The Morris Center Academy
An Alternative to Private Schools for Learning Difficulties
If your child struggles to read, performs poorly on tests, or has even repeated one or more grades in school, you may be losing faith in the Florida public school system’s ESE resources and their ability to help. So what can you do to help your child? With work, you can’t homeschool and would not know how to effectively help your child if you did. You may be considering one of Florida’s private schools for learning difficulties.
Learning difficulties schools have smaller class sizes than your local public school but they can be very expensive. What is worse, these schools tend to be isolating. Their small size limits your child’s social opportunities. And due to their nature, learning difficulties schools typically remove the child from mainstream education for many years. Why is that? Because these schools merely accommodate the student’s learning differences, rather than addressing the root causes of their dyslexia or other difficulties. Most students who leave a regular public school to attend even the best dyslexia schools are not able to go back to a mainstream classroom. Most will stay at a learning difficulty school until college, if they are able to go to college at all.
For more than 30 years, The Morris Center has tutored thousands of children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD, helping them rapidly gain and strengthen the foundational and more advanced skills needed to become strong readers, writers, and spellers. The Morris Center Academy (TMCA) offers a short-term, intensive and highly individualized alternative to private learning difficulties schools and schools for dyslexia in Florida.
Contact us to learn more about The Morris Center Academy and to check availability.
Better Than Florida’s Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Program
The Florida state constitution says that all K-12 public school students are entitled to a uniform, safe, secure, efficient, and high quality system . . . that allows students the opportunity to obtain a high quality education. Children with learning difficulties like dyslexia may be eligible for Florida’s Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Program. Each student must go through the testing process to determine their eligibility for the ESE program. If eligible, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) will then be developed by district and school personnel for that child.
Eligible students receive various accommodations to help “maintain or improve their academic performance.” Accommodations are provided in: the learning environment, how students receive information, how they show what they know, and via timing and scheduling changes. To do this, the children with learning difficulties are usually separated from their peers and taught in a different room or building. This separation creates a sense of isolation that often stigmatizes students who are already struggling with low self-esteem due to their learning difficulties.
The Morris Center Academy is designed to help the student improve their learning skills as quickly as possible, so they can return to the regular classroom. This can be achieved due to our small group learning environment and our use of the revolutionary NOW! Program® methodologies.
Some children who have learning differences also have other accompanying concerns such as language, sensory, or emotional difficulties. Because we offer a unique, transdisciplinary approach in our treatment of learning difficulties, The Morris Center has certified speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and clinical psychologists on staff. If these services are needed, they are available during the school day or afterwards for an additional charge.
Contact us to learn more about The Morris Center Academy and to check availability.
More Effective than Florida Homeschool Programs
Some parents of children with learning difficulties like ADHD or dyslexia try homeschooling rather than go through the Florida ESE program. Though well-intentioned, homeschooling a child with learning difficulties is no substitute for the education and support they receive from The Morris Center Academy’s licensed professionals. Here’s why:
- Our instruction is centered around the evidence- and research-based NOW! Programs® training which are scientifically proven to help build and strengthen skills that are at the root of learning difficulties.
- TMCA provides a structured daily routine and established curriculum, which can benefit students who thrive on predictability.
- Our small student/teacher ratios (5:1) allow for customized learning programs tailored to your child.
- Our teachers are trained and certified, ensuring your child will receive expert instruction.
- The Academy offers opportunities for students to interact with peers, develop social skills, and participate in group activities, which is crucial for a child’s healthy social and emotional development.
About the Morris Center Academy
TMCA is a one-of-a-kind alternative to traditional public and private dyslexia schools in Jacksonville, Fl and the surrounding areas. Here, students learn in a mixed-age, small group setting and study subjects taught at traditional schools with a strong focus on language arts, reading, spelling, and comprehension. Students will receive the following services:
- Structured educational instruction
- Social, play, and meal times with other TMCA students
- Training in one or more of the NOW! Programs®, to be delivered either in person or online (with online sessions not to exceed 20% of the total sessions delivered):
- NOW! Foundations for Speech, Language, Reading and Spelling®
- NOW! Mental Imagery for Language, Comprehension, Memory and Reasoning®
- NOW! Grammar and Writing®
- NOW! Math Concept Imagery®
Students use skills learned in the NOW! Program® throughout their day. Additional TMC services are available (including occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, psychotherapy) to address sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and other concerns, for an additional charge.
If you are searching for a learning difficulties solution that is less isolating than special education, more affordable than private schools, and more effective than homeschooling, contact us today to learn more about The Morris Center Academy!