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The Learning Tree Paramus, NJ
Auburn, AL • Mobile, AL
The Learning Tree, Inc. is a non-profit organization that exists to provide a warm and loving environment with individualized, empirically validated services and supports to persons with significant educational, medical, and behavioral challenges; helping them develop and maintain a quality of life expected by non-disabled members of their family and community.
The organization was incorporated as a non-profit in l983 by three parents of children with multiple disabilities who sought to establish an environment that would nurture, challenge, and provide individualized instruction where the children would not be stigmatized and hidden in the corner of the school; served by trained professionals who want to work with them and not by those with the least amount of experience. These parents had been previously told by educators that their children weren’t capable of learning.
These parents approached Pat Murphy and Jerre Brimer, two educators who had worked with their children as team teachers in the public school setting, and asked them to help establish such a school. They sought a school that could not only provide educational services, but also 24 hour care on a year round basis so that consistency could be established and systematic data based programming could be more adequately implemented.
The organization maintains three residential schools in Alabama - one each in Mobile, Jacksonville, and Tallassee - for children with autism spectrum disorders and other intellectual disabilities. In addition, it operates The Little Tree Preschools in Mobile, Jacksonville, and Auburn and a consulting program for public schools and other organizations. Non-residential services for elementary aged students are anticipated in the latter part of 2009 through Woody’s Song, a program currently under development.
Services are supervised and provided by a variety of professionals including certified teachers, psychologists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, social workers, speech and language pathologists, physical and occupational therapists, licensed practical nurses, and registered nurses. Each geographic location has developed relationships with local universities allowing course credit for on site activities including internships and practicums for students from a variety of departments including, Psychology, Education and, Children and Family Services.
Additionally, the Tallassee campus and Auburn’s preschool serves as a practicum site for Auburn University’s Master’s degree program in Applied Behavior Analysis. The Mobile preschool serves as a practicum site for the University of South Alabama’s undergraduate psychology program for students seeking certification as a BCaBA. These relationships with universities allow practical experience for students and additional professional resources for the The Learning Tree, Inc. Each site employs multiple Board Certified Behavior Analysts for a total of more than 20 BCBAs employed throughout the organization.
In 26 years of service, The Learning Tree has grown from four students and two staff persons at one small school to 80 students and over 500 employees with three residential campuses, three inclusive preschools, and a consultation program for public school systems and other agencies. In all those years, the school has not deviated from its original mission, to provide quality individualized education to those served and, has developed a reputation within many states for successfully serving those children who engage in severely challenging behavior.