The Sky's The Limit At Emma's Education Center!

    GARLAND, TX, November 15, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Emma's Education Center is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides continuing IEP education and Learning In a Functional Environment (LIFE) skills training to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities that have aged-out or have graduated from the ISD special education programs. The program is also available to adults of any age with IDD who want to go back to school and cannot function in a college setting, or on an after-school basis for those in high school special education beginning at their Freshman year. The Center is not a standard dayhab or work habilitation center. It is a transitioning center and available for as long as the student needs. Students are fully engaged throughout the day, not left to sit alone. Founded by the parent of a daughter with IDD that recently graduated from high school special education and had nowhere to go to continue learning, and inspired by the Dateline NBC video, "On the Brink" regarding the lack of continuing education for adults with IDD, Emma's Education Center opened its doors to the public on August 24, 2015.

What followed afterwards was totally unexpected. Though the Center had a slow start, opening with just Emma in attendance, the Center has been gaining a new student each week. Parents that come through the door have the same testimony: they are unhappy with their adult child sitting unengaged all day or their adult child has been dropped because of unacceptable behaviors stemming from boredom. The one comment made repeatedly by the Center's parents is that they wished EEC had opened sooner and that more parents knew about it. Students are met at their level of ability and stretched to achieve their greatest dreams, whether they are education, employment or independent living.

Located at 2121 Northwest Highway, Suite 119 in Garland, the core instruction program, taught by instructors certified in secondary special education in the state of Texas and assisted by special education paraprofessionals, runs from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. The core includes basic IEP goal academics and outclasses in art, PE, computer applications, music and movement, and horticulture. The before and after core instruction program contains arts and activities and the facility has its own learning library where students can read, study or work quietly and independently on tablets that have been donated to the Center. The program is full day, from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM Monday through Friday, year round, and includes continental breakfast and a hot lunch. The cost of the program includes full day participation and is all inclusive.

EEC accepts HCS, CLASS Pre-Vocational and Texas Home Living contract reimbursement for tuition as well as private pay and, eventually, traditional Medicaid. The Center accepts students that do not have consistent, dangerously aggressive behaviors--all ages and all levels of learning. Toileting issues are not a problem as staff is prepared to handle all students and their hygienic needs. Students are kept productive and are immersed in learning throughout the day. The Center will be providing health services and family outreach services as enrollment grows. Staff is Adult CPR/First Aid/Safety and Crisis Prevention Institute trained and management practices the Walt Disney Institute philosophy of quality management and customer service.

For more information, to schedule a tour or to enroll, please contact the Center by phone at 469-786-0315, by email at [email protected], or by fax at 469-786-0174. More information, as well as enrollment forms, can be obtained by visiting http://www.emmacenter.com.

About Emma's Education Center
Emma's Education Center is a continuing IEP education and LIFE skills training Center for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have aged-out or graduated from public high school special education, or adults with IDD who want to go back to school. The program is also available, on an after school basis, to those high school students in special education, beginning at their Freshman year. All levels of ability are accepted and students are met at their individual academic level.

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