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Finding Success in School and Life

While our students bring with them a wide range of diagnoses and challenging behaviors, the NEARI School is a place they can succeed – sometimes for the first time – because they feel both understood and respected. If your student fits one or more of these categories below, he or she could fit comfortably as part of the NEARI School community.

+ Attentional or Hyperactive Disorders

  • Diffuclty focusing on academics (but may be able to play video games for hours)
  • “blurting” things out verbally
  • Fidgety, needing to move often
  • Becomes distracted easily
  • Interrupts frequenty
  • Talks rapidly
  • Can become frustrated easily
  • Excutive Funtioning deficits

+ Learning Disabilities

  • Difficutly reading fluently
  • Comprehension deficits
  • Difficutly planning and organization
  • May be "clumsy" or have gross motor delays
  • Has trouble processing auditory information
  • Has poor fine motor skills (ex. holding a pencil)

+ Trauma (PTSD)

  • Over responds to certain things (images, sounds, smells)
  • Appears spacey or not “present”
  • Feeling overwhelmed or "flooded"
  • Intense avoidance, particulary of difficult situations

+ Mood Disorders: Depression, Disruptive Mood Disregulation, Anxiety, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Seasonal Affective

  • Has an difficutly managing feelings
  • Struggles at certain times of year
  • Worries excessivly
  • Low frustration tolerance
  • Has rapidly changing moods or extreme mood swings
  • Has strong emotional reactions to minor issues

+ Pervasive Developmental Disorder

(PDD: Asperger’s, High-Functioning Autism (ASD), NVLD, PDD-NOS)

  • Difficulty recognizing social cues
  • Has trouble making or keeping friends
  • Benifits from concrete instructions
  • Experiences challenges making transitions
  • Gets stuck on seemingly unimportant issues (perseverates)

+ Mental Health Problems

  • May hear or see things others don't, may feel like their mind is "playing tricks" on them
  • Is extremely mistrusting or paranoid
  • Displays extreme mood swings
  • Says or does things that don’t make any sense to others

+ Social Pragmatic Disorders

  • Mis-perceives social cues
  • Has difficulty understanding and communicating their feelings
  • Has difficulty making friends and relating effectively with peers
  • Expresses emotions at an unexpected time and/or place
  • Overreacts to minor frustrations and/or challenges

+ Self-Regulation Issues

  • Experiences “melt downs” when under stress
  • “Acts out” when experiences fear, anger, sadness, etc.
  • Withdraws in emotionally charged environments or when confronted
  • Has low frustration tolerance
  • Responds intensively to certain sensory stimuli or absence thereof