The First Hope

Morning Star Catholic School provides individualized education and support for students with cognitive disabilities, autism, and learning disabilities. With small class sizes, dedicated staff, and a nurturing environment, we help students discover their gifts and achieve their personal best.

A parent of two children with autism founded the Academy for Autism in 2005 to give Central Florida families an affordable alternative to public school. We are a nonprofit private school for students ages 5 through 21 on the autism spectrum, and many of our students are working two or more grade levels behind their age group. Applied Behavior Analysis guides our teaching. Our classroom staff are trained as ABA assistants, so we address behavior first and then build each child's individualized academic program with parents. Lessons draw on direct instruction, precision teaching, discrete trial training, task analysis, verbal behavior, naturalistic teaching and small group instruction, with steady work on communication, social skills and independent living. Our on-site therapy clinic provides occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech, oral-motor and language therapy, and enrolled students receive therapy there through their health insurance. The clinic accepts several Medicaid plans and commercial insurers, and clinic students can join a summer therapy camp. Families enroll using the Florida FES-UA scholarship, which Step Up for Students administers. Parents provide transportation and lunch.

Amazing Explorers Academy Waterford Lakes, on Lake Underhill Road in east Orlando, takes infants from 6 weeks of age along with school-age kids up to 12, with a twelve-hour weekday that starts at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m. for working families. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers and VPK students each have their own classrooms, and school-age children join us before and after school for homework help, STEAM projects and outdoor play. Our STEAM Investigation curriculum draws on Reggio Emilia ideas and project-based learning, so children spend their days running small experiments, building and creating. Spanish, robotics and coding, culinary lessons, sports and quiet Zen Zone time are built into every program. Meals and snacks are included, shaped by the Amazing Choices nutrition and activity program created with Nemours Children's Health. The Florida Department of Children and Families licenses our center. Keypad entry, live-stream classroom cameras and CPR-certified staff are part of daily life here, and our center director brings more than 25 years in early childhood education. In summer, children ages 5 to 12 attend themed weekly camps built around science, invention and engineering.