Do you need assistance with: IEP knowledge, Students Rights,…read moreParents Rights, Bullying, Assessments, School Systems, Advocacy? This is just to name a few. I was Overwhelmed and at no to end to my focus. With just a phone call KIM McCLAIN became my ADVOCATE EXTRAORDINAIRE. Very empathetic she too is a parent. Being a parent does not stop her from maintaining professional. MS. McClain assisted me with not only bullying but an IEP, and getting an outside reassessment. Because i had ignorantly signed off to my child's rights because i was misinformed and scared. I felt like i had failed my child by this action. However; thankful for the referral to Ms. McClain she had the OC district shaking and in less than a week questions were addressed and the district was LISTENING. I am thankful and excited that we have Ms. McClain on our team not only as a professional but as a friend. She is true to her CAREER as a fighter that knows special need legalities and school systems. Please if anyone is questioning the systems of Special Needs Kim McCLAIN is the A+ ADVOCATE for special needs and any school system Bullying.

What an incredible advocate Ms. McClain is! I highly recommend her kind, knowledgeable support!read more

When I first discovered this school, based on recommendations of parents, doctor, and advocate, I…read morewas a bit worried. Mardan had a "reputation" for having difficult, violent kids. So we went to the school and were simply floored as to how wrong the reputation was. The school is magnificent, with high tech (first graders were working on making powerpoint projects) education, including social studies, art, and science which is now lacking in most schools. The teachers, adminstrators, and other parents have been outstanding and supportive. Many kids graduate Mardan and go on to college and successful occupations. My daughter was basically being left behind by school district SDC classes. She has no outbursts, but will quietly not participate. I think that the public school system is very happy to have a warm body to get tax dollars and doesn't care at all about their academic education once in the special education system. In summer school alone, she went from non-reading, to proficency in over 100 sight words. After a year, she can now read level 2 books, is learning to sound out words, and can add and subtract. They are addressing all of her issues and giving her the structure she needs to learn. Some students are attending privately (parents paying), others are through the school distrct's paying the way. The younger kids are generally high-functioning autistic/ ADHD. The older kids all have various reasons for not being able to handle public school. But all are very helpful, polite, and will find a lot of success. My main negative is that there are not enough girls in this school. Parents of girls who are having issues in public school...pay attention, as many girls are diagnosed later than boys with learning disabilities. It's better to intervene early and get help. Mardan is a wonderful place for kids with "different" ways of learning to excel. Please check them out. Mardan is a wonderful resource which is underutilized My daughter now loves to go to school!

My daughter has been struggling her whole life in school and we finally get her into Mardan School…read moreand she's having an amazing time. She's finally getting the support she needs and the education she deserves thank you to her teachers Mr. John and Mr. Zack thank you so much erin! You are so kind and helpful. Thank you Bonnie for everything thing you do thank you so much

We started reading tutoring for our son a little over 1 month ago. He's in 1st grade and was…read morefalling a bit behind in reading. It seemed like a big part of this was confidence as well. Our son was a bit nervous for the first meeting as he didn't really know what to expect, but as soon as LeeAnn came in, she put our son at ease. She is so friendly and works great with kids. During the first meeting, she did an assessment to see where he is at. She then met with Taylor who runs Sprout Reading and they developed a plan for him. I really appreciated that they did this, because they could've just helped him read some books that we have at our house or helped him with some of his homework. I really appreciated how thorough everything was. After just a couple of meetings, she was able to explain to me exactly where it seemed that he was struggling. And, then she got to work on helping him through those areas. In just one month, we have already seen an improvement in his reading abilities. His confidence has increased, and his teacher at school has noticed as well. He is a lot more excited about reading and is more eager to try reading things on his own. We are very excited to see where this takes him in the next few months. Our son also has pretty severe ADHD, and LeeAnn has been wonderful in supporting him with that. She knows how to navigate this in a way that works well for him. I would highly recommend Sprout Reading Intervention!

Taylor and her team are an exceptional group of tutors. My children have worked with several tutors…read morefrom Sprout Reading Intervention, and each one has been incredibly supportive and helpful. We are currently working with LeeAnn, and she has been amazing with my kids! They are learning so much and genuinely look forward to their tutoring sessions with her. LeeAnn goes above and beyond to keep them engaged, making each lesson both effective and enjoyable. She's also very professional and knowledgeable, and love that she has many years of teaching experience. One detail I especially appreciate is the individual folders she has created for each of my children. It contains all of their completed work, making it easy for them to review and track their progress. It's clear that she is thoughtful and intentional--she provides lasting value. With upcoming teacher conferences, I am excited to hear more about their growth in their reading skills. As a parent, I have already seen significant improvement! I highly recommend Sprout Reading Intervention!

Syndi is such a great speech therapist. I was skeptical when we had to do tele-therapy due to…read moreCOVID, but Syndi was so patient and always had fun and exciting games to keep it new and interesting for my 3 year old. Syndi not only does a wonderful job teaching my daughter, but she also recognizes the importance of showing me how to correct her articulation and giving me the tools to work with her on my own as well. My daughter has learned so much in a short period of time thanks to Syndi!

Syndi is incredibly professional speech therapist, very knowledgeable, kind, patient, and clearly…read morepassionate about helping kids succeed. We saw huge progress in both speech and confidence for our 8 year old daughter. Our daughter really looked forward to her weekly sessions with Syndi as they were fun and engaging and she achieved her speech goals very quickly. Syndi was always responsive and did a great job explaining the plan to us and gave us great strategies and tools to use at home. Highly recommend Syndi's services to any family looking for a caring and skilled therapist! She's truly magic!

As a professional educator to students at the cusp of their educational development, Dr. Rachel…read moreWinston's career opportunities offer my students a veritable Pandora's box of endless possibilities. Each career book is chock-full of challenges and opportunities available to students who wish to make full use of the gateway doors and pathways to success that Dr. Rachel Winston offers to students of all age groups and diverse backgrounds. I salute Dr. Winston for providing so many paths to a successful and profitable lifestyle. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Max Chacall Educator

As a teacher with over 40 years of experience, I have been extremely impressed with Dr. Winston's…read morepublications. Her work is meticulous and well-informed. Her publications provide an incredible amount of valuable information on how to succeed in a diverse number of career pathways. I have recommended her books to many students who found them to be excellent resources on topics that are often unfamiliar to the student and their family. From the medical admission process to the theater, her books offer important and useful content.

I went to one of Lital's evening sessions about how to improve our children's self esteem. It is…read moresomething I am very interested in, as I want my little girl to grow up feeling confident and happy, and believe in her ability to do just about anything. The session was lovely. We were a group of 7 mothers, and the feeling was intimate and friendly, even though I didn't know all the women that participated. During the session Lital explained what can harm our child's self esteem and gave us plenty of day-to-day examples. She gave us great tools and explained how to communicate with our children better, and make them feel more confident and believe in themselves. This has been a month ago and I still use these tools on a daily basis. I can't wait for the next session.

Thank you Lital for the educational session yesterday. I learned some new things about how to be a…read morebetter parent and got really good and useful tips. Also, I found it useful to hear other parents talk about the same issues and struggling. Definitely see you on your next session!

Tammy Chang helped my son exceed the ACT score he needed for Harvard and the Naval Academy as a…read morerecruited Division 1 athlete. Two years later, she did the same for my daughter, who will be a Division 1 athlete at Stanford. My son was the one who insisted his sister work with Tammy when her turn came. Tammy schedules sessions directly with your child, and neither of mine ever complained about a 7:00 a.m. Sunday session they booked themselves. Both walked in energetic and confident each time they took the exam. My friends I've referred say the same: great results with essentially no parental oversight. Worth every penny. Tammy Chang nails ACT prep!

Tammy is an amazing ACT test prep tutor! My daughter scored a 36 on English/34 on Reading with her…read moreexpertise and guidance. Tammy is also extremely organized and does an excellent job of maintaining contact with both the parents and the student at all times. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a tutor. She is well worth the investment if you want great results for your child.

Michelle is an incredible director! From the moment I met her, she made me feel genuinely welcomed…read morewith her warm smile and positive energy. She is an attentive listener, communicates with kindness and professionalism, and is clearly passionate about what she does. What impressed me most was the warm, family-like atmosphere she creates. Her enthusiasm and genuine care for people are evident in every interaction.

First, I'm not here to go back and forth with whoever runs Piper's social media. I don't have the…read moremental bandwidth for snarky comments dismissing my experience. I'm sharing our family's honest experience to help parents make informed decisions. Our son attended Piper Preschool in Irvine from October 2023 to 2025. We left deeply disappointed and heartbroken. He had an expressive speech delay and sensory processing challenges and made tremendous, documented progress through speech and occupational therapies. We did everything we could to support him and the school: paying full tuition, volunteering, serving as room parents, catering staff lunches, giving teacher appreciation gifts, and collaborating with administrators. When Piper said he needed additional support, we arranged an in-class occupational therapist twice weekly within one week, at approximately $1,000 extra per month. Still, repeated incidents eroded our confidence in how he was treated. Several incident reports differed from what we witnessed or learned from other parents. I personally saw another child punch my son in the face after he tried to return a ball. My son came to me crying, but the other child received immediate attention while my son was largely overlooked. The report omitted important details until I requested corrections. Another time, Piper said my son had "picked up and thrown" a child. That child's parent explained that my son had excitedly hugged and lifted him and they both fell. My son also came home with bruising around his eye after reportedly being hit, yet no incident report was provided. I witnessed other children displaying similar behaviors without the same scrutiny or intervention. These experiences made us feel our son was treated differently and raised concerns about possible implicit bias. After we shared our experience, several parents privately described similar concerns. I cannot independently verify their accounts, but I believe they deserve to be heard. One said her son, who had a speech delay, was not offered readmission after briefly leaving Piper. Another said the school directed them to their recommended evaluators, who found their son's development typical for his age. Next, a parent told me, who is an attorney, her son came home with bite marks after reporting that boys pinned him down, covered his mouth, and one bit him. She said a teacher told him to line up when he sought help crying, and she considered subpoenaing surveillance footage. Another family said they repeatedly raised bullying concerns but felt dismissed instead of receiving a meaningful investigation. Hearing these accounts reinforced our concern that our experience was not isolated. The emotional toll was significant. For months, school calls made me anxious, fearing another request to pick him up. Rather than feeling like partners, we felt we were constantly defending him. After we raised concerns, administrators told us he could stay at Piper full-time with an approved one-on-one aide or move to another school full-time. We chose to leave. At his new school, he is thriving emotionally, socially, and academically, even earning academic awards. To me, this highlights the difference between the academic environment he needed and the childcare-focused environment we experienced at Piper. Leaving was the best decision for our family. Other families may have positive experiences; this review reflects ours. Parents deserve transparency when choosing a school. We hope Piper takes these concerns seriously, treats every child fairly, listens to families, and documents incidents accurately and consistently. Families seeking information on licensing citations and safety can consult the California licensing record: https://www.ccld.dss.ca.gov/carefacilitysearch/FacDetail/304371581