Is Spring Valley for My Child?

Thoughtful Admissions for Optimized Success

At Spring Valley School, we understand the challenges students face when they are placed in learning environments that don't align with their needs. Our approach is rooted in compassion, intention, and a strong commitment to ensuring that every student we serve has the opportunity to succeed.

Out of respect for each child and family, we are thoughtful and deliberate in our admissions process. We work to ensure that our program is the right fit—academically, socially, and emotionally. Because of this, we may not be the best environment for students whose needs fall outside our scope of service.

Spring Valley is not equipped to effectively serve students whose primary challenges include:

• A primary behavioral diagnosis

• A primary emotional diagnosis

• Below average cognitive ability (less than 80 IQ)

Our goal is always to provide a supportive and effective educational experience. By carefully matching our program to our students’ needs, we create a community where every learner has the opportunity to thrive.

There are many benefits of a small classroom size, especially for students with learning differences. Among the primary benefits are: 

• Peer-to-Peer Connection
• Freedom to Share Ideas
• Increased Classroom Engagement 

Spring Valley's Dyslexia Therapy program: 

• Is a comprehensive program designed to rewire pathways for lifelong learning.
• Serves each whole child, without forfeiting the whole school experience. 
• Is a therapy program that starts on day one of school. 

Spring Valley currently has 9 Certified Academic Language Therapists (CALTs) on staff. CALTs: 

• Hold the highest level of dyslexia therapy certification.
• Are a provider of diagnostic, explicit, systematic Multi-sensory Structured Language intervention which builds a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language disorders, including dyslexia.

Dyslexia Therapists at Spring Valley have received training with Neuhaus Education Center in:

• The nature of literacy acquisition. 
• The facets of domains of language. 
• The characteristics of dyslexia diagnostic teaching practices. 
• The structure and patterns of English for reading and spelling. 
• Ttrategies for developing oral language and comprehension. 

• Math curriculum and vocabulary are explicitly taught at the elementary level beginning in lower school.
• Every ELA teacher is trained in the Science of Reading (earning 45 CEUs)
• All SVS faculty members participate in professional development programs that apply instructional concepts of writing.

85% of SVS students have a language-based learning difference. Research shows that intersperced units yield greater retention of content. 

SVS curriculum is devised from reading, writing, and math research conducted by the following partners: PAUL RICCOMINI, PhD | KEVIN CAMPBELL, PhD | ELIZABETH HUGHES, PhD | BRAD WINTZEL, PhD

Explicit, systematic instruction of mathematics is comprised of four main components: 

1.  Clear Modeling

2. Think-Alouds

3. Multiple Examples

4. Immediate Corrective Feedback

THE HETTIE JOHNSON INSTITUTE

Rachel Shank 
Certified Academic Language Therapist 
rshank@springvalleyschool.org

ADMISSIONS & FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Holly Kennedy
Admissions and Family Engagement Coordinator 
hkennedy@springvalleyschool.org