Text Box: Our Story The Achievement Academy is the realization of a four-year-long dream for Barbie Lauver, the mother of a teen-age boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder/ADHD and co-founder of the Asperger’s Syndrome/High Functioning Autism Support Group in Las Vegas, Nevada. After experiencing too many years watching her son struggle and fail academically and socially in traditional schools, she felt it was vital to create an educational environment that would benefit her son and other children with similar academic and social challenges. Barbie’s dream began to come to fruition when she joined with other professionals and parents who had similar stories and shared the same vision. On May 7, 2007, The Achievement Academy, Inc. was formed to serve students with Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, ADD, and similar learning differences and social skills deficits . Originally serving students in grades 1-8, beginning in 2011 another grade will be added until the school is serving first through twelfth grade students. One of the most unique features of the school is its emphasis on teaching social skills and life skills development. We believe that schools must teach these skills because intellectual achievement alone does not ensure success in society, especially if the person has a social skills deficiency. - - - - - - - - With each advancing school year, increasing demands are placed upon students for more self-initiated, independent academic performance and active group participation. This can be problematic for children with learning disabilities who become easily distracted, have short attention spans, and have a hard time staying on task. In addition, students who have not acquired the social behaviors necessary to effectively and appropriately interact with peers and adults in the school setting often do not achieve up to their educational potential. Often their social deficits cause them to become misunderstood by their teachers and classmates and mislabeled as unmotivated, rude or weird. The above circumstances can eventually have a profound, negative effect on their self esteem, academic achievement and behavior. Therefore, in order for these children to have successful experiences at school, they need to be in an educational setting that: develops academic skills based on their unique strengths and learning styles; remediates and enhances social and communications skills necessary to navigate the various social situations in which they live, work and play; and teaches life skills necessary to manage the demands of daily life in the home, community and future work settings. The Achievement Academy’s innovative program integrates a specialized, research-based educational curriculum with social and life skills training in order to promote strong academic achievement, social communication, peer relations, and self-advocacy development. We offer a supportive, nurturing environment and multi-instructional strategies to address the students’ diverse learning styles. - - - - - - - - Regrettably, a lot of our children are subjected to teasing in mainstream schools and classrooms, and bullies tend to be their mainstream role models. In April 2007, NBC World News Tonight reported that 90 percent of children with Asperger's Syndrome are getting bullied on a daily basis. It’s also a sad fact that the majority of children on the autism spectrum have difficulty in making or keeping friends due to their poor social skills. While typical children learn these basic skills simply by exposure to social situations, children on the autism spectrum often need to be taught skills explicitly. Unfortunately, the traditional school establishments are unable to provide intensive and consistent daily social skills interventions and training to help facilitate friendships and appropriate peer relationships. The Achievement Academy believes that by bringing together a specific population of children who face comparable challenges, our students will truly be in an environment that understands and accepts them. Perhaps for the first time in their lives these children can enjoy belonging to a real peer group, rather than existing alone in a traditional school environment. As a result, our students can feel comfortable taking risks and participating in areas that they might have not previously attempted. This nurturing, compassionate, multi-instructional program enables our students to develop skills and effective strategies for use in academic and real-life social settings. # # #

THE ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMY’S

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Achievement Academy is an accredited private school designed specifically for students in Grades 1-9

with Learning Differences and Social Challenges including Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Text Box: The Achievement Academy

       * * * Bringing Learning to Life * * *

Where children have the opportunity to achieve their full potential

academically, emotionally, and socially.