ACADEMICS
AT MMFS

Mary McDowell Friends School is a leader in education for students with learning disabilities. We provide a rigorous and comprehensive K-12 education, characterized by academic excellence and student achievement.

Prioritizing potential.
Revealing brilliance.

Every student arrives with their own mix of strengths, challenges, and talents. Our goal is to help each one shine. Small classes, a multisensory approach to learning, and differentiated instruction help our students become confident, successful learners.

The MMFS difference.

We offer specialized instruction using methodologies like Orton-Gillingham Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) program for reading, Judith Hochman’s Teaching Basic Writing Skills program, and Structural Arithmetic. This provides strategies for students with learning disabilities to learn and to succeed. Our highly trained and dedicated teachers know how to reveal the brilliance in every student.

We also offer:

Small class sizes
A structured, multisensory approach
Adaptive instruction for every student
Daily Language and Occupational Therapy
Assistive technologies like FM systems
Social-emotional learning
Comprehensive college counseling
Empowerment through self-advocacy

OUR APPROACH

The MMFS Method

Behind every student is a dedicated team of highly trained teachers, advisors, language therapists or occupational therapists, social workers, and—at the upper school—college counselors.

Learning looks different for everyone.

All students process information differently. Some are auditory learners; some are visual learners, some are kinesthetic learners; some learn through a combination. At MMFS, we work with each child to find the tools and strategies that will help them learn and succeed.

Same subjects. Better tools.

Our students learn the same math skills, perform the same science experiments, and study the same history as students in mainstream schools. What’s different? We provide specialized instruction and strategies that allow students with learning disabilities to succeed academically.

We teach self-advocacy.

MMFS students learn to speak confidently about their learning disability to assure they get what they need (and deserve!) to be successful, whether it’s in school, in the community, in college, or in the workplace.

ACADEMICSAT MMFS

ACADEMICS
AT MMFS