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Center for Students with Learning Differences

Supporting Your Classical Education Endeavors and Your Students

Scholé Academy's Center for Students with Learning Differences offers personalized tutoring to help students find confidence and delight in their classical studies.

Request an Initial Consultation with a Special Needs Instructor
Welcome Letter from Dr. Amy Richards
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Parent Commitments Letter
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Overview of Learning Difference Services

Scholé Academy’s Center for Students with Learning Differences within the Tutoring Center opened its doors in 2020.  We continue to provide families with assistance and support as they consider how to provide a classical education to their home-educated students and students who are taking classes at Scholé Academy or itsHouses of Studies.

Please note: The services provided through our Center for Students with Learning Differences are not intended to meet the standards of or fulfill any state’s requirements. The services provided here are intended to be used as a helpful supplement and are provided to parents who are looking for an alternative to, or an addition to, state services. 

For the current academic year, the services offered through our Center for Students with Learning Differences are intended to support students who have been diagnosed with Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs) or who are seeking a diagnosis. At this time, we will not be providing services to students who have been diagnosed with other types of disorders or disabilities.

Specific Learning Disorders is a medical term used to describe a formal medical diagnosis. According to the American Psychiatric Association, learning disorders can only be diagnosed after formal education starts. To be diagnosed with a specific learning disorder, a person must meet four criteria.

1) Have difficulties in at least one of the following areas for at least six months despite targeted help:

  • Difficulty reading (e.g., inaccurate, slow, and only with much effort)
  • Difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read
  • Difficulty with spelling
  • Difficulty with written expression (e.g., problems with grammar, punctuation, or organization)
  • Difficulty understanding number concepts, number facts, or calculation
  • Difficulty with mathematical reasoning (e.g., applying math concepts or solving math problems)

2) Have academic skills that are substantially below what is expected for the child’s age and that cause problems in school, work, or everyday activities.

3) The difficulties start during school-age even if in some people don’t experience significant problems until adulthood (when academic, work, and day-to-day demands are greater).

4) Learning difficulties are not due to other conditions, such as intellectual disability, vision, or hearing problems; a neurological condition (e.g., pediatric stroke); adverse conditions such as economic or environmental disadvantage; lack of instruction; or difficulties speaking/understanding the language.

A diagnosis is made through a combination of observation, interviews, family history, and school reports. Neuropsychological testing may be used to help find the best way to help the individual with specific learning disorder.

 

Resources

Specific Learning Disorders include Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia. You can read more about each of these disorders here.

We also recommend the website Understood as a helpful resource to families exploring how some children learn and think differently.

 

Pricing

  • Free* private Initial Consultation with a Special Needs Instructor
  • Special Needs Intake Form Review and 1-hour Consultation with Special Needs Instructor: $125
  • Student Individual Accommodation Plan and 1-hour Consultation with the Special Needs Instructor: $150
  • Special Needs Instructor Services:
    • 8–15 hours per quarter, per single student: $55.00/hour
    • 16–23 hours per quarter, per single student: $50.00/hour
    • 24+ hours per quarter, per single student: $45.00/hour

*The initial consultation is now offered free of charge as of December 2022.

Requesting Services Process

  1. Request a CSLD Initial Consultation. Please remember that the services offered through the CSLD are intended to support students who have been diagnosed with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or who are seeking a diagnosis. At this time, we will not be providing services to students who have been diagnosed with other types of disorders or disabilities. See the Overview of Learning Difference Services at the left. The CSLD Manager will then make an introduction to your Special Needs Instructor and invite you to schedule the CSLD Initial Consultation with your SNI.
  2. Collect your SLD medical diagnosis information if applicable.
  3. Your Special Needs Instructor will schedule a time to meet with you and possibly your student.
  4. After the Initial Consultation, you will be invited to purchase the CSLD Intake Form Review & Consultation. (See fee listing above.) Please set aside some time to complete the CSLD Intake Form. The form will auto-save, allowing you to stop and return to the form if you are unable to complete it in one sitting. (See fee listing above.)
  5. Schedule a time to meet with your Special Needs Instructor to review the Intake Form & requested services in a 1-hour video meeting.
  6. The final step, if applicable, is to purchase the Individual Accommodation Plan. (See fee listing above.) Your Special Needs Instructor will craft the student’s Individual Accommodation Plan including a list of services to be provided to both the parent(s) and to the student. Rates will be provided with the student’s Individual Accommodation Plan. (See fee listing above.)
  7. Schedule a time to meet with your Special Needs Instructor to review your student’s Individual Accommodation Plan in a 1-hour video meeting.
  8. The parent and the Special Needs Instructor will schedule recommended meetings and services.

Learning Differences Service Providers

Advisor: Amy Gilbert Richards, PhD is Affiliate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Eastern University. She also teaches in Eastern’s Templeton Honors College (THC), dedicated to great books and great questions. Over the last three years, she has helped to develop the THC’s new Master of Arts in Classical Teaching. Building on her previous work in philosophical and theological anthropology, she teaches a course in this program called ‘Difference and Human Dignity in the Great Tradition’, which is dedicated both to developing an understanding of what it is to be human through the lens of disability and difference, and to offering practical techniques for classical classroom approaches for students with special needs. Also of note, Dr. Richards and Classical Academic Press have recently begun a collaboration project on a book related to her work in this course—more coming soon! She lives in Havertown, PA with her husband and their three small girls.

Special Needs Instructor: Angelique Chaverri holds an MSEd in special education from Missouri State University and a BA in psychology from Southwest Baptist University. Angelique has spent her adult life working to understand the underpinnings of learning. After initial interests in physical therapy and neuropsychology, she found her way into special education. Four years after entering the public school system, Angelique went into private practice. She worked for a year in a learning clinic under a neuropsychologist before starting her own business in 2005. Angelique then began cross-training in various therapy modalities usually used by medically based therapists in hospitals and rehab clinics

For the past 15 years, Angelique has specialized in using standardized assessments to identify the underlying causes of learning difficulties and has designed individualized programs to improve learning while guiding parents and teachers in how to modify the learning environment and instruction to the student’s individual needs. Angelique has provided training for schools, parents, and hospitals. She firmly believes in teaching students to use their strengths to enjoy, not fear, the learning process.

Angelique has more than 15 years of experience working with students with all types of learning disabilities, including those who have issues with reading, math, spelling, writing, dyslexia, auditory processing deficits, attention problems, sensory processing deficits, visual processing deficits, and more. Because difficulty in these areas often leads to increased anxiety in the student and can impact family life, tackling these issues in a way that is manageable and hopeful is one of Angelique’s highest priorities.

This year, Angelique will celebrate 15 years of marriage to her wonderful husband. She is a homeschooling mom to two fantastic boys. When avoiding housework, Angelique prefers to be outside hiking, biking, kayaking, camping, tending her medicinal herb and veggie gardens, hobby farming, and learning about regenerative agriculture and classical physical education. [email protected]

Special Needs Instructor: Heather McCoy has a BA in liberal studies with an emphasis in art from California State University, Northridge, and a MEd in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in online teaching and learning and biblical literacy from Concordia University. Prior to homeschooling her four children, she taught special education in public schools in California and Missouri. When Heather noticed her local district allowed significant gaps in her daughter’s education, the family made the decision to move to home schooling. Heather was intrigued by the classical Christian education model and found it to be a good fit for her family. Since then, Heather has participated in workshops through the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education to further her appreciation and understanding of the classical Christian model. With 13 years of teaching experience in a variety of settings, she has had many opportunities to develop strategies for individual student achievement. She enjoys working with individual students and their families to develop personalized strategies that lead to academic success and increased confidence.

Heather lives in Lansing, Michigan, with her husband and four children. They enjoy supporting Spartan Athletics at Michigan State University and exploring the arts and the beautiful state of Michigan! [email protected]

Special Needs Instructor: Patricia Livecchi comes to Scholé Academy after more than 25 years in the field of special education in private, parochial, and public schools. She earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from Boston College and an M.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from The George Washington University. Her years of experience and extensive continuing education have developed her expertise in supporting children with language-based learning disabilities, dyslexia, executive function weaknesses, auditory processing disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. Patty finds it extremely important to share her knowledge with parents, helping them to support their children’s education and development at home so they can enjoy a “restful” learning environment.

Patty has three grown sons. While raising them, she endeavored to provide them with the best education. Over the years they home-schooled and attended a local classical school as well as independent and public schools. She has always been drawn to the classical education model and recently was involved in a local group that attempted to re-establish a classical school in her area.

Patty lives in NJ with her husband of 35 years and their two dogs. In her free time she studies and creates art in many media – painting, drawing, collage and print-making. She has taken a class in writing icons and looks forward for furthering her skills in this area too. Patty is also active in a rosary prayer group and enjoys spending time in adoration at the nearby adoration chapel. [email protected]

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