Autism Schools and Centers in the United States: November 2010

Soaring Eagle Academy

8320 S. Madison Street
Burr Ridge IL 60527

Phone: 630-323-2900

The Mission and Vision of Soaring Eagle Academy
Our Mission
To provide a social and academic learning environment for students with special needs supporting their individual strengths and learning styles while integrating learning and interaction within a Developmental Individual-Difference Relationship (DIR®) Based Approach.

Our Vision
Soaring Eagle Academy is a safe and nurturing environment where each student and family, teacher and therapist, and other professionals from the community have the opportunity to work together to honor the abilities of the whole child. Together we will respect, embrace and empower students to guide, learn and teach. Students are cared for physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally while engaged in meaningful learning.

Our learning environment will reflect each child’s interests by integrating their ideas and thoughts into the learning curriculum to develop a joy for learning.
Student’s need for emotional support will be recognized and supported for maximum learning.
Spontaneous developmentally appropriate interactions will be facilitated throughout the day.
Student directed learning will be encouraged and expanded by school staff.
Learning experiences will support sensory/motor, auditory and visual spatial skill development.
Semi-structured problem solving experiences will be facilitated and supported in both academic and social situations.
Assistive Technology tools will be embedded within the learning environment to facilitate communicative and academic success.
Support treatment including, Therapeutic Listening® and Samonas® Auditory Intervention, and Interactive Metronome® will be utilized support learning.
Our school philosophy and methodology reflect a Developmental Individual-Difference Relationship (DIR®) Based Approach by which students move through developmental levels for relating, communicating, thinking and learning. Student’s educational goals incorporate the student’s developmental levels, individual learning/sensory profile and Illinois Learning Standards.
Students develop and practice the ability for regulation and shared attention needed for the foundation of relationships and learning.
Students develop and practice engagement and trust needed for building relationships and learning.
Students develop and practice two-way purposeful verbal and gestural communication, opening and closing circles of communication, needed for relationships, problem solving and learning.
Students develop and practice communicating and problem solving, to create a continuous flow of interaction, needed for learning and relationships.
Students develop and practice the ability to functionally use ideas to create and expand learning and relationships.
Students develop and practice building bridges in order to connect ideas and learning logically, facilitating problem solving, imagination, learning and relationships.
Our student’s will be respected for their individual profile of strengths and weaknesses in 1 on 1, small group and classroom environments.
Student’s emotions will be respected, verbally acknowledged and validated.
Students will be encouraged to develop and use strategies for coping and self-regulation.
Student’s emotional capacities will be developed, expanded and modulated for a range of emotions.
Student’s ideas and learning choices will be viewed as sacred while respecting and maximizing each child’s potential.
Students learning opportunities will encourage self-expression, creativity, self-image and an excitement for the school experience.
Student’s social interactions with peers and staff will be facilitated and supported in all learning environments.
Our school staff is a comprehensive team of professionals working together to facilitate and support student learning.
Our staff is a dedicated, caring, compassionate group of individuals who appreciate and respect each child’s challenges and accomplishments.
Teacher to student ratio is closely monitored to maximize each students learning.
A core team of related services that may include Speech/Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Social Worker, Psychologist, Relationship-Based Practices Consultants and Program Facilitator will support all classroom teachers and teacher assistants.
All staff will participate in initial and ongoing training in the Developmental Individual-Difference Relationship (DIR®) Based Approach.
Parents will be respected as active partners in their child’s education through observation, training, support, and classroom visits.
Parents will become knowledgeable in the DIR® Based Approach utilized in our school.
Parents will be empowered by learning skills for advocacy for successful participation in their child’s educational plan.
Parents will be given opportunities for continued training and coaching in DIR® Based Approach implemented in our school.
Parents will be encouraged to be involved in scheduled weekly classroom activities.
Parents will be given opportunities to learn about community resources.
Our school hopes to expand individual student growth by creating additional opportunities for learning.
Students will have opportunities for typical peer interactions through reverse mainstreaming.
Students will have the opportunity to continue in a DIR® Based Approach through high school/vocational program.
Our program plans to serve as a model school implementing a DIR® Based Approach.
Our program will serve as a training site for parents, professionals and school districts, searching for knowledge in the DIR® Approach.
Our program plans to develop a DIR® Based Curriculum to be utilized within our school and shared with other interested programs.
Our program hopes to gather information regarding implementation and results of DIR® based educational intervention for research purposes.