The Joy School

Specialties

The Joy School is where kids go to rediscover the joy in learning. We teach kids in grades K-​8 who have learning differences like dyslexia, dysgraphia, social issues, expressive/​receptive language disorders and more.

GOALS

* Provide remedial academic instruction in order to grant students the opportunity to improve their performance so their test scores more closely match their expected grade level

* Allow all students to be successful in order to promote higher self-​esteem

* Create opportunities to practice positive pragmatic skills, including self-​advocacy

* Support students and their parents in finding appropriate schools for placement following attendance at The Joy School

* Promote a professional environment that values creative thought, qualitative judgment and decision making and where professional growth and collaboration are supported and respected

* Provide consultation services, training and resource information for parents, professionals and schools not directly involved with The Joy School in order to increase community awareness regarding the needs of students with learning differences

History

Established in 1997.

In 1997, a team of educators, clinicians, and parents founded The Joy School in Houston to meet the needs of students with learning differences. Its founders included Dr. Jerome Rosner, an optometrist whose 40 years of research involved children with learning differences; and Shara Bumgarner, at the time an elementary public school teacher and now Head of School.

When the doors opened in 1997, The Joy School had just four students. Today it educates 129 children from kindergarten through the eighth grade. In 2011, we proudly became the first and only school for children with learning differences in the Greater Houston area to receive accreditation by the Independent School Association of the Southwest. Over the past 15 years, we have touched the lives of over 350 students, most who have mainstreamed or graduated back to traditional school environments.

Meet the Manager

Shara B.

Manager

PHILOSOPHY

We believe that students with learning differences learn best when given opportunities to

* Be viewed and taught as individuals with unique strengths, weaknesses and learning styles

* Understand and respect individual strengths, weaknesses and learning styles in others

Set reasonable and achievable goals for themselves

* Discover and accept their personal strengths, weaknesses and learning styles and practice advocating for themselves based on these qualities

* Receive remedial instruction in areas they find difficult, while being allowed to excel in other areas

Learn in small group settings

* Participate in activities which allow them to work directly on social skills