At New Heights, we work with the whole child. We encourage learning through the hands, the head and the heart. It is our goal to empower the children to develop skills and strategies for successful integration.

The Preschool Program
The New Heights preschool program is specially designed for children with autism and other related disorders. Our program is based on the Learning Preferences and Strengths model. With this model, we identify and engage each individual child's learning aptitudes and abilities, as well as his or her unique areas of interest, to ensure maximum growth and development. Typically, children enrolled in our programs make gains of 1 1/2 months for every month of programming. Most children attend our preschool for at least two years, typically starting at 2 1/2 to 3 years of age.

Our Curriculum
We use a language/literature-based curriculum at New Heights. Each month, we focus on one book that is chosen to enhance the children's development and school-readiness skills. The monthly book is the theme for most classroom activities. As the children's experience and abilities progress throughout the year, the literature and related activities become more complex to cover a wider range concepts and skills.

A giant caterpillar painting was made by the afternoon preschool classes to coincide with June's storybook theme, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.

Our Schedule
The New Heights preschool schedule runs from 9:00 am to 11:30 am for the morning classes and from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm for the afternoon classes. Each class has a teacher and an education assistant, with a maximum of six children per class.

Our daily timetable includes times for group sharing, reading, listening, creative play, science, experimenting and discovery, sensory play, gross-motor activities, art, printing and computers. The length of time spent at any of these activities is systematically increased throughout the year as each child's attention and stamina increases.