Wesley School Geared Toward Special Needs of Its Students
Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 12:00 CDT
Richard Johnson knows it can be difficult for a child with a learning disability to excel in a typical school, but with help from the Wesley School, he hopes to give the students another chance at performing well in the classroom.
The Wesley School, at 9315 E. Shelby Drive, is a school designed to help children with learning disabilities, tailoring its teaching techniques to fit the specific needs of each child and building self- confidence.
"The major objective of our school is to help the child move back to a mainstream program for as long as possible," Johnson said. "The purpose is to bring them in and give them the confidence that they can succeed in a regular program and a regular school."
With only 25 students, and a total of six full-time and part- time teachers, Johnson, the school's principal, said it's the individual attention each child receives that makes the Wesley School unique. In a time of crowding in public and private schools, Johnson added the low teacher-to-student ratio ensures that each student gets the proper attention to perform well in the classroom.
"The normal school would have a difficult time (dealing with special-needs kids) because of the large numbers," Johnson said. "You just can't provide the individual attention a segment of children need."
The Wesley School opened its doors in 1972 when it was known as the Whitehaven Methodist Day School. Years later, the school eliminated its regular programs in favor of teaching children with learning disabilities. By August 2000, the Wesley School moved to its current location in Collierville.
According to Johnson, roughly 10 percent of children suffer from some sort of disability, and of that 10 percent, about half are diagnosed with a learning disorder. At the Wesley School, teachers help students with problems such as speech delay, dyslexia or attention deficit disorder.
"One of the things about this school is that it's a very nurturing and loving environment. A lot of kids who come into this school, they have met failure for two or three years and their self- concept is pretty shocked," Johnson said.
" We spend a lot of time working with social skills and to improve their self-concept, helping a child believe in themselves and that they can succeed."
Once the students show signs of improvement, the child can then be reinstated into a typical school for children.
"What makes us unique is that our main objective is to get them back to a regular program," he said. "So many of the other schools that concentrate on special-needs children keep the kids until they either graduate or go beyond the grade level they serve."
Source: Commercial Appeal, The
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