About the Nonprofit
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Shine Behavioral Academy is a tuition-based nonprofit private elementary school providing year-round educational services to students with autism and other developmental delays in an environment that fosters acceptance, trust, and success. Our Academy takes a whole child approach to education. Our school was founded by a parent of a child on the autism spectrum who wanted an alternative to traditional schools. Emilye Schmale, Founder and CEO created a supportive environment focused on the tailoring of academic and ABA services to the unique needs of each child.
Our school is structured to provide every student with an appropriate foundation in the areas of academics, behavior, daily living skills, vocational skills and independence. There is no single idea of success or failure here. Our classrooms are kept small for personalized instruction and the number of students in each class is based on the function and abilities of the students within the class itself. Our program is not grade determinant, and our students work at a level commensurate to their individual abilities. We believe that the ability to learn comes in all forms, shapes and sizes and we adjust our curriculum to teach to students with varied sensory, communication and learning challenges.
Our goal is to promote a higher quality of life, and the realization of the full intellectual and social development of students with autism spectrum disorder. We believe every student can realize academic success using our unique approach to how we teach by first evaluating the child and then teaching based specifically on how they learn. We do not attempt to fit the child into an academic box, but instead seek to change our approach to suit their individual learning style.
