The DuBard School provides a full-time educational program for the children enrolled until they are sufficiently competent to enter other educational settings and achieve academic success. The self-contained classes operate on an 11 month calendar. Some children may be mainstreamed into a regular education setting on a part-time basis. Children are usually enrolled from two to eight years depending on the degree of severity of their disorder and various other factors. While short breaks are provided throughout the school year, long breaks have been found to interfere with overall progress.
Apraxia is an oral motor disorder which results in a severe articulation, or expressive, disorder.
Children who have apraxia have difficulty sequencing automatically the sounds that are necessary for intelligible speech. Dyslexia is a language-based disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. It varies in degrees of severity and is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic. A comprehensive evaluation of specific skills in receptive and expressive language, achievement, nonverbal ability, and related skills is necessary in order to make a diagnosis of dyslexia. The DuBard School is staffed by nationally certified speech-language pathologists and teachers of the deaf.