Education should be based on the science of how kids learn.

There has been a revolution in scientists’ understanding of how kids learn.

It’s time to bring those insights into the classroom.

At a time when the field of education is being thrown into a state of disarray, Cajal Academy is innovating education by grounding every element of curriculum design and the classroom experience in what scientists now understand about how children’s brains develop, how their bodies inform their learning, social and emotional experiences—and what strategies prove effective to change those outcomes. The net result is a new educational approach and new model for what school can look like—one that’s bringing transformational results, even for some of our most complex learners, with the promise to dramatically reduce the costs of special education as we know it today.

We’ve developed these innovations working with cohorts of 5-10 kids at a time, and recently relocated into our beautiful historic home in the center of South Norwalk so we can expand to serve up to 50 kids. Find out about our innovations, or apply today to see how your child can grow with us, and how our innovative approaches can empower your child for a future defined not by the things that hold them back but by their strengths.

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Cajal Center for Educational Innovation

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We’ve made a break-through for the field of education, by leveraging connections between the body and the brain to accelerate learning while transforming learning profiles

Cajal Academy puts the science behind body-brain connections at the heart of a full-service school for students with high analytical abilities, resulting in a new model for how we understand the role—and the power—of school

Three fundamental shifts in our understanding of how children learn, socialize and grow are at the heart of Cajal Academy’s groundbreaking program. Both are by now well-established in the scientific literature. Until now, neither has been operationalized in our schools.

The human brain is constantly rewiring itself to improve its ability to do the things we ask it to do (a principle called Neuroplasticity).
Each skill we learn builds on a neural foundation developed through the skills that you’ve learned before.
Connections between the body and the brain play a big a role in our learning and social-emotional experiences (both positively and negatively), just as our emotions do.

Putting these three core principles together, we’re unlocking children’s gifts through research-backed approaches that are proving successful at transforming learning disabilities like dyslexia, dyspraxia, language processing disorders and dyspraxia.

Watch this brief video to learn how it works.

Our innovations could revolutionize the field of special education, through a paradigm-shift in how we understand student needs, and a second paradigm-shift in how we address them

Each student’s program is highly-individualized, using the data in their own profile to customize their learning, social and physio development. We integrate these learnings together for each child through our unique Growth Mindset and Agency Coaching, empowering them to continue their own growth in the community and beyond. Find out more about the exclusive interventions at the core of our model.

Our exclusive Catalyst Method uses the data in each child’s profile to get behind the labels and identify what problem they need our help to solve

assessing student needs

Our ground-breaking, research-backed program reduces or removes learning disabilities by enhancing the neurocognitive skills that drive them

reducing learning disabilities

We “leap frog” social skill deficits by giving kids a toolbox they can use to foster truly inclusive, neurodiverse communities

social-emotional learning

We empower each student with the learnings they need to use body-brain connections to their *advantage*

neurophysio needs

learn more about how we transform student profiles

We re-engineered education from the ground up, starting with the science of how kids learn. The net result is a whole new model for school that redefines what education can do when we put the science behind body-brain connections at the heart of it all — without compromising on academic rigor and actually accelerating academic growth.

Use these links to learn more about what this can mean for education.

The Model: Accelerating Academic Growth by Accelerating How Students Can Learn

Each child’s program starts with a ‘top down’ investigation identifying the challenges they face today in academic or social-emotional spheres, getting behind the labels to understand the specific neuropsychology that drives them. Then we unlock student gifts through our exclusive, research-backed approach reducing or even removing learning disabilities. Meanwhile, our “general education” curriculum delivers standards-based academics through project-based learning that builds up the executive function, social and self-care skills that student will need to support those gifts in a future defined by their strengths.

learn more about how our Curriculum and Catalysts come together in each student’s program

The Science

Connections between the body and brain are an untapped power source for accelerating academic learning and even rewiring the brain to reduce learning and social-emotional disabilities. Find out how we integrate this science into every aspect of our program, accelerating student growth.

leveraging brain-body connections

The Culture

We teach students how our neurology influences our social interactions, & how to apply that knowledge to foster truly inclusive, neurodiverse communities. This results in a school community in which students support one another’s challenges and celebrate each others growth. Find out more about this powerful experience and how it further accelerates student healing and growth.

neuroscience-based leadership curriculum

The Legal Context

Our Neuroplasticity School model elevates and realizes the vision of the IDEA, while our cost reductions are eligible for state contracting under 10-76d

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The Results

Read case studies and parent testimonials, and see what’s possible when we put neuroscience at the center of educational approaches!

case studies

learn how these principles are realized in our students' day to day experiences

We’re making special education more effective, while decreasing its cost, pointing the way to how we can address the fiscal crisis crippling school districts across the country

Our Neuroplasticity School model offers a fundamentally different approach to special education, under which we close the gap between the child’s current “Not Yet Skills” (as we call them) and their strengths, rather than just accommodate for the different between their “disabilities” and the abilities of their mainstream peers. For the gifted and “twice exceptional” kids that we work with, the results of this approach can be dramatic, with rapid improvements in both learning and such wide-ranging social-emotional impacts as perfectionism, academic anxiety, demand avoidance, school refusal and disruptive classroom behaviors.

Economically, this translates to a totally different “ROI” or “return on investment” for our families, and for sending school districts. Our students have made up as many as 6 grade levels in reading and writing in as little as 6 months, and transformed from socially isolated to recognized social leaders. We pass these savings on to the family or sending school district, with tuitions that actually decrease as the child’s abilities develop.

This unique educational model actually reduces the cost of educating the child over their lifetime, while increasing their quality of life and academic growth. That means that for some students, Connecticut school districts can contract with us directly under section 10-76d, which provides that school districts can make section 10-76g payments to a private school like Cajal “if the public arrangements are more costly than the…private school…provided the…private school…meets the educational needs of the child and its program is appropriate and efficacious.” Some students who come to Cajal with even significant special education needs may be able to transition from Cajal back to a mainstream “general education” population after only a few years, drastically reducing their cost over the course of their educational lifetime.

learn more about how our Neuroplasticity School model can help reduce special education costs

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