PS Academy Arizona is an amazing place with staff that are truly passionate about the well-being of their students. From the enrollment process to the day-to-day, it's obvious they very seriously take their committment to ensuring students are setup in a safe environment where they can thrive. Also I have to mention that the fact that they have dances and clubs like dating do's and don'ts, along with sports like basketball and cheerleading - all of this makes for an excellent high school experience where kids don't feel left out or 'different.' No puzzle pieces or special treatment, just kids being kids!!! I love PS Academy and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a typical high school experience for their teenager. read more

If you have any kids that are autistic or have special needs do not take them to this place. This place is just a money grab and smoke and mirrors. They will gobble up your ESA funds as fast as they can and ask for more. Just a for-profit corporation. read more

Ps academy is a school that puts un a facade of being for people with autism. They are mean to the students who require extra help and only care about esa funds. They will physically drag your child out of the school if they give them the slightest issue. I will say again to emphasize. Our son was confused about the rules and instead of dealing with it like adults, they had 3 male teachers drag him out of the school in front of my eyes. Never send your child to this school. Find a school that will give your child the help they deserve. Edit: they are lying I would never let these brutes touch my child. No authorization given. NEVER BRING YOUR KID TO THIS SCHOOL. The admin is toxic and will do anything to silence your concerns. read more

IF I could give them zero stars it would be to many. They are not equipped to deal with the slightest difficult behaviors. They are obviously not trained in de-escalation techniques. They are in it for the ESA funds. The administration and owners are NON-RESPONSIVE and do not care to improve. They will flat out ignore ANY request to discuss your child. The teachers are amazing but know that your child is only earning a PARTICIPATION certificate and not a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. The only good thing to come of PS Academy is their mismanagement of my child led to a better placement in a reputable school. They only added further trauma by utilizing sloppy physical restraints that were unwarranted. Any "mainstream" school could have handled the situation by simply talking to student. As an educator and behavioral specialist with master's degree and 20 years experience I am well qualified to make an accurate assessment of this school. My advice to you is proceed with caution. read more

To prevent other children and families from being treated poorly, I must warn you about this school! Beware of people that only have the intentions of lining their pockets with your child's ESA funds! My child is more intelligent than the teachers as they only hire teachers who are not required to have a college degree. They will take every dollar and throw you away if you ask too many questions. They don't like parents who pay too close of attention to unethical practices. They even have another business that they can sell you on too! Watch out who clearly care more about what your child can do for them instead of vice versa. Feeding off our special needs children and shifting blame on others. These owners think they can do whatever they want and they make up their own laws! read more

If I could give this place zero stars I would. That's how bad this place is. Most of the staff is disrespectful and rude to parents and students. They do not care about the students they only care about the revenue coming in. We brought concerns to the school multiple times and we were shut down or brushed off multiple times as if our concerns as parents to our students who are attending their school don't matter. The owner, ceo and director are all very confrontational and will do anything to try to intimidate you. Families brought many things to our attention the things were going on and many families decide to pull their students because of the overall experience their students had. They want glory for being an autistic school but don't want the autism that comes with it. It's very sad that these people think they are helping when they are only hurting these students. I would not recommend sending your students to this school. read more

CONGRATULATIONS! My son and his heart are in "PIECES"!!!! There is NO WAY you are properly trained as you've left Rigel in anguish! If you are trained, the 1 priority is MY SON!!! We paid you to teach him and support him and all you've done is RUIN HIS LIFE! You taught him Rules and Consequences and he is going over and over again in his head trying to figure out what PS ACADEMY RULE HE BROKE??? Why don't you tell him because he won't be okay until he knows!!! I KNOW THAT THE owner Kami is certified but when greed makes you forget why you started the school in the first place that you can do this to children and still sleep at night? If you want to run a school, go ahead BUT working with Autisic children that are hypersexed, not getting enough education and you REFUSE PARENTS INVOLVEMENT! Parents HAVE TO BE INVOLVED!!!! What if someone did this to your son? I'm not vengeful because I believe in Karma!Being cold to a parent is one thing but to a student- NEW ALL TIME LOW!!! This takes a special kind of terrible person to do this to a 15 on the spectrum that has been an AMAZING student for SIX YEARS!!! He was never allowed any closure . He doesn't understand what he did wrong? He doesn't understand why they would just throw him away after 6 years! The school said that even though he was concerned about college, his best interest was not to finish 9th grade, be in the play he's worked so hard for and say goodbye to the only other place he's known! He'll NEVER TRUST ANOTHER SCHOOL AGAIN' ALSO, most of the 5 star reviews are FAKE , fraud ! False advertising! Please see the REAL PARENT'S Reviews! Feel free to check Indeed and Linkin for staff reviews! read more

This school definitely talks a good game and looks the part of a good caring autism school. However it is not! The owners and most teachers/admin are only out to look good they do not care about these students as individuals. They want to get the funding for being an autism school but don't want the autism. The owners and admin think they can talk to kids and parents however they want. I had a meeting to address concerns about my daughter and the owner literally laughed and stood over me after slamming her clipboard down trying to intimidate me when she realized she had the wrong one then it was "you need to leave and take your kids with you" as if my kids had anything to do with the meeting or how she acted. So many families have left this school in the past year alone. They do nothing but polish terds here and if you question anything as a parent you will be blacklisted by the school. They don't want parents involved in anything! They gaslight and run their mouths like they are the ones in high school. Oh and don't bother trying to make a complaint about this school unless you have money for a lawyer! Myself and several other parents tried to make complaints to the department of education and we were told that since they are a private school and we signed off to accept esa funds that we signed off our right to complain basically saying we will handle issues ourself. But yes all in all please be aware of this school and how they truly treat students and parents. They are in this business for the wrong reasons and you will see that if you just pay attention. read more

I see that the school is still practicing the same denial practices of having the parents go through several measures to apply for the school and after they decide they are not a good fit, they simply email off a denial letter and don't even bother calling the parents. Is it a lack of compassion or are you just too busy to take the time that you made the parents waste on your enrollment paperwork ? When I asked Bri to check and see why my son was not accepted, it was just *crickets* and never heard back. I see that Mary Beth likes to write responses to posts, so how about this one? Why not tell the parents upfront that you are very full and the acceptance rate is very slim that your child will get in, so that the parents don't waste their time and they can preview several other schools over the summer and not be scrounging last minute to find an alternative placement. Very cold to just send out an email and not call parents back when they want to know why. read more

Our 2 oldest boys (17 & 16 years old) attend PS. They have been attending for the past 4 years. I have had so many happy tears... seeing my son perform playing the guitar(which they taught him how to do) in the rock band, my boys having friends for the first time, theater and talent show performances, positive emails randomly from teachers letting me know when they are showing improvement, getting them to try new foods in culinary class (which is no easy task for kids with autism), and so many more positive experiences! The teachers and staff have always been there for our family and so helpful. My boys have really come out of their shells! And I love all the electives they can be a part of. I am so happy that we found PS! read more

PS Academy Arizona - Performing at the school talent show! - Special Education Near Me - Gilbert, Arizona

This school says they take children with autism, and promote autism awareness; yet the moment a child posses any sort of behavior of autism (in the forms of meltdowns) they are quick to want to rid of your child. Friday was day 3 (half day) and we get an email from my sons teacher stating my son was playing with magnet tiles and a boy used their own toy and crashed down what my son was working on. (my son has autism) Immediately my son loses it and goes into complete melt down mode. Throwing himself, screaming, self stemming (he lightly puts his hands to his neck) Rather than use calming techniques they decide to take my son to his desk and TALK to him about classroom rules...A CHILD WITH AUTISM WHO BARELY SPEAKS and does not have high comprehension. My son loses it because of course they dont want to hear what you have to say if it's not going to help them get into a calm body. So he's pulling the chair and desk on himself etc. His old school would have just removed him, asked him how he was feeling, give him a tight squeeze and say to him something a long the lines of "hey bud I totally understand your upset and angry. It's okay to be angry (insert a way to excert); do you need a deep hug?" something...anything...but no In this email I noticed some keys...teacher used quotes around typical..which already red flagged me..and than proceeded to ask if this if it was typical when denied access or moved to a nonprefered activity. FIRST of all; this was not either of those things..Someone destroyed something he was building..OBVIOUSLY he's going to be visibly angry. second IF it was one of the two things...if its a HARD transition..no count downs, no timers, no setting of example..no visual schedule...no first and than visual..chances are yes he would lose it. I SPECIFICALLY told them he struggles with transitions and requires certain tools. NONE Of which I saw at the meet the staff event. My husband responds to this email immediately. Gets ZERO response on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Come Monday NO response again...except we get a phone call that during a transition my son lost is and to pick him up because he was not in a "learning mindset" and a disruption to the class due to his meltdown. My husbands asks some questions on what she thinks about his status etc. JUST QUESTIONS! We arrive to the school at regular pick up time and they had an ENROLLMENT FORM in hand and ready to be signed!! No discussion on what happened. No seek to understand moment. MIND YOU ITS DAY 4!!! You're supposed to be a school that understands!! I'm honestly appalled and saddened because even despite that on day one and day 2 all we got was great reports... My son has NEVER had issues in schools. They always got to know him, got to know his triggers and got to know what works for him! He's actually SUPER easy given the right tools. We wanted a place of normalcy for him but not a place where he was labeled. YET the first chance this school got Ms Kay was quite quick to label and RID of him. And to be so cold and so horrible about it. Dealing with parents who struggle already enough of finding the right services and spaces for our children and to be treated like this was appalling. I swear I have PTSD to where I don't even want to send my kid anywhere at the moment because my heart can't take that. My son is amazing, and sweet, and kind, and just needs people who have a heart. Next morning my son woke up as normal, got himself his breakfast and was ready to start his morning routine to get ready for school. He asked if we were going to see Ms Laura and said that he likes school too bad Ms Laura didn't care enough to even respond and TRY with him. Too bad Ms Kay was so quick to dismiss him. STAY Away from this place if your child struggles in these areas! A simple visual and simple deescalation would have sufficed...funny enough he had a trial day at another place he had ZERO issues..they have a VISUAL and VERBAL timer...they have up on their wall a VISUAL schedule...They prep the class with first and thans. Get it together PS! read more

My son attends this school and is in elementary there. Finding this school was one of the best things we ever did to help my son, grow and succeed in academics and socially. The staff is all amazing, kind, and very understanding! We had a hard six month transition last year and they were fully transparent, would communicate openly every day. I would get phone calls from the teacher or emails with any concerns or achievements my son had. I would recommend this school 10 times over than any other school. And I have experience with other autism schools in the East Valley. If you are considering a school, please don't hesitate to send your child to this, Academy! read more

I cannot say enough good things about this wonderful school! They say it takes a village and that couldn't be more true for raising our son, Bearett. The support our family receives from the teachers and staff at PS Academy is so heartfelt and they 'get it' & more importantly they 'get him'. This is the first school our son actually 'wants' to go to everyday. When I pick him up at the end of the day, the first thing he tells me is he had a 'great day' at school... makes me tear up just thinking about it. Bearett struggles with communication & recall, but somehow he's able to tell us different things his teacher (Ms Paula K) and her two aides (Ms. C & Ms. Maddie) taught that day. They are able to tap into how Bearett learns and what makes him tick & that is huge! He's also made friends (which doesn't come easily for our autistic kiddos) and I credit the school in helping foster that sense of community for him. Just this morning he spotted his friend Eli in the drop off carpool lane & couldn't wait to get out of my car to walk into class with him! PS has so many electives he can choose from, as well. He loves his cooking class with Chef Colleen, and his music class with the talented Mr. O, and of course Coach Drew gets him moving in PE, so what's not to love?! Our family is grateful we found PS Academy and Bearett will be finishing his school years here, for sure! read more

PS Academy Arizona - PS Acadmey - Special Education Near Me - Gilbert, Arizona

PS Academy has been a gift to my family and to my daughter. An amazing group of educators and staff. So LOVING! So KIND! Caring for my child and helping her blossom into a better, more independent person. The follow through and the "checking in" as well as availability to help me with questions and answers is 2nd to NONE! My daughter LOVES this school! She looks forward to it EVERYDAY! LIFE CHANGING!! Smiles, Learning, fun, friends, giggles, pure happiness ...that is what PS Academy represents for children who are left behind by other schools! read more

I would have to agree with Kimberly O and AC. I want to give ZERO stars to PS academy. I just got done with the admissions process with PS Academy and I was appalled by the generic and insensitive letter that I received denying my child as well. There is something seriously wrong with this school and this admissions process. You are dealing with special needs parents whose lives are incredibly stressful and difficult and sad. And to receive this completely unapologetic uninformative letter denying your child's admittance with no explanation whatsoever is completely insensitive. This school is a joke I cannot believe that this is how they're going to treat parents of special needs kids. This school needs to do some training on how to respond to parents. I feel like it's a blessing in disguise that my child did not get into the school if this is how they treat me how are they going to treat my kid and how are they going to treat me and my kid while he's in the school. Thank goodness he will not be attending the school and I will want to inform all of the Autism mamas that I know, do not go to ps academy they are incompetent and inconsiderate and should be ashamed of themselves. read more

Our son is 15 years old and entering his 3rd year with this school, formerly known as Pieceful Solutions. He has previously been in the special education program in the Chandler school district, as well as attended LIFE for a few years. All of these schools for special kids will have their areas of strengths and opportunities and you have to find the school that is the best fit for the needs of your child. Public schools had large class sizes and the focus on building skills was not where we had hoped. LIFE is a wonderful school for special kids, but our son was less requiring than others so he did not always get the focus we would have liked because his needs were not as great as some of the others. PS Academy seems to be the perfect balance for what he needs now and he is learning skills he needs to be productive and useful. Our son is non verbal autistic but can communicate with basic words and labeling, and very smart and sweet but has different areas he needs to focus on, specifically life skills. As an example, he was able to help with laundry and fold his own clothes and put them away this summer thanks to the school. They are meeting his needs and he enjoys going to school every day. He looks forward to going to see his friends, and they make it fun and social with dances and other activities. There are other programs for children who are better academically, which is nice to see the balance between the two and the more verbal kids interact with our son and others like him to create an inclusive environment. The school just relocated to a combined campus for all ages, and we are very excited about the investments they have made. No school is perfect but we are very happy to have the opportunity to have our son attend this school. The staff loves the kids and they have made some very positive changes for the new school year. Definitely worth taking a tour and checking it out. read more

I don't normally write reviews like this but I wanted to share my experiences with other moms in my boat. My son has autism. We currently live in Idaho and plan to move to AZ next week. We're making the move mostly because of schools like PS Academy. We aren't lucky enough to have similar schools in our area. We looked at this one and a couple of others but I was really impressed with the level of attention we received from Bri Mason who helps with enrollment. She was very responsive and kind. That is until I received a form type letter today saying they couldn't help us and wouldn't be moving forward with enrollment. That was all. No further explanation until I called and emailed and was told they didn't have room for him. I totally understand that. I also understand my son needs extra help, maybe more so than a lot of the kids they already have enrolled. BUT, as a mother struggling to find help at typical, public schools to just be sent that letter with no explanation and another door shut in my face, it was very hard today. I was willing to look past the fact that this school has no accreditation because I thought I could find help here. Not the case. I loved the attention and care we received right up to the point they decided my son was not the right fit for a school claiming to be the answer for mother's just like me looking for help. I write this in the hopes you let the next family you turn away down much easier. It wasn't kind or in line at all with what you say your school is all about. And this is exactly what I'll tell other family in the area who need help as well. read more

My son attends the mesa campus, he is in 2nd grade now and he has gone to PS since kindergarten we love it

Terrible. My 17 year old daughter went there for 6 months. She was harassed, bullied, and ostracized not by other students but instead by the staff. The final straw came at the dance when the Principal gathered all of her girlfriends together and told them if they associated with my daughter that they would be in trouble and possibly suspended. My daughter sat there for two hours and cried by herself. This is the last thing we needed for our daughter who is MIMR , severe ADHD and on the Spectrum. Run away as fast as you can. Simply awful! read more

I really appreciate school, and we adore Ms. Anke, last year we were not so impressed with his other teacher but this year his new one knocked it out of the park. I think when you're evaluating the school one of the biggest important part is the teachers. I know a lot of the reviews here talking about stuff not being state of the art. Personally as a parent I can see how my child gets so absorbed in electronics and television and cell phones that I appreciate the teaching is not all done by that way. He needs sensory he needs the touch and feel on how to hold his pencil how to turn the paper just to learn how to read. Though on the other hand I see that there are electronic aids in the classroom. And ending this review I would say that all parents that are bringing their children to the school are already dealing with a lot of stuff and it is expected by us to ask and demand the best for our kids from the school. So don't hold back and let the school know what you need done you have to work with any school we have to have an open communication. And I think this is the best way I am ever able to help my child. read more

Update April 2017- Be aware, the ability of the school to work with a parent is not ok. They have their agenda and you either fit in that or not. The avoidance of administration and staff to questions are not giving my child her best educational experience. Is it hurting her physically? no. Just delaying her progress as a human and growing educationally. This was written 2016. My 18 yr old Autistic daughter, was in the public school system through 10th grade, (Bad year, the kids were nice; some teachers were unbelievable) . We needed a different education. We found PS. Last year was our first year 11th grade. It has been AMAZING. for the first time in my daughter's life, she has teachers who understand her and involve her, classmates talk with her, laugh, invite her to parties, text and girl sleep overs. My daughter's development of self-esteem, personal responsibility,social skills has developed exponentially. We have had a few issues, and the staff has been right there taking care of the situations. Plus they followed up with me after the resolution. Her IEP used to have 20 points, now 5. She's a round peg in a round peg place, in HS was a square peg place, and although she "survived" she didn't thrive nor live. My only regret is that I didn't move her sooner. Update Feb 2017. I have loved what PS has done for my daughter and her growth in a safe environment. However I do not feel comfortable letting you think it is all roses. This year there has been MANY changes, I feel the school is more focused on "turning these kids (circle pegs) and trying to fit them in a "square peg". This was NOT the case last year. I send my daughter there to excel with her idiosyncrasies, instead I'm experiencing them ignoring her "quirks" and trying to make her "typical". Go in with an open mind and aware. Good luck in your decision. read more

We gave up everything and moved to this city so that my child could attend this school because of all the initial rave reviews. 1 year later, we couldnt wait to get him out from the Mesa Campus. Mesa campus was literally like" throwing someone who doesnt swim into the sea, and left to either float or drown". They gave promises and never honored them. My child was promised a test but not done till many many months later only because I kept pursuing the issue. Owner never replied your emails and when finally did so was extremely rude. Also they do not do IEPs before. Overall there were many many more issues, and I would never recommend them especially if your kids were in the moderate to lower spectrum. They only "brag" about their supposingly extremely high in the spectrum kids. It is a no-no definitely. read more