If you are struggling to find a school that "gets" your neurodivergent child, look no further. We…read morewent from daily battles and school refusals to a son who now comes home beaming, sharing everything he's learned. The team here is incredible--think " true angels" and "big teddy bears" with expert teaching skills. They've replaced my son's frustration with pure confidence. Ms. Kathy in the elementary department is a true hero! We are forever grateful to Pine Hills for giving our son a place to finally belong and thrive. 5 stars isn't enough.

I'll admit, when our home school district first recommended placing my child at PHS, I was very…read morereluctant. I read some reviews online that were, frankly, horrifying. So with a lot of reservations and misgivings, I set up an appointment to tour the school and meet with staff. My initial, still somewhat skeptical reaction to the visit was that it "wasn't as bad as I expected." His shadowing days were rather mixed. The first day, a Wednesday, was "awful" according to him and he got in the car crying and refused to ever go back. But after a cooling off period, I got him to try again on Monday and he had a wonderful day and told me how much he loved it. That was six months ago (give or take) and my son has now been enrolled since the summer program in 2022. He is doing so well both academically but also in his behavior. I believe two things are the overwhelming contributors to this: 1) his class is quite small and he is finally getting the attention he craves (that has often prompted inappropriate attention-seeking behaviors in the past). 2) Negative behavior doesn't give him a free pass to go home for 2-3 days or a week (with a suspension). In addition to these, he is also rewarded, praised, and recognized (attention, attention, attention!) for good behavior. Importantly, he is gaining much-needed confidence and learning to ENJOY school. He also tells me that it is so nice to feel like his classmates "get" him. His teacher, Miss Kathy has done amazing work with him and is a great communicator with the parents as well. The other staff are wonderful as well. In particular, the Dean of Students, Mr. Wallace is deeply engaged and puts his whole heart into connecting with students and improving the school and its programs. I am so glad that I overcame my initial reservations (and my son's!) so that he's a chance to learn to be a better student and have a positive school experience.

Mr. Neil was a fantastic instructor who really helped our son grow and develop over the two years…read morewe worked with Gold Speech. Mr. Neil took time after each meeting to speak to us about our son's goals and development. Ms. Louise was a wonderful assistant teacher. Really amazing team that we would highly recommend.

Had an outstanding experience getting my fender bender repaired on my Porsche. The team was super…read moreknowledgeable, professional and courteous. The final workmanship was fully up to the mark. Highly recommend them

Leigh was truly a game-changer for our IEP triennial meeting. It was the first IEP meeting that was…read morea collaborative effort, and didn't feel like we were on oppositional sides with the IEP team. She really set the tone from the beginning and signaled collaboration. She also held the team accountable to how they wrote IEP goals and made sure they truly supported our kiddo. For once, we finally got most of the supports our child needs, but it also felt effortless because Leigh is such an incredible IEP family coach and professional. A Million Stars, if I could give them. She made all the difference for our child.

Taylor is the best special education advocate l've ever worked with. She is kind, compassionate and…read morepatient. Not to mention so incredibly knowledgeable. She made it feel easy and doable to navigate the San Jose Ca school system for my son. She's the person you want on your side in IEP meetings . Thank you Taylor!

If you're looking for support for yourself, or your child with special needs, this is a place to…read morecome to and ask questions! Most of the staff here has a family member with a disability so they're able to understand the unique experiences that come from raising a child with a disability and connect with people with that perspective. There's no judgment here, just information, resources, empathy, and empowerment. - webinars, support groups, online learning - check out their website to see the list of things they can offer. Most services are free. They have a support staff that can provide information about community resources, working with the regional center, early start programs, educational systems, accommodations and modifications, individualized, education programs, and more. They keep your information confidential. Reach out to them if you have a child with a disability, and have questions!

I have special need thank you for creating BFF project where we can have a safe place to have fun…read moreand make you some good people

Scott is a very positive person. From the initial consultation to the in-home visit, he was…read moreattentive, professional, a great listener and created a sense of trust right away. He took the time to understand our concerns as the school system can really be a lot stressful. He responds to emails quickly which makes the communication a lot easier and reassuring. We look forward to working with him through the IEP process. Highly recommended.

Navigating the school system can be intimidating, but Scott gave us our voice. He is professional,…read morecalm, and super responsive. He helped us secure a solid 504 plan as well as crucial Home Hospital instruction for our child that was so crucially needed during his recent post surgery recovery. If you need someone to fight for your child's education, he is the person to contact. We are so thankful to have met him!

Our son has been evaluated by DLS a few years ago for learning differences and ADHD and we have…read morebeen attending regular therapy sessions here ever since. John Fleming is the kind mastermind behind the center and its approach to helping children and parents alike. We call him a gem of a human, truly. His precise and detailed IEP has helped our school so much, is easy to follow and most importantly allows our son to thrive at school. We were blessed to be matched with our phenomenal therapist Anne-Laure Grigsby who we absolutely love and who became such an invaluable part of our family in regard to our son's educational journey. Anne-Laure is highly professional, knowledgeable and extremely supportive in every possible way, but more than that, she is very patient, kind, loving and intuitive in customizing his sessions to what is most needed at any given time. Anne-Laure has a gift of always putting our son in good spirits even though he suffers from depression while teaching him and helping him with challenging tasks. He has improved so much, gained confidence and genuinely enjoys his sessions on a weekly basis. We are so grateful to DLS for all the improvements and will continue with our sessions for as long as needed.

My son has been attending Ed Therapy for ADHD and learning differences for nearly 2 years. I cannot…read morestress how invaluable our twice weekly sessions are with Sujatha Srinivasan. John Flemming has reviewed school assessments for us and consulted on our IEP. I don't want to think how much more of a struggle this would be without them. Forever grateful for the work of this organization.

TLDR: best school I've ever seen. The amount of work they put into the emotional well-being of…read morekids is astonishing. Teacher-student ratio is 4 (students) to 1 (teacher), students cherish every minute of the school. Where do I start? Probably 2 years ago, in a public school, where my sweet, bright, curious, always friendly 7 y o turned into a severely depressed, school-hating, crazy-acting, constantly talking about self-harm sad little person. Every day I would receive emails from school saying that my son would go above and beyond trying to escape from English classes. At home, he would beg me day and night not to take him to school. For home much longer could I stomach that? I took him out, and put him in homeschooling. Diagnosed him for dyslexia (that was pretty obvious), and started working with him myself and with dyslexia tutors. And... that did not help much! He was so confident that there was something fundamentally wrong with him, and these special classes made him believe it even more. I tried to see if he would like a couple of small private schools, he made it very clear that he would not. I was at loss, but, luckily, his therapist recommended Athena, and we signed up for a summer camp. On the first day, I had to drag him there, he came back smiling and with a forgotten peace inside. A few more days of camp - and my happy, curious, confident kid was back again!! 1,5 years later, I still feel like crying as I am writing it. It, of course, took him about a year of Athena enrollment to truly believe that he can be anyone he wants, that dyslexia is actually a superpower (now, when they taught him to read, he can read upside down and mirrored text, that is indeed a dyslexia perk). He's made a lot of friends. Teachers adore him, and he loves them back. He reads everything now. I drive him from South San Jose to Palo Alto and back, 2 hours per day. I pay expensive tuition (more that half of what I make), and I regret nothing. I would like to add that every person that works at Athena is very kind, not just polite and smiling, but deeply caring about the students. There is a lot of 1-o-1 work with each child. Teachers prepare the topics that interest students. Students, that have even deeply traumatized by their learning experience somewhere else, thrive. Thank you so much, Athena founders, teachers, and administration, for making this heavenly school.

Our child went to Athena Academy for 5 years, and I can say without hesitation that this is a…read morewonderful school for kids who are dyslexic, and who may also be 2E, and who are bright but not a good fit for public schooling. The faculty and staff and head of school are caring, experienced, and sensitive to the needs of both the student and their families. The teachers, especially those who have been there a while, are exceptional. The culture is one of kindness and respect and acceptance and joy. The small student body means that the classes are small, and personalized. In short, this is a gem of a school.

My son is going to FCSN for more than three months and they r the best . My son loves to go there…read moredaily and they care like family .

The staff here really cares about their adults and children with special needs that use this…read morefacility. They do fun activities with the children every day from 4-5 pm. They give them snacks and free time with puzzles and out door equipment while they wait for the daily activity. With the equipment they have they work well with the children. If you walk in on a random day you may see teenagers gazing at a wall, these are volunteers, there to fulfill their community service requirements. I have met a few volunteers that are great with the kids and excited to work with them, but for the most part they just sit there, which is not the staff's fault. My favorite activity that they do is music class, where a couple of volunteers come with bubbles, tambourines and music to sing and dance with the children, everyone has so much fun! Ms. Campbell, one of the directors is the absolute sweetest woman I have ever met, who deals so well with the children and their behaviors.