About Us
The Gray Academy Orange County is a non-profit, non-public school serving students TK-8 with moderate to severe disabilities. Our program has been specifically structured to help families meet the challenges that go beyond the classroom and treat the whole child. Criteria for acceptance to the school includes, but is not limited to : rare diseases, genetic disorders, traumatic brain injuries, mobility challenges, and impaired immune systems, among other medical conditions.
Every aspect of The Gray Academy OC has been thoughtfully designed to provide families with strong support and the highest level of education and specialized services.
Our curriculum and related services have been uniquely designed to provide both the high-level and complex special education and therapy needs of students all in one location. Both our curriculum and therapeutic interventions (traditional and non-traditional) are customized to the needs of each student and integrated into the daily schedule.
Our Approach
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The Gray Academy curriculum integrates activities of daily living (physical transitioning, toiling, personal care), cross-curricular functional academics (such as art, cooking, music, science and community experiences), motor skills, and leisure activities (such as yoga, music, and group movement programs).
We use our own multi-faceted, multi-sensory approach to implement a standards-based curriculum which features thematic units with leveled texts that highlight core words and vocabulary.
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Students’ complex needs drive our broad therapeutic offerings—speech/language, physical, occupational, reflex integration, recreation, music, pediatric yoga, and adaptive art. Our therapists are trained in and utilize the Therasuit, Cuevas Medek Exercises (CME), TASES, Spinex, and Galileo vibration.
Our program is highly individualized to each student’s needs. Whatever it takes, we aim to optimize each child’s development. Therapists work with students individually in pull-out sessions or in the classroom. We individualize all decisions, like scheduling a therapy session for a child’s most responsive time of day. Therapists decide when to co-treat toward a student’s goals.
We’re familiar with the many brands of equipment and assistive devices and stay current in assessing their benefits.
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Students are offered numerous community outings and field trips that are geared to help students generalize skills to settings outside of home and school. These exploratory and fun activities in authentic settings are designed to teach children about safety, the environment, sights and smells, and unfamiliar sounds.