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Therapeutic Special Education:
Kids' Needs First

CIRCLE ACADEMY: Empowering Students for Success

Gerber School: A Safe Place to Learn

CIRCLE Academy

...Empowering Students for Success

in School, at Home, and in the Community.

Mission:
CIRCLE Academy prepares and empowers each student for successful experiences in school and throughout their lives by providing a structured, nurturing, and therapeutic learning environment that emphasizes family involvement. The program seeks to enable students to develop in the four principles of the Circle of Courage: Belonging, Independence, Generosity and Mastery.

Our Philosophy:
The philosophy "Kids Needs First" guides our daily choices and actions while holding us accountable and loyal to our mission.

Founded in 1998, CIRCLE Academy is named for the Circle of Courage model. Today, CIRCLE provides special education and therapeutic intervention to over 70 Champaign County students ages 5-21 who are referred by their home school district because of behavioral or learning disabilities.

CIRCLE offers our students:

• Individualized Special Education Programming
• Small class sizes (average 2:7 ratio)
• Individual and Group Therapeutic Counseling
• Therapeutic Behavior Intervention Programming
• Vocational Training Opportunities

To be considered for enrollment, students must be eligible to receive special education services in one of the disability categories for which CIRCLE Academy has been approved by the Illinois State Board of Education including:

• Emotional Disability (ED)
• Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Cognitive Disability (CD)
• Other Health Impairment (OHI)
• Autism
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Developmental Delay (DD)

In most cases, the primary disability is Behavior/Emotionally Disordered. The student may have other disabilities which are secondary.

For more information about CIRCLE Academy, please contact Linda Fox at 217/367-3728 or click here to send us an email.

The Winfred Gerber School

...is a safe and quiet place to learn

Located on the Cunningham campus, Gerber School provides special education for young people in our residential treatment programs.

Most Gerber students are significantly behind grade level in their education, and learning disabilities and mental health issues pose challenges to their catching up. Highly-skilled special education teachers and teaching assistants work as a team with residential program therapists and staff to provide coordinated educational support.

Occupational therapy techniques, small class sizes, and individualized educational planning are hallmarks of the Gerber School approach to education. An important goal of education at Gerber is to help students make the transition to public school.

Recognizing that higher education is an option for decreasing numbers of our students, Gerber School has also invested significant resources in providing a comprehensive vocational education program for students. Starting with classroom micro-enterprises for younger students, and leading to stipended and paid work experience, the Vocational Education program reinforces math, reading, writing, and communication skills while providing valuable experience in the work world. In addition to preparing students for their future, we have found that vocational education improves students self esteem while also improving school performance.

For more information about Gerber School, you may call Shawna Scherer at (217) 367-3728 or click here to send us an email.