If you're reading this, first of all, thank you! This is my deeply personal passion project.
I created The Heard Academy for families like mine who believe that children need a sense of safety, belonging and autonomy in order to feel seen, understood and heard. This is why I'm opening New England's first non-profit, neurodiversity affirming alternative program for different learners.
It's likely you know me either in real life or from my instagram, @katie.plus.coffee. Thank you for cheering me on, supporting me through my biggest life evolutions and some of you, so kindly and gently nudging me onto the path of embracing neurodiversity. You all played a collective part in giving me the audacity to think I could actually progress change.
If you don’t know me, thanks for being here and learning more about my family and our organization. I’m Katie, neurodivergent mom of two neurodivergent children under 6. I knew there had to be a better place for families like mine struggling with the traditional special education model, struggling with ABA centers and behavioral philosophies that fail to see your amazing child as you see them, as a whole and complete person, not a cluster of behaviors to be changed or worst of all, a neurotypical child trapped in a neurodivergent body. I imagined a place that embraces the unique strengths and perspectives of every student. After serving on our local special education parent committee, learning from other autistic and otherwise neurodivergent adults and hearing other parents of differently wired kids express the same concerns, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands and founded The Heard Academy.
So what is The Heard Academy? Though the names sounds very traditional, we're absolutely not just another program. We're a community of families and staff that believes in empowering every student to be their best neurodivergent selves. We want our students to know they belong, to feel like they have a voice in their own education. We believe that when our students feel seen, understood, and heard, it builds confidence, strengthens internal motivation and fosters genuine purpose. We believe that kids do well when they can. We believe in collaborating with students and their families to determine how we can best support them. We view behavior as communication and we believe every form of communication is valid and should be acknowledged and honored.
With my own personal funds, The Heard Academy plans to welcome 3 students into our program as early as the fall of 2024 maintaining a 3:1 student/staff ratio. Movement, yoga, dance, mindfulness, fine and gross motor activities, music, art, regulation support and communication thoughtfully woven into the day to day academic curriculum. All staff and teachers are DIR-floortime certified. Our program will use Think Kids and Ross Greene’s Collaborative Problem Solving as a mindset for viewing and supporting challenging behaviors.
Other specialist consults will be obtained such as licensed mental health counselors or developmental/child psychologists, reading specialists, spell to communicate (S2C), AAC evaluation, PT evaluation and others as needed. Our SLP is NLA trained in Gestalt Language Processing.
Your support means the world to me and will make an enormous difference in our ability to support more students both in physical building size and staffing ratios and our ability to offer scholarships or tuition assistance.
Initial donations will be used to secure our location, recruit, hire and train our first teacher and assistant teacher.
Maintaining the quality and integrity of our program is essential and it is also costly to retain excellent people who have the "it" factor.
Our program does not yet have federal tax exempt status. This is normal for newly registered non-profit organizations. On average it takes 6-8 months to obtain 501(c)(3) status. Your donation will receive a receipt of charitable contribution retroactive to the date of donation when/if tax exempt status is granted.
Your support is so greatly appreciated!
