Academy Helps Special Students Thrive

East Haddam houses the only accredited college preparatory boarding school in the United States that focuses exclusively on students with nonverbal learning differences and Asperger’s Syndrome.

The Franklin Academy, a private, co-educational learning institute nestled in the woods off River Road, meets the standards of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Opened in September 2003 with 39 students, it now houses 90 boarding and seven day students from 25 states and six countries. The teacher-to-student ratio is two-to-one.

It is generally believed that NLD is a neurological disorder in which a person's ability to proces nonverbal and visual information is impaired. Asperger's is a disorder that is characterized by some degree of repetitive patterns of behavior and difficulties in social interaction.

“The kids that we serve are at the very high end on the autism spectrum, with IQs of 120 — very, very bright. They have the highest potential of any students I have ever taught," Headmaster Frederick Weissbach said. The students share a significant number of strengths and weaknesses.”

Some of the strengths are auditory perception, rote memory, computer skills and alternative thinking. Possible weaknesses include social skills, time management, emotional regulation and math.

In describing a typical NLD or AS student, Weissbach said, “They are polite and rule-oriented. Because they have usually been bullied by their peers at some time in other schools, they turn to adults more for social interaction. Most of them have an auditory learning style preference.”

NLD and AS students share difficulties such as experiencing sensory overload when subjected to an environment that is too loud or bright, so classroom are kept dim. These difficulties are similar enough for the Academy to serve both populations successfully at the same time. Nonverbal learners are better at taking in information by hearing it than by seeing it.

This is not always the case with Asperger's. The academy assists students with NLD and AS challenges by teaching to their strengths in a program designed to support the students’ learning styles.

All teenagers, these students enjoy riding bikes around the campus. They love many activities like walking in the woods. “Saturday afternoon and evening, we have a full set of activities off-campus. Sometimes we go to Madison for the day, or take in a show at Goodspeed, go to Mystic, do a community service project or some of the students will go play bingo at one of the churches. We are part of this community,” said Weissbach.

They also have internship projects during their senior year. In the past, students have worked for the First Selectman and helped out in kindergarten classes, among other things.

“If you define your rationale of being an educator as making it better for students, it doesn’t get any better than this. This is the most rewarding work I have ever done,” Weissbach said.

The graduating class in 2010 went on to 34 higher education institutions, such as Brandeis University, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Northeastern University.

For tuition information, call (860) 873-2700 or e-mail admission@fa-ct.org.

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