Why our private school embraces atypical students

After celebrating our graduation last month, we cannot help but be beyond proud of how far our students have come. From their first interviews at AVRO to receiving acceptance letters from universities and colleges, the growth we witness every year in our students is inspiring and rewarding. We are going to miss them like crazy.

So what does “atypical learner” mean? It is more than just being different. Atypical learners are a large and diverse group of students who often share many traits and challenges while also having their own individual styles. Like every child, no two are the same. At AVRO, our private school supports students who are gifted, students diagnosed or undiagnosed with high-functioning autism, Asperger’s, or ADHD, and some who are dealing with depression, bullying, or social anxiety. We believe these kids deserve every support and more at school.

What do they need to succeed?

No matter the challenges, these students share several common needs in order to succeed. All of these unique learners need space to be themselves without judgement, more understanding, more flexibility, and fewer distractions. From there, we add guidance and help them build rapport with a teaching team they can trust every day. We create a learning environment that works with them rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach to education. Most importantly, they need parents who see and support them as the individuals they are.

Need	How AVRO responds
Pressure and anxiety	We ease unnecessary pressure and pace the work
Focus and attention	Small classes and structure that hold attention
Confidence	Early wins that rebuild belief in themselves
Connection	Teachers who know each student well

Pull back on pressure and step up on support

Working with our students is a daily balancing act. Thankfully, it is both an innate and a developed skill in our team. Stress and social and academic pressures can distract, derail, and sometimes overwhelm our teens.

In a busy classroom of 25 to 30 kids, stresses are often unavoidable and cause some kids to simply shut down, disengage, and withdraw from learning. But in a classroom of 5 or 6 we can dramatically shift that dynamic and re-engage the student. We uncover their learning style to create individualized education plans, and we add one-on-one therapeutic supports whenever needed, at the right pace for each student.

Many children and youth in Canada are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and many more go undiagnosed. Schools must do more to support every unique learner.

When you feel like you do not fit in, it is not you. You need to find your tribe.

For every teen, socialization and acceptance is key to their confidence, mental health, and wellbeing. For teens on the spectrum, or struggling with anxiety or depression, finding peers who accept and support them can be difficult, as they often mask their challenges in an effort to just fit in. We take great care with our unique tribe of students. With fewer external pressures, they see and accept others while developing social bonds and lasting high school friendships on their own terms.

We learn so much from our kids every day. They teach us almost as much as we teach them. Our mission as an alternative school is to be here to support teens with high-functioning autism and to stop the stigma that gets in their way. Our team invests in working with each student, along with their parents, to create dynamic individualized learning plans and a safe environment where they can thrive.

Together, our graduates received over 30 different acceptance letters from the colleges and universities of their choice. These are the atypical results we are thrilled to celebrate. If this sounds like the support your teen needs, our small classes in midtown Toronto were built for exactly this.