Academy of Physical and Social Development

We highly recommend the Academy. We had our child in one of their programs for almost a year now. It’s been very helpful. Something we can’t fully claim from working with a couple of child psychologists in the past. Every kid is different, but it seems that an environment with a group of peers was a better place to learn and mature socially, at least in our case.
The program that we were in definitely works. The Academy was very helpful to us. We’ve received some great parenting ideas and strategies. All in all, we can highly recommend the program. It’s not for every child, definitely not, but if you child struggles to keep up with his peers socially, this might be a good place to try.
As far as billing issues mentioned in one of the reviews here, we’ve never had any issues. It’s a small organization, it’s not a retail business, but we’ve never had any customer service issues. In fact, we have always been able to easily get in touch with someone via phone or email.

I’ve been meaning to write a review on this place for about two years now. First of all, I can’t tell you how much they pissed me off — twice, in fact.
I can’t comment on the therapeutic benefit of the Academy. We enrolled our son (CM) for about 9 months at the encouragement of his teachers. Enrollment is by quarter and paid in advance. Does my son have social problems? I don’t think so. Did his social skills improve after he attended? Hard to say. Maybe he’s a little less pigheaded and dominating.
OK, here’s what bothered me:
We called the Academy for an initial meeting with the Director. We were assessing the place and its programs. It is a for-​profit operation, although they promote the fact they provide training for graduate students from BC and other local colleges. We had a pleasant meeting and then a week or two later, I get a bill for $ 60. Here I am paying for the privilege to learn about the programs. I called to inquire, got an evasive answer but paid the bill anyway.
Near the end, I ran into problems with one of the lead counselors. Very, very sanctimonious. Started hitting me with the mandated reporter threats. She only had a small snapshot of what was going on. I was dealing with something I was fully aware of and I didn’t need the added stress of her threats. I am being purposely non-​specific here. I know what the problem is and I have dealt with it successfully for many years. OK, lead counselor, you tell me I have a problem. I know I have a problem (the problem isn’t with me or my child). So give me a solution to my problem. I bet she couldn’t.
Here’s the stupidity… if you are going to threaten me at an activity that is voluntary on my part, I’m not going to come back. I’m not going to put myself or my son in harms way.
They say they’re good, and if they say they’re good, they must be good. Don’t believe it. And trust your gut about your child. And his or her teachers.