School operates with extra focus

With a stop-clock to one side, Morgan Brewer, 7, sorted through flash cards of squares, circles and rectangles, putting like shapes together.

Every time Morgan, who has autism, focused on the cards or put the right shapes together, her teacher, Lovelle Suarez, praised her. At the end of the timed exercise, Suarez logged how many matches Morgan got right in a three-ring binder that mapped the girl's daily progress.

This is the Academy for Precision Learning, a private school that opened this fall on Mercer Island. The school touts itself as an inclusive program in which students get lots of attention and curriculum can be tailored to both general-education and special-needs students.

"It's individualized education," said Alison Moors, the school director. "We look at the data on a daily basis, and we see everything the kid is doing. We can make changes immediately based on what's working or what's not."

The schools' four students all have special needs to varying degrees.

The academy was founded by three families whose autistic children attended the Experimental Education Unit (EEU) at the University of Washington. The EEU is a birth-through-kindergarten program that works in partnership with Seattle Public Schools to offer early intervention for children with special needs.

The school promotes acceptance and understanding of people with different needs, and it has a waiting list for regularly developing students as well, EEU Principal Jennifer Annable said.

Once their children "graduated" from the program, some parents wondered where to place their children next, said Erin Brewer, Morgan's mother.

"There's just not anything like this out there," Brewer said. "There were no options for her. She wasn't high-enough skilled to be considered for an inclusion model. But we also wanted to get the kind of intense instruction she needs."

So the Brewers, along with parents Herman and Samia Mohazzabfar and Matthew and Nancy Gordon, decided to start their own school by teaming with Moors, a behavior analyst and a consultant who has worked with autistic and special-needs students.

Students are taught through Precision Teaching, which relies on collecting data and logging all aspects of a student's achievement. Teachers may instruct through traditional methods — teaching at the board or using textbooks — but students are assessed daily through timed practices.

The curriculum is based on state education standards, but it can be tailored to different kinds of learners, Moors said. Data is collected on student learning and behavior, including how students interact with each other and even their eating habits, if students are having trouble in those areas.

The ultimate goal is "fluency" in each subject area. Fluency, which is determined separately for each child, means the student has plateaued in timings, and that is the best or fastest they are able to perform.

Public school still has a lot to offer some special-needs students, said Nancy Gordon, whose son, Josh, attends the academy part time. He also attends public elementary school because there are more students there for him to interact with, Gordon said.

"But so much of their [public schools'] curriculum is language-based," Gordon said. "And, a lot of people are visual learners. ... We, as parents, see the potential in our kids. And the way they are taught in [public] school, it appears they don't know as much as they do."

Many parents of special-needs students struggle to find the best placement for their children, said Annable, who also sits on the advisory board for the academy. She has used Precision Teaching techniques with her son to help him with math and handwriting.

"I think this works really well with kids who are motivated by watching their own progress," Annable said.

The method is working for Jeremy Banks, 10, who academically works at grade level but struggles to control his impulses. Nora Armstrong, general-education teacher at the school, charts his progress in both areas. He's making headway, she said, as she watched him speed through a page of math problems. He answered 30 questions in one minute. His goal is 40 in one minute, with 100 percent accuracy.

"Go, Jeremy, faster!" Armstrong said, cheering him on. "This is his favorite part of the day."

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com