The Learning Center
Almaden Country Day School offers the first and only Orton-Gillingham-based integrated learning program in the South Bay Area for children with language-based learning differences. Students are ACDS students who attend the TLC program within our school.
TLC students take their core classes (English, math and social studies) in The Learning Center, and then spend the other 40% of their school day with general education students in enrichment and elective classes and at lunch and recess.
TLC students are ACDS students who are fully integrated into the activities and culture of the school. They are not made to feel different from their general education peers at ACDS; they are instead integrated with other students into the life of the school.
ACDS Mission Statement
The Mission of Almaden Country Day School is to discover the gifts in every child.
TLC Statement of Philosophy
All children deserve to learn to read, including the neuro-diverse, because reading is freedom to think, to do, to become. In TLC, students embrace this freedom.
Empowering Children: The Learning Center
The Mission of Almaden Country Day School is to discover the gifts in every child, and The Learning Center (TLC) was conceived in 2017 as a way to extend our mission and serve children with language-based learning differences. The Learning Center offers a full-day educational program tailored to facilitate learning and to help children develop strategies to thrive in a general education classroom setting.
TLC’s veteran staff are highly-trained specialists, certified by the Orton-Gillingham Academy to teach Orton-Gillingham literacy and multi-sensory math methods that support children struggling with reading, writing, and/or math. Many of TLC's staff are themselves parents of children with dyslexia. Featuring a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio, instruction in TLC is highly individualized as it is designed to the specific needs of each child.
The Learning Center Highlights
- Proven Orton-Gillingham and multisensory math approaches
- Highly personalized and intensive 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio
- An integrated, complete social and educational experience
- Children spend approximately 60% of their school day in TLC and engage in general education classes for the remainder of the day
Children with language-based learning differences including dyslexia (reading), dysgraphia (writing), and dyscalculia (math) are intelligent, creative, expressive, and driven. Because students with dyslexia learn differently than neurotypical students, they often encounter tremendous obstacles in a general education classroom. As a result, these otherwise bright and academically-capable children experience failures in school that mask their true potential and hinder the expression of their talents.
The Learning Center at Almaden Country Day School was created to support these children in the way they learn best and help them discover their gifts.
Contact: Mrs. Cecilia Robb, Head of The Learning Center, at crobb@almadencountryday.org or call (408)997-0424 x226.
The Learning Center is a proud member of the International Dyslexia Association and the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.