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The Hirsch Model™
Our Mission
The Hirsch Academy is
a non-profit school for children with learning differences. The program
provides a strong academic curriculum
with an underlying focus on relating and communicating, self-regulation
and social thinking. Our purpose is to join with parents to provide
school and home environments which support each child’s individual developmental
and learning profile. We want children to be active learners—to
explore, to create, to engage with each other and the world around
them.
Our Vision
The Hirsch Academy is founded on our belief that:
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All children want to learn and can be successful if
given the right support |
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All children want to belong--they want to be accepted, have friends,
and participate as a contributing member of a community of learners |
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It is only when students’ intent and abilities are joined
that they can be successful friends and learners |
It is our goal to help the children connect their
desire to learn and interact, with their functional social, emotional,
and processing abilities. To do this, we must first understand each child’s
individual developmental and learning profile so that we can design an
environment and learning activities which help each child meet social,
emotional, and cognitive goals. Through careful observation and an interactive
approach, we constantly engage the child’s motivation to further
individual goals.
 
Our Program
Our program includes a
variety of activities designed to meet each child’s individual
needs. We believe that, to be available for learning, the child
must be able to regulate his body, focus his
attention and develop the social and emotional foundation that
support higher level thinking. A full time Occupational Therapist
and activities
such as therapeutic recreation, music, and art will help
children throughout all learning activities with the sensory
processing and modulation necessary to learn. These activities
will also
be used
to support individual
needs for visual processing, visual motor skills, and motor
planning. A Speech and Language Pathologist will assist children
with auditory
processing and expressive language skills. Facilitated social
interaction using a Floortime approach (as developed by Dr.
Stanley Greenspan
and Dr. Serena Wieder) will provide social/emotional support,
teach problem solving, and promote the functional use of social,
emotional, and
processing
abilities.
With small class sizes and a very low student to teacher ratio,
teachers and therapists at the Hirsch Academy can work as
a team to meet each child’s
individual needs. The Hirsch Academy is designed for children who are
ready for an academic curriculum but who need some additional social,
emotional,
or regulatory support that were not being provided in other programs.
Accreditation
We are accredited by the Georgia Accreditation Commission.
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