Many students arrive with significant strengths and gaps in their
educational performance. MDA felt that it was necessary to use an
assessment tool and develop a curriculum that not only correlated
with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, but also identified
areas of mastery as well as areas of need. This curriculum allows
students to benefit from small group and tutorial instruction.
MDA’s educational program embeds the curriculum material into a
meaningful context. The program integrates technology based learning
with curriculum modifications that makes material relevant and
meaningful for our students. MDA uses Advanced Learning System (ALS)
for building grade level skill and other curriculum programs and
experiential “real-life” projects to supplement the ALS material.
MDA students’ cognitive organization often requires the curriculum
not only be reformatted but be presented in a modality that is
different from their same age-peers. It matches the teaching style
to their learning style and neurological profile. Research has shown
that by approximately 7 to 8 years, youngsters are able to attend to
detail-parts (left-hemisphere function) and simultaneously integrate
the parts into a cohesive whole (right-hemisphere function). They
are also able to differentiate relevant from irrelevant detail.
Students with Neurointegrative™ learning differences (Asperger Disorder, AS;
High Functioning Autism, HFA; Non-Verbal Learning Disability, NLD;
Attention Deficit Disorder, ADD/ADHD; and Learning Disabilities, LD)
are cognitively organized to focus only on detail and have
difficulty integrating parts into a cohesive, meaningful and
organized whole. Many of our students misunderstand the overall
intent of the assignment. For example, when a student is asked to
write a report, the intent of the assignment is to convey the “big
picture” to the reader or listener. Instead, many of our students
focus on retelling the details of the story but have difficulty
conveying the main idea.
The school currently
offers two programs:
Intensive Program
The Intensive Program is for students who need intensive support.
This program provides students with a 3:1 student-teacher
ration.
MDA School
Program
The MDA
school program is for students whose needs can be accommodated with
a 5:1 student-teacher ratio.
Please
contact us to receive further information about applying to either
program
