The decision to open Sprout Academy was not made on a whim, and the year 2021 was the year that sparked everything.

The academy was started in February 2022 with just six learners in a small house on the outskirts of town. After just two months, they expanded and were able to move into a bigger house in a more central area.

“Multiple children were going through our occupational and speech therapy practices in town and all the parents had the same challenges. There was support when it came to therapy but there was no support in terms of education, there was no school catering for children on the autism spectrum or neuro-diverse children,” said director and co-founder, Nadia Burger.

Child playing with playdough at Sprouts Academy. Picture supplied.

This then led them to conduct a needs assessment, which showed there was a gap in the educational system in their community. With this conclusion, they set out to create a school that would not only meet the needs but also exceed them.

Nadia also mentioned the school creates individualised education plans tailored to the specific needs of the child and is created with the parents and therapist. The plan outlines the child’s strengths, challenges, and learning goals.

The school should not, however, be mistaken for an autism-exclusive school. It is important to note that the developmental disorder spectrum is very broad, and the academy caters mainly to children with the most developmental disorders and those considered neo-diverse.

Principal Corlie Joubert giving a class lesson. Picture supplied.

“However, we cannot yet accept children with full hearing impairments due to our teachers not yet being trained in sign language,” said director and co-founder Lizna-Ray Leibrandt.

The school aims to enable each child to contribute to their families and their communities. The school wants to prepare the children for an independent and purposeful role in society, help them build confidence and self-esteem, also teach them essential life skills so that they may be socially acceptable.

Co-director and principal, Corlie Joubert, brought up the fact that there are only 11 schools across the province that cater to children who fall on the spectrum, yet most are in the bigger cities, making it difficult for parents as they’d have to disrupt the whole family system to get their child to attend one of the schools outside of their city.

Sprout Academy is the first of its kind in their community – they serve children from Kuruman, Aggeneys, and Postmasburg – and have the intention of eventually reaching other smaller towns.

OFM News/Casey-Lee Anthony mvh