OCEAN STATE ACADEMY
Ocean State Academy Learning Center serves students aged 5–22 in the Providence, Rhode Island, region who have been diagnosed with autism or other developmental disorders. As we skillfully and compassionately attend to the academic, behavioral, vocational, and therapeutic needs of our students every day, we take great pride in and dedicate great care to our roles as educators, caretakers, counselors, and overall champions of our incredible group of students.
Here at OSALC, we diligently create and then expertly implement individualized evidence-based educational programs targeted at our students’ particular abilities and aptitudes. Here, we offer empowering and supportive curriculums and personalized learning plans so that each child can progress at their own pace within a diverse environment characterized by acceptance, engagement, and patience. Here, we embrace the belief of learning without limits, so that our students can maximize their functionality and explore their world with interest and curiosity. If you have a child with the unique needs in which we specialize, here is where they belong.
Multidisciplinary Learning
Our students receive a collaborative, integrated approach across educational disciplines. Too often, learning is segregated in separate environments. At OSALC, we incorporate an expansive range of domains and modalities—our behavioral system, sensory integration techniques, speech, language, occupational, and physical therapy, ELA, math, and more—into every activity, in every environment, throughout the day.
Individualized Support
An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed for each student based on particular strengths, needs, and goals. Our entire support team—from the referring school district to the parents to OSALC’s diverse faculty—unites to design a holistic, integrative program model specific to the individual student. The long-term aim is to have each student transition to the least restrictive setting in which they can continue to advance and achieve.
Community-Based Education
OSALC students learn about their world by actually experiencing the world around them. We engage them as much as possible, whenever possible, with field trips and outings to various places of interest throughout our region. By exploring our area and the people who populate it, our students see, touch, hear, smell, and connect with their surroundings, bringing the lessons they learn to the classroom and vice versa.
Skilled & Caring Staff
Our school has long been known for the deep connections we forge with our families—a reputation and a legacy we find immensely gratifying. We are constantly reaching beyond the walls of our classrooms to provide support to our families, to educate and to empathize with them, and to help them negotiate the multiple systems of care available to them within the state of Rhode Island.