Sanford Shapiro looks at Franklin Academy
Monday, January 16th, 2006
Sanford Shapiro looks at Franklin Academy
© 2006 Sanford Shapiro
Franklin Academy is the nation’s first boarding school specifically for kids in grades 8-12 with Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities. A boarding school for this particular profile of kids presents great opportunities for developing and applying social reasoning skills as well as providing a college prep academic experience. I stress the social skills part because those competencies are crucial for kids who struggle to interpret and manage social/emotional signals. Without faculty who understand how significantly these challenges can impact the acquisition of academic skills much time can be wasted. The current and founding headmaster, Frederick Weissbach appears to understand this and has assembled an administrative team who are dedicated to this type of learner. The school’s education director holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and while that is no guarantee of anything, it demonstrates the school’s perspective for viewing social awkwardness and mistakes as part of processing differences (rather than behavior problems). Don’t get me wrong, the kids I saw here were anything but behavior problems. I found them to be bright and articulate; and who expressed experiencing life as square pegs in the round holes.
The profile of a Franklin Academy student encompasses the range associated with diagnoses of NVLD and Asperger’s Syndrome. There is usually a strong preference for auditory learning and students often struggle with poor time management skills, organizational difficulties, some motor and/or visual-spatial weaknesses and, challenges within social situations and transitions. Sometimes there are traits associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
The school is a relatively new one on the scene, incorporating as a non-profit, in 2001. As word gets out about this school and it’s unique focus, I’m pretty sure it will attract a lot of attention nation-wide. Last year it had 57 students and at the beginning of this year there were 68. Plans are for it to grow to 100-125 within the next five years. It is in the accreditation process (NEASAC) and knowing the opportunities that come from such a process of self-analysis, goal-setting and planning, I would expect the well-thought-out philosophy will align itself with a standardized curriculum without losing any of its necessarily unique and individualized strands. For example, along with well-defined benchmarks for reading, writing, research and organization, equal emphasis is directed towards social pragmatic skills. Some of the areas within social development that are emphasized and assessed are self-awareness, personal hygiene, self-advocacy and interpersonal relationships. While one might smirk at the idea of personal hygiene being an articulated curriculum area for high schoolers who often have verbal IQs above 120, those familiar with the nuances of NLD will understand the relationship between visual and spatial weaknesses (not knowing how or not being used to paying close and organized attention to the visual field) and grooming. Add to it being a teenager and you have a worthy area of attention. I say this only partially with the previously mentioned smirk.
Within the college prep aspect of the school there certainly appeared to be a full range of classes including pretty advanced level courses. This is delivered with a 1:3 faculty-student ratio and with plenty of flexible planning available so that students’ needs for being alone is recognized alongside the interactive and collaborative nature of classroom learning.
Related at this site: Franklin Academy
This is a glowing review of a very new school – Franklin Academy. The school appears to be having a good start and very well poised to serve students with NLD. Mr. Shapiro recommends schools for parents seeking a LD environment for their children and should be more objective in his analysis – laying out the bad with the good. One starter of the bad is the whopping $58K tuition.
Thanks for your comments. It’s a great reminder that families should use reports like these as a jumping off point for their own additional due diligence. I looked over my post and I’m not so sure my writing of Franklin was glowing. It was more a description of the opportunities the school presents, a partial description of the team assembled, the student profile, and class highlights. In fact, in my mentioning of its newness I highlighted the accreditation process, which hopefully should help the school deliver on its goals and align curriculum delivery with its philosophy.. One of the things I’ve noticed from seeing so many schools, is that what some do not like about a particular school, others may in fact like. Description and some analysis seem better suited for this website. Then its up to a family to use other forms of guidance, placement help and of course a visit themselves in order to see if there’s a fit between the school and their son or daughter.
We had an awful experience at this school. Don’t believe the hype! Franklin is run by a headmaster with no special education background and staffed by people with limited experience. My child hated it here and left after 2 months. My child’s diagnosis was completely misunderstood by the “experts” at Franklin (although they claim to serve this population) and it made for a terrible experience. This school is not what it seems. Avoid sending your children here!
I attended this school for 6 years, starting the year it opened. I really couldn’t of had a better fit. I took out of Franklin the knowledge of how to make friends, advocate for yourself ASAP, and experiences I that can never be taken away. I met many people, saw many representatives of other schools, and connected with at least over 500 people during my time there. It is amazing how 6 years there changed my life, and Franklin has been the 2nd most cherished part of my life, my family coming first. I know I don’t need to go out and be everything someone says I’ll be like being famous or doing something that will change the world. But I do know that as long as I help part of the world, and a group of people, I can feel like I did something in this world worth while. I have explored different interests I never knew existed, DJing, Computers, Flight, and Music Production. I owe my entire life from college and here on – to Franklin Academy.
And just for you parents – there are a lot of kids saying they hated Franklin, it was a bad place, the staff is not properly trained, etc etc etc. From my point of view, even though I did not live at Franklin, the staff was MORE than properly trained, I connected to many of them. The Academics were great. Obviously, there is no one school that can fit everyone’s needs (those who have learning differences, that is). However, Franklin came close to that, and I know that their efforts are true, there path in front of them, and the world is about to see something truly amazing.
– Wil Swartzell, Graduating Class of 09
We had a child at Franklin last year. Very bad experience. I agree with the previous posters….the staff is not who they present themselves to be. They seem like they are all for the kids, when in fact they have one and only one way of doing things and if your kid doesn’t fit the mold….well that’s just too bad. Kind of ridiculous when you think about the population that they are trying to serve…….each child is so different and needs to be dealt with as an individual yet at Franklin there’s only one way. Also, I felt that their discipline methods were harsh. I’m not a pushover parent either but if you looked under the hood you found some seriously archaic and possibly illegal methods being used.
Dear “Disappointing”
Sorry for your son’s bad experience. Is he doing better this year?
Can you give an example of a harsh discipline?
Thanks for writing in.
My daughter goes to Franklin currently. This is her first year. I have personally spent days on campus during my visits, unannounced, and have NEVER seen any examples of harsh discipline.Even when a kid totally loses it, as my daughter has, they handle it beautifully. In fact, they know not to approach her or argue with her when she is like that, but to stay in view so that she does not hurt herself or others. The talking about what happened always comes after she has had time to cool down. Discipline has been things like no computer after study hours, or she can’t leave the dorm to socialize after study hour, etc. for a few days. Really, nothing I wouldn’t do at home, and they make sure she understands which choices she made that led to the consequence. She appreciates the consistency and rules, actually, as she usually isn’t intentionally “bad”, just overwhelmed that day. They really get that, and ALWAYS dig until they find out what the problem was, or problems, and work with her, and others if necessary, on the problems. I find the staff to be incredible in their interactions with these kids, they actually do what they say, and get them to be more independent, and recognize what is going on around them and their reactions to it, as most of the kids have problems with social skills.
When she comes home, there has been a huge change in her ability to communicate, and to accept responsibility for herself. She is much more thoughtful of others, and more outgoing.
T Dorf,
Thanks for writing in and letting us know. It’s helpful to hear your level of specificity. Glad your daughter’s doing well. Please keep us posted.
Sanford
Does anyone have any experience–positive or negative–with Franklin Academy’s summer sojourn program? I’d appreciate any feedback regarding it.