Summer at Cajal
Cajal Academy’s Summer Program:
Project-based learning, Self-discovery and Community
July 8 - August 2, 2024 | Rising 1st through 12th graders
New this year! Sign up for our Morning program (9 am - 1 pm), or stay for the full day (9 am - 3 pm) to explore new interests and work with our expert team of therapists!
Cajal Academy’s summer program offers a unique opportunity to experience a whole new way to learn that is tailored for bright, gifted and profoundly gifted kids with strong analytical and/or creative thinking skills. We give kids an opportunity to explore their strengths, with specialized strategies empowering them to overcome social-emotional, learning and physio differences that threaten to hold them back.
As with our academic year program, students in our summer program will collaborate with like-minded peers to solve real world problems; learn the science behind inter-connections between social, emotional, physical and learning experiences—and how they can use that to their advantage; and work with our year-round team of expert licensed therapists and experienced academic teachers. Above all, they will join a unique community of bright and intellectually-gifted kids, fostered by instruction to help them understand their peers’ differences and their own needs as well.
Our program is conveniently located in Westport, CT, with train transportation available for students coming from New York City, Westchester county and other parts of Connecticut and shuttle service to the school. Ask us for more information about transportation via Metro North.
Morning Academic & Skill Building Program
9 am - 1 pm
Come experience Cajal Academy’s next generation educational model! Like our year round program, our morning program integrates physio, social-emotional and executive function skills into project-based learning to empower kids to gain agency over their own experiences. OT, PT and social-emotional supports are integrated into the classroom, but the morning program won’t include direct therapies.
Afternoon Arts, Sports & Expertise
1 pm - 2:30 pm
New this year! Discover new interests and abilities while building new friendships! Students will have a range of athletic and artistic activities to choose from, mixed in with opportunities for 1:1 sessions with our licensed therapists (limited availability). It’s a showcase of our teachers’ many hidden talents!
Open to students in our morning session and their siblings.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes! All summer students will have the opportunity to work with the same Cajal Academy teachers and licensed therapists who run our academic year program.
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Our morning academic program follows the same therapist-designed protocols and approaches that our school year program does. Social skill development, sensory strategies and our occupational therapist designed Body Informed Learning are integrated into the classroom and all we do. Small group and 1:1 sessions with our licensed occupational, physical, speech and language and craniosacral therapists, as well as our PhD-level psychologist, are available in the afternoons on a limited basis. Preference will be given to students enrolled in the 2024-25 school year by May 15.
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All applicants for our summer program who are not enrolled at Cajal Academy for the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 school years must complete the same application as we use for our academic year programs. All applications must include a completed parent application, any prior evaluations or assessments completed for your child and a $125 application fee to partially defray the costs of our clinical team’s review.
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Morning program: $5,500.
Full day program: $7,500
Afternoon only: $2,300 (only open to siblings of students enrolled in the full day program)
Early bird discount: $250 off for each child enrolled in the summer program before May 1.
Second sibling discount: 10% off
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Like our academic year program, Cajal Academy’s summer program is tailored to the needs of students who have very high analytical reasoning and/or creative thinking skills. Our clinicians make this determination based on the verbal comprehension, fluid reasoning and/or visual spatial scores in any prior psycho-educational or neuropsychological assessments that have been performed. Exceptions may be made in the case of students having certain complex medical conditions that variably impact cognitive access in our experience. We do not rely on full scale IQ, and students are not required to have been previously identified as “gifted.”
We embed expert services for students who have an area requiring specialized instruction, however an IEP is not required.
Priority will be given to students who have enrolled for the 2024-25 academic year.
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Cajal Academy’s Summer Program integrates standards-based academic instruction with special education services from a multi-disciplinary team of licensed therapists. As such, families are encouraged to speak to their school districts about eligibility for Extended School Year services.
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We are accepting applications now, and will be admitting students on a rolling basis. Total enrollment will depend on the profiles of the children enrolling. Early bird discount of $250 ends May 1.
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Our summer program is open to students entering grades 1-12 for the 2024-25 school year.
