouraging environment in which to acquire important life skills including cooking, grocery shopping, banking and budgeting, and using public transportation. Students also work on improving basic academic skills including literacy, reading comprehension, and numeracy with a focus on content that directly transfers to work environments and vocational college programs. Because many of our students experience a high level of anxiety, stress-reduction techniques are incorporated into the daily program with each day starting off with a yoga session. Our program is rooted in an understanding of each student as an individual and incorporates practical, hands-on, and incidental teaching to prepare students for independent living and the transition to a less supported setting.

If you are struggling to find the right program for your post-secondary aged student, we encourage you to contact us.

Peer Mentor Breakfast!

This morning, MLA was filled with the sounds of happy students, clinking cutlery, and the smell of fresh pancakes! The Peer Mentor Program officially kicked off with the first Pancake Breakfast. Senior students could be seen helping their younger buddies cut pancakes and pour maple syrup, while also getting an opportunity to spend some quality time with their buddies! It goes without saying that our junior students were more than thrilled to spend time with their mentors for the first time this year.

MLA’s unique peer mentoring program pairs senior students with a junior student buddy in a safe and encouraging environment. The program serves to bring students of different ages, needs, and abilities together while simultaneously fostering positive peer interaction and mutual learning.  

Senior students have the opportunity to develop crucial leadership skills, give back to the school community, earn community service hours, and develop a better understanding of both their own and other people’s unique ways of experiencing the world. Of course, the younger students look forward to the time they spend socializing with their older buddies! In the process, both junior and senior students gain self-confidence and a greater sense of self-esteem.

The program nurtures a greater sense of community within the school, encourages students to learn from and accept one another, and promotes an interdependent school community that strives to meet the social and emotional needs of all kinds of learners.

We look forward to a wonderful semester of mutual learning and will keep you apprised of the progress and successes of our students.

Parent's Glowing Review

I always thought it was my job as a parent to make sure my daughter went to school well fed, rested and clean. I taught her good manners, to be kind to others and to listen to her teacher. When did it become my job to teach my daughter mathematics, science, how to read and essay writing?

Although my daughter loved to go to school, she wasn’t keeping up. In grade 5, her teacher called me at home one evening to tell me her concerns. She could read beautifully but couldn’t answer questions of what had just been read. It was as though it was going in one ear and out the other. She could not keep up with homework and really didn’t care that it wasn’t handed in. I was terrified she would be a high school drop out. Frantic, I called Merle Levine Academy and spoke of my daughter’s problems.  Merle and I had an extensive conversation about my daughter’s learning difficulties; and she made some recommendations that changed not only my life, but my daughter’s as well.

One was to have my daughter tested by an educational psychologist  to determine if she had learning disabilities. It was discovered that my daughter is a non verbal learner. Once my daughter was diagnosed, I enrolled her in Merle Levine Academy. WOW, it was no longer my job to teach her academics anymore! I was told not to help her with her homework. Finally, a school was doing its job. Through a highly individualized education plan, my daughter soared academically.

I am proud to say she got her high school diploma. She went to college for hair and makeup. She has her own business and works for a variety of free lance photographers and often works on set for television productions. If it wasn’t for Merle Levine Academy, I am convinced she would have been a high school dropout!

How does MLA help the ASD learner?

As we develop an increasing awareness of the needs of our ASD learners, we find that the student-teacher relationship is of paramount importance, more so than for typically developing learners, largely because of their inability to regulate their emotions and communicate their feelings appropriately. Fundamental to this relationship is the way we, as educators, view the autistic child and our subsequent expectations of, and for, that child. 

 

What we have found is that these children are intelligent: they can think; and they have minds of their own. They are also very sensitive and highly intuitive. As such, it is imperative that we start off by building a relationship of trust, safety and security with the child based on sensitivity (awareness of the child's needs) and intuition (being in tune with the child, anticipating behaviours/outcomes), respect (for the child's intelligence and feelings) and consistency ( the child must always know what to expect).  We must also seek instructional content and strategies that continuously stimulate and appeal to these students, bearing in mind that each autistic child learns differently and the program must therefore be tailored to the learning style that best suits the child, be it auditory, visual or kinaesthetic.

  

Let us help you help your child to learn. Please give us a call - it's the first step to your child's successful education experience!

 

 

Recommended Reading:

Please take a moment to read Patrick Wilson's article entitled Four Things All Educators Should Understand About the Dyslexic Brain.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-things-about-dyslexic-brain-patrick-wilson

Autism -List of Best Websites

I came across an article on the top 15 websites for parents of children with autism that I wanted to share with you.

1. Autism Support Groups

It is very important for families dealing with autism to have an outlet, such as other parents who are going through the same thing. This site connects them to groups both online and in their area that can offer that type of support.

2. AutismNOW

AutismNOW should be the first place you look for the latest news, research and information on autism.

3. MyAutismTeam

MyAutismTeam is a social network for parents of kids with autism.

4. Care.com

Care.com is a great place to find a caregiver.

5. Dads 4 Special Kids

This is a group for fathers of special-needs children, who can share their stories with others who understand the challenges they’re facing.

6. Autism…Learn

This site allows people, including children, with autism to complete online activities geared toward helping them develop vital skills.

7. Autism on the Seas

Parents of special-needs children know how difficult it can be to plan a vacation. This site is dedicated to helping parents of children with autism map out their getaways, whether they’re cruises or camping trips.

8. Atypical Child

Atypical Child functions sort of like a Craigslist for parents of special needs children. You can list and buy gently used therapy equipment.

9. Bloom and Grow

Being a caregiver can be a rewarding, but also often a difficult and humbling task. This site shares products, strategies and tips for how to help your loved one and cope with the great demands that are put upon you each day.

10. Healing Thresholds

This site offers daily updates on autism news and research, including new therapies being used to address the disorder.

11. Make Friends With Autism

This group is dedicated to fostering more understanding of autism spectrum disorders and encouraging families to reach out to others with ASD.

12. Parent Coaching for Autism

Parents of both newly diagnosed children with autism and those who were diagnosed years ago can benefit from this site, sharing ideas for therapies, coping mechanisms and medical benefits through e-courses and newsletters.

13. Autism Blogs Directory

This site offers a comprehensive list of blogs that are written by and for families dealing with autism. It’s easy to get lost in reading their stories when you’re supposed to be working, so be careful!

14. Autism in Action

AiA specializes in offering how-to teaching programs that can help your child with virtually any task, from basic self-care to better communication.

15. Autism Calendar

Send  your top sites for us to add to upcoming blog posts.

Summer Reading A Must!

                                                Great Summer Reads For All Ages!

Children of all ages enjoy reading and this summer is no exception.

For Small Children
The books are all about the pictures and simple story.

Recommended books
Gabby by Fitzhenry& Whiteside
Checkers and Dot at the Beach Tundra Books

Pretweens and Younger Children
This age group enjoys fun talks with fantastic illustrations.

Recommended books
Seeing Red by Robert Munsch
When I Was Eight by Christy Jordon-Fenton 


For Older Children
To compete with video time, books have to be really good!
Every Never After by Lesley Livingston
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

  

School Year Ends with Parent Testimonial

With the school year coming to a close we are receiving testimonials from our parents about the progress children have made as a result of our specialized program.

 

 

Dear Marianne,
I must apologize that I misplaced the thank you card I got for you for the
last day of school. I can't imagine where I put it.
I would be remiss not to give you the most heartfelt thank you after the
amazing year my daughter  had. There is no doubt that MLA is a special place, but
I was a high school administrator for many years, so I know that without you
everything would probably fall apart!
You're always with a smile and always ready to help. Plus clearly a fabulous
singer and dancer! I still can't get over your grand entrance at the end of
the year recital! Hysterical!
Anyway, have a great summer. I know the administrator is one of the only
people at the school that still has to work at a school. :( it doesn't
magically re-open itself.
Thanks again for making it all possible. She had such a transformation this
year!
See you in the fall!

 

 

Parent Sings Praises

Dear Merle, 

My son attended Merle Levine for two or three years before going on to become the class valedictorian this past June 2012.

He received scholarships to every single university that he applied to....and that totaled eight different schools in all. He chose University of Toronto, St. George Campus downtown and lives at home (which makes me very happy). He's a wonderful, bright, extremely articulate and socially conscious young man. I am very proud of him. He joined a music group at U of T and they perform every weekend in nursing homes. He loves doing this.

He is on a "good" path...A path that you and the wonderful staff at The Merle Levine Academy led him to.

I will never forget his first teacher at your school. She was so wonderful and inspiring and gave all of us so much HOPE and FAITH....Commodities that are easy to lose when you don't quite "fit in" at an early age.

My son is very grateful to his time with his teachers, and with you, Merle, at the helm of the ship, so to speak. I cannot find the appropriate words within my soul to thank you enough.

Thank you so much!

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Adequate Special Education is not a luxury

Déjà vu!

“Adequate special education is not a luxury,” wrote Justice Rosie Abella, rendering the Supreme Court’s decision Nov. 9 in favour of Jeffrey Moore, a B.C. boy with dyslexia in the 1990s.  While people rightfully cheered the decision as a great achievement for children with learning challenges, it took me back to another case in 1978 in Ontario. A 12 year old boy in Peel was charged with manslaughter for scaring an elderly man out shovelling snow who succumbed to a heart attack.  This at-risk boy had severe learning disabilities and ADHD and was functionally illiterate. His counsel Jeffrey Wilson asked me if I would teach him at my privately operated special Ed school.  I agreed and rather than sending him to a group home the judge ‘sentenced’ him to the school—at the local board’s expense.  The boy progressed well in that year; however, his parents couldn’t afford to keep him in school afterwards.

Thirty years later, adequate education is still an issue that has to be enforced by the Supreme Court.

The math seems simple to me: give these children the private education they need to be able to succeed in mainstream schools and the workplace.  Or foot the bill to keep them in custody for years when they’ve become so frustrated at being left out that they tune out and act out, as statistics show happens over and over again.