ST. LOUIS (AP) - A new high school in St. Louis County gives students with learning disabilities the opportunity to be taught in an environment that meets their individual needs.
Miriam Academy, the region's first high school for students with learning disabilities, opened three months ago. The 15-student school is temporarily operating out of a church basement.
The school will add a new freshmen class each year to eventually grow to about 80 students. Annual tuition is $28,000, and about half of the students receive financial aid.
Families pay the tuition because they feel their children can really only enjoy school in a small and individualized environment.
"Kids spend a lot of energy worrying about, 'Is someone going to bump me into the locker? Is someone going to bully me? Is someone going to say something about me?'" said Susan Jackson, Miriam's head of school.
At Miriam, she said, "nobody's going to be unkind to them."
The two classrooms are designed as stress-free workplaces that conform to students' needs, with bean bags, relaxing blue carpet and no loud bell rings. Students can also receive occupational therapy, speech therapy and one-on-one counseling.
The school said it will still take academics seriously. The students will graduate with a high school diploma with the expectation of attending college. While every student has an average-to-high level of intelligence, learning disabilities can make it difficult to translate that into writing or math.
Jackson said socialization is just as important at the school as academics because many children with learning disabilities find socializing and making friends intimidating. To help students make friends, the school day begins with 40 minutes of casual socializing, as well as a "social circle" twice a week where students and faculty talk about how to communicate.