Board Members

2010-03-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

As a 501(c)3 The Ewing school will be lead by board members. We are currently in search of our first set of board members and it's an exciting task. As of this week we have three confirmed board members I'd like to introduce:

Tamar Robinson, who is the assistant director at Autism & Behavior Consulting Services, LLC has worked in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis since 2002. She has worked in home, school and clinical programming. Tamar has her undergraduate degree is special education from the UNC- Charlotte and her Masters in Applied Behavior Analysis- Autism Intervention from the University of North Texas. Tamar is a certified Behavior Analyst. Her experience and education in the field of ABA and Autism with be of great help in the development and planning of our school.

Bush Sneed is a retired contractor currently living in Florida. Bush owned and ran Charter Construction for over 20 years. They helped engineer and build structures such as the Tennessee Aquarium and the Titan's stadium. Currently, Bush travels back and forth between Nashville and his home in Florida. His business experience will be of great help.

Michal Henth is currently a Physical Therapist in the Knox County school system and will be relocating to Nashville in the next few months. Michal has an undergraduate degree from the University of the South and her doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Tennessee- Memphis.

Please check back frequently to see who else joins our board, during this exciting time!

Welcome

2010-03-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Whew! I embarked on this adventure a few months ago after much prayer and feeling as though now is the time. For many years I've been asked to open a school for kids with Autism in the Nashville area. It has been frustrating to see all the road blocks that families run into with the public school system and how the child's needs aren't met. It has been even more frustrating that when they explore alternative options that there just isn't anything.

As we entered the 2009-2010 school year my staff and I developed a semi-private school program that would meet three days a week and work under an umbrella homeschool. Of course as the school year approached and families began school with hopes that this year would be the best yet. Two families at Christmas were done and our Learning in Focused Environments (LIFE) opened!

In researching payment options to assist families with the financial burden I found that if a school is SACS accredited (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) there is a law in place that states if public schools are found to not meet a child's needs than the school system is required to pay for the private placement of a child in a program that does meet their needs (or a portion of). That was all I needed to spur me on, and the process began.

I started by meeting with High Hopes, a developmental preschool in Cool Springs. They were extremely helpful in working with us, giving us a tour and telling us what's worked for them and what hasn't. From there, Tamar and I scheduled a trip to Florida. We flew to Jacksonville last Monday and saw the Jericho School. Dr. Vincent Carbone, PhD, BCBA played a key roll in the development of that school, and although small, is still successful today. That was a wonderful learning opportunity for us. On the flight from Jacksonville to Tampa, Tamar and I were able to write down our ideas clearly and finally put something on paper. We began doing a rough outline of how we wanted things to look and putting together questions for the next two schools.

We got to see Threshold in Orlando and their director was also a wealth of information. While their program is very different from what we would want to do, he too shared what has worked for them and what hasn't. We also had the wonderful experience of seeing Quest Kids. It is a wonderful program is most closely paralells what we are looking at doing.

I spoke to attornies on Monday and the process has begun to open The Ewing School. It will be a non-profit K-12 private school in the Nashville area specializing in the education of children diagnosed with Autism. I am very excited about where things are headed. Please check back frequently as I plan to share this journey with you. I'm sure it will be difficult and challenging and will definitely have it's ups and downs, but I have high hopes for The Ewing School and what it will mean for the Middle Tennessee Autism Community.

By the way, Ewing is my grandfather's name. He is a retired doctor who has worked throughout the Middle Tennessee area providing general medicine. He is a kind man that has made a difference in the life of so many. He has been an important person in my life and someone whom I often look to model my own behavior and care of others from. I came up with this name for a variety of reasons, but mostly to honor him and all the work that he has done in his life. I hope and pray that this school will be able to make as big a difference in the life of others as he has done.