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Overall Bal Swan Philosophy:

There are four main cornerstones to the “Bal Swan Way” that have made it successful since 1963. They are

inclusion, interdisciplinary teaming, individualized education, and love.

Inclusion: We strive to maintain our classrooms with 1/3 children with special needs and 2/3 children with

typical needs. Bal Swan believes that children provide a synergy of learning within groups of varying abilities

and ages. This synergy occurs when children help teach their classmates skills which, in learning theory, is one

of the best ways for mastery of skills. Our children with special needs have typical models that encourage

them to do things that do not occur naturally in a classroom solely comprised of children with special needs. In

turn, our children develop a sense of compassion and understanding about diversity that is greatly needed in

today’s society. These same synergies occur with younger and older children. It has been said that Bal Swan

children can be picked out in the school system because of their wonderful acceptance of others.

Interdisciplinary Teaming to Educate the Whole Child: Bal Swan uses a team approach to educate our

students. Our teachers partner with our therapy staff (which includes speech, occupational, and physical

therapists) to develop an environment where all children’s needs have the best chance of being met. Bal Swan

also has a psychologist that may work on your child’s team. These teams meet regularly to discuss and

facilitate your child’s growth and development. Bal Swan values the parent as the child’s life-long teacher.

Our parents are vital parts of these interdisciplinary teams. There are several scheduled parent-teacher

conferences, informal meetings (as needed), and student profile and assessment documents that help Bal Swan

parents and staff share information about the child. This team approach is a service that benefits all of our

students, as our teachers and parents have more resources to enhance and manage their child’s growth and

development.

Individualized Education: At Bal Swan we focus on each individual child’s developmental needs. Whether it

is physical, language, social/emotional, or cognitive, our teachers assess each child’s needs, develop goals, and

work towards achieving them. Each classroom uses Teaching Strategies Gold Assessment to plan and track our

students’ growth. This is a combined assessment and curriculum that 70% of the Colorado educational

community has adopted to assess each student’s growth and development. We love the program, and you will

too!

Love: This is something that cannot be measured or described but it must be mentioned. So many people

believe there is a feeling of love and caring that can be felt when you enter our center. We believe it comes

from the dedicated team of staff that is the heart of Bal Swan.