Success Stories

Simply put, this school does what it claims to do, and it has changed our lives! Before TWLS, our son was floundering in the public school special education system, and each year he would get further and further behind. Even though his teachers were making a well intended effort—they were falling short because of extreme caseloads, limited human and financial resources, and too much paperwork. The Whole Learning School isn’t plagued with these problems; therefore, their teachers are able to focus on direct and indirect instruction based totally on student need. At TWLS he is achieving his potential both academically and across all youth to adulthood transition domains. How do they do it? They 1) have created a “stress/anxiety free” environment, 2) teach students at their instructional level using only special education licensed staff with Master’d degrees , 3) focus their teaching on all aspects of development (academics, social, and life skills, all the while focusing on how to make each lesson functional outside of school), 4) have a 9:1 student-teacher ratio serving students in grades 3 and up, and 5) give each student his/her own computer. As you can imagine it takes a lot of time, energy, money and effort to continue to do this special work. Thanks TWLS for the special work you do.
Colleen Thoresen, parent

Have you ever walked into a meeting, watched the conference room door shut and, as the meeting began, you realized you were totally unprepared for it…and you couldn’t wait for the meeting to end so you could return to your office, where your comfort zone was? This is how my child was for years. He went to a good school, got lots of extra help from qualified and kind special ed teachers but just wasn’t tracking. He wasn’t dumb. He just needed to be taught things a little slower and in different ways. He’s been at the school for a little more than a year now and has made a great deal of improvement. Of course, you’d expect me to say that since I’m taking the time to write this. But it’s the truth. The Whole Learning School was literally an answer to my prayers. How do you put a pricetag on even one child’s ability to read, to do math, to understand some basic ways the world works today? This school could serve many other students.
Steve Benjamin, parent

I am a parent of one of the children that attends this AWESOME place. Our hope and dreams for our son are starting to be answered by him attending this school. He is in his second year of attending The Whole Learning School. Our son has ADHD and other learning disabilities. I believe that from grades K-5 our son “wandered” through the public schools, going from mainstream to special education classes, he never fit in anywhere, never talked much. Within 6 months of our son attending this school, our son could finally be himself, he finally realized that he could read, write and do math problems because this school teaches him at his level. He doesn’t have to hide anymore. He is reading, writing, doing math and all other aspects of education. But to me, the greatest thing that our son has received from this wonderful school is his self-esteem.
Kathy Olson, parent