By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
The Newgrange Independent School for children with dyslexia will open this September in the Lutheran Church of the Messiah on Nassau Street, where the Newgrange Education Center currently resides.
The school will only have grades one through five in order to focus on younger children with dyslexia.
Gordon Sherman, the executive director of the Newgrange School and Education Center, said the school is about the concept of neural plasticity.
”Brains change throughout lifetimes and at early ages the brain changes more quickly — it’s essential with dyslexic children,” said Mr. Sherman. “If you identify them early and use the right techniques, you can see amazing things happen and that’s what we’re all about.”
Mr. Sherman has more than 25 years of research experience related to the development of the brain and the understanding of developmental dyslexia.
The staff will use Orton-Gillingham and Wilson reading techniques, which will help determine what each child needs as he or she becomes more successful. Teachers will be able to examine if they are teaching correctly and ensure the children are making the progress expected of them.
Educators will also use a designed thinking approach in the classrooms, which aims to build success and create creativity by having students work together to design projects and share their successes as a group.
”Our staff is the best trained in the area and in the United States in all techniques they need to use with dyslexia,” said Mr. Sherman. “We train around the country, learn from other people and bring it back into our school.”
In addition to focusing extra attention on reading and writing, the school’s curriculum will also include art, science, music and technology. Laptops, iPads and innovative programs will be used not only for reading, but to bring out the children’s creativity.
”We not only dealing with weaknesses, but also with strengths,” said Mr. Sherman. “One of the things that make us stand out is our belief in the talents and strengths in dyslexic people.”
Parents will fund the Newgrange Independent School and tuition will be $28,000. However, for the first year tuition will be $25,000. There will also be a few small scholarships available, especially for the first parents who sign up.
The public school district funds the current Newgrange School in Hamilton, but Mr. Sherman said they didn’t want to go in that direction with the Princeton location. He explained they don’t have a lot of opportunities to work with the younger children in Hamilton because districts don’t identify the children until they are older when it becomes an obvious issue.
The Hamilton Newgrange School is also different in that student ages range from 7 to 21 who have other learning disabilities in addition to language-based disabilities.
By not relying on public funds, Mr. Sherman said they would also have more flexibility to use cutting edge techniques.
Due to the focus on individualized instruction, the school will only have around 25 slots and parents will have to drive their children to the location.
However, Mr. Sherman said there might be a possibility of expanding the school and adding grades in the future.
”Once our concept is proven, we will be looking for a bigger location in Princeton,” he said. “We will grow as big as we need to serve the population area.”
The Newgrange Independent School will hold an open house on March 25 at the Lutheran Church on Nassau Street from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
