Specialized Education in Houston, TX

River Oaks Academy programming and interactions with students follow different social-learning and cognitive-behavioral principles. These are the most effective strategies known in the evidence-based literature for developing students’ social and behavioral skills. The learning community created by our staff teaches and encourages students to make functional and effective choices. Attentional problems, distractibility, mood regulation problems, and the like are all amenable to cognitive-behavioral interventions.

Listening to students’ concerns and being able to discern and address student needs require training and experience. We are confident in our special needs program staff, who are trained to respect differences and interact in ways that work with presenting issues, not in confrontation with them. This includes providing structure and guidance throughout every school day.

Additionally, our staff is trained to work with different student learning styles and capacities, which are key to understanding how to teach students of all kinds. Our staff is experienced in assessing students’ styles and using them to their educational advantage.

There is a myriad of ways to break down a lesson into small building blocks that enhance a student’s capacity to learn. There are also a variety of educational materials and modifications that are used to teach and remediate areas of learning. Since our classes have small student-teacher ratios, your child will receive the individualized attention needed to succeed.

River Oaks Academy is proudly accredited by the following well-established and widely renowned organizations:

• Cognia, formerly, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Students who graduate from the 12th grade receive a valid diploma, and credits earned at River Oaks Academy are transferable.

River Oaks Academy serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade. All grade levels are offered in small classroom environments. Your child will receive significantly more teacher attention from us than in the vast majority of schools due to our low student-teacher ratios (approximately 1:7, not including paraprofessionals). Classes are grouped according to grade as well as academic levels.

As a TEA-approved school, River Oaks Academy follows the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum, with full details available on the TEA website.

River Oaks Academy offers specialized programming for those with learning differences, specific learning styles, and behavioral health needs. Such special education programs include the possibility of college admission and vocational training.

Some students require specific strategies to compensate for learning differences or learning disabilities. These problems typically affect reading, writing, and arithmetic and, therefore, secondarily affect most other areas of academic learning.

There is a wide and sometimes frustrating range of good and bad theories and approaches to helping students with learning differences. The one that fits your child may not be the one that fits another. Our IEP approach seeks to find the strategies that work for each child. Learning Disabilities of America provides more information on this issue.

There are different types of learners, depending on their learning styles: visual, auditory, and multisensory

learners. River Oaks Academy implements the curriculum that best fits your child’s needs. We provide a wide variety of learning materials, such as textbooks on tape, video series learning, and online learning, among others, to enhance the teaching and learning opportunities available to our students.

Some students have a need to develop social skills and emotional or behavioral control skills. These children may be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder. River Oaks Academy has licensed therapists and specialists who provide planned interventions and develop classroom strategies to help students develop ways of managing themselves and staying focused on their schoolwork.

Some students come with sensitive challenges that require integrated and managed programs and services. They are thoroughly evaluated before receiving these services. Programming is also multifaceted, accommodating students with learning differences as well as physical, emotional, and behavioral issues.

Different cases may require different service providers, such as therapists, speech pathologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other doctors currently providing services. We integrate the various aspects of these services as needed and carefully coordinate everything to optimize outcomes.

Students in this program may be at River Oaks Academy for varying lengths of time. Many stay at our school for significant portions of their academic careers. Others stay for a short period of time to make the progress they need to transition to a public or private school of their choice.