I wish there were more of these schools and more funding for them, since most schools that offer such therapies are expensive private schools.
South Jersey school has a unique mission
Scott VanZandt, 15, of Woodbury Heights works on a solid fuel model rocket during class at Orchard Friends School. / JOHN ZIOMEK/Courier-Post
Orchard Friends operates as a Quaker school that adheres to Friends values while offering nonsectarian services to a niche group of special-needs students with sensory problems.
Spearheaded by two mothers whose children had attended Moorestown Friends School, Orchard Friends opened in 1999 in Moorestown Community House and moved to its current location in 2007. Its students have language-based learning differences -- the school emphasizes that terminology rather than "disabilities" -- ranging from dyslexia and attention deficit disorder to Asperger's syndrome and other high-functioning forms of autism.
Academics and speech and occupational therapy are on the syllabus for students, who are grouped by ability for language arts, reading and math, and by grade level for science, social studies and physical education. The emphasis is on creative, hands-on, multisensory learning experiences that don't end with the school day.
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