Expanding Our Reach

When one door closes, another one opens.

Responding to a community need, Gateway School at HASA launched the Epic pathway for students who perform at or above their grade level academically but whose disabilities impact their communication and social skills. With diagnoses ranging from autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and/or anxiety, these students are high-achievers but face unique challenges in a general education setting.

Infusing communication and social skills with rigorous academic instruction, Epic pathway provides a learning environment for students to thrive both socially and academically. And the program allows classes to remain small and ensure individualized attention.

Eric Brown, father of Gateway student Tatianna, describes Gateway’s approach as a "unity of effort."

"Everybody, from the teachers and administrator to the parents, are involved in creating the best plan for each individual child," Eric says. "And all of the kids get the individual attention they need. In a lot of private school settings, you are just hoping they can squeeze it all in. But at Gateway, they get the individual attention that translates to more gains academically."

For Meredith Shelton, mother of eight-year-old Gateway student Evelyn (who goes by Evie), Gateway was "life-changing." Evie was born with cytomegalovirus and a brain disorder that affects her ability to speak and will cause early-onset hearing loss.

Once it was time for Evie to graduate from Kennedy Krieger early education programs, Meredith began looking for the best schooling options.

"We fell in love instantly. I knew from the first second we stepped into Gateway, that’s where she was meant to be," Meredith says. But before they could enroll, Meredith had to navigate the IEP process through the county schools to have Evelyn placed at Gateway. Then COVID-19 hit, and Evie’s public school classes went virtual.

"[Evie] was really struggling, having tantrums every day, and hitting herself. I’m not exaggerating when I say life wasn’t worth living those days. I called Dana [Dana Reinhardt, Education Director Gateway] in complete desperation."

Dana immediately saw that virtual school wasn’t an option for Evie. While it’s unprecedented to secure a placement so quickly, the unprecedented pandemic called for quick and innovative action. Dana found a grant to place Evelyn at Gateway mid-year.

"It was life-changing," Meredith says. "We always said, if Evie can’t communicate, how can she do anything else in life? Our goal is to teach her to be independent and communicate. And she has done remarkably well. We are hearing some vocalization of words and her sign language has improved significantly."

The gains aren’t purely academic, Meredith says.

"She’s eight now, and in the last year I’ve heard what sounds like ‘mama’ for the first time."

For Evie and all of the students like her, part of Gateway’s magic is the individualized teaching and ‘unity of effort.’ Students also seem to sense that Gateway is a world where they don’t have to conform. Rather, it’s quite literally built just for them. With adaptive tricycles in gym class and specially designed playground equipment, students at Gateway are able to both learn and play without restriction.

For students like Tatianna and Evie, Gateway provides individualized academic support. But it also offers them the opportunity to be unapologetically themselves.

"At Gateway, everyone here looks like Evie. She doesn’t know she’s any different and it’s a space meant just for her."

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