Giving Tuesday

MISSION: Northland Early Education Center (NEEC) provides early education and therapy services for children who have special needs as well as early education for children who have typical needs, in a fully inclusive classroom environment, in order for them to reach their full potential. 

The early education/preschool classrooms at NEEC are fully inclusive, grouping children with their like-aged peers regardless of their developmental level. This environment provides children with special needs the opportunity to learn by watching and imitating their peers, as well as teaching children who are typically developing the important life lessons of diversity, compassion, and acceptance. In this environment, children with special needs often reach developmental milestones ahead of schedule; while providing typically developing children with the self-confidence they need to succeed in public school and beyond.  

With student-to-teacher ratios below state-mandated levels, NEEC follows the Project Construct Curriculum model, an approach to learning grounded in the idea that children develop knowledge through interaction with their physical and social environments. Through hands-on, minds-on creative experiences, students in NEEC classrooms attain deep understandings in core content areas, while also learning to work collaboratively with adults and peers to become lifelong problem solvers.  

NEEC classrooms also provide social-emotional learning through the evidence-based, trauma-informed study of the brain called Conscious Discipline. A study by Harvard’s authors says, “Conscious Discipline provides an array of behavior management strategies and classroom structures that teachers can use to turn everyday situations into learning opportunities.” This prepares children to be able to function in their years in elementary school as well as in the community.  

NEEC also provides a before and after school/summer program for children in grades kindergarten through 5th who have special needs. This program serves a need that is not addressed in public schools, as children with special needs often require more supervision and assistance than their peers with typical needs. The L4L program focuses on sensory integration and preparing the students to be active community members through life skills training. 

Knowing how critical early intervention services are for children who have special needs, NEEC provides physical and occupational therapies, speech and language pathology, special instruction, and applied behavioral analysis (ABA) through its essential Early Intervention Services (EIS) program for these children starting at birth. The primary goal of the EIS program is to ensure that all children with special needs are reaching their Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, preparing them to transition into typical kindergarten classrooms while allowing them to reach their full potential.