The push to seek out a different educational environment for Michael wasn’t exactly gentle! He was in full school refusal–he just would NOT go to school. He was a little bit behind in his pre-K through third grade years, but he seemed to be hitting all the benchmarks that he was supposed to, and he was so smart. Then, in the fourth grade, he started to get a little rattled. He would come home from school and say, “I don’t get it. I know I’m as smart as the other kids in my class, but I can’t do what they do.” He was getting more and more anxious, thinking there was something wrong with him. Mike was struggling with PANDAS-related challenges that were not well understood by the medical community at that time. During the worst of it, he was coming down with strep throat every two weeks. He also had severe OCD, which is linked to PANDAS, as well as intense anxiety, particularly around school. We would have to just peel him off of us to get him in the building. It was really classroom anxiety, academic anxiety. It was so hard to get anyone to believe us that he had learning challenges because he was so intelligent and intuitive—no one could see the deficits. Stay tuned for part 2 of Mike’s story! Making invisible challenges visible: powered by Orchard. (fb)

March Apple Edition ☘️🥧💐🥳🍧: At OFS we have a school newspaper called “The Apple”. Each week, every student has a chance to work on the newspaper and add their own ideas to it. In Apple Club, we brainstorm ideas, talk about different events that happened over the month and even interview new students to get to know them better. The newspaper is constructed entirely by the students and serves as platform where they get to express themselves and be creative. Once the newspaper is complete it is then sent home to the entire school and their families. We love the newspaper because it gives our students a voice and allows our students to share what is going on each and month here at OFS. 📰🗞️📝🏫 (fb)