Our Facility
Merlin Day Academy’s facility in the Avondale neighborhood is designed to maximize student engagement and participation in educational instruction, therapeutic intervention, and peer socialization. Our state-of-the-art facility includes:
Sensory Friendly, Student-Centered Classrooms
Our classrooms are designed with sensory friendly learning and engagement in mind. Visually clean spaces remove unnecessary distractions, and theme-based decorations help children generalize their growth and learning across environments.
Interactive Sensorimotor Gyms
Our sensorimotor gyms include a variety of suspended swings, crash pads, obstacle course materials, balance balls, and other equipment to get children moving, encourage gross motor development, and target areas of needed growth such as core development.
Innovative Sensory Retreat Rooms
Sensory retreat rooms provide a quiet and comfortable space for children to take a break from the classroom and process dysregulation. These quiet, comfortable rooms are designed with a sensory aurora to encourage self-regulation and include sensory supports, swings, and lightboards.
Quiet Rooms for Breaks
Quiet rooms allow children to take breaks between lessons and engage in solo activities to support regulation and participation. Our highly trained teachers and paraprofessionals engage children with their favorite activities and subjects to make learning and socializing fun!
Total Communication Supports
Our team provides a wide range of communication supports for children including verbal communication, visual schedules, visual supports, high tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), and sign language.
Theme-based Instructional Materials
The Merlin Approach to Learning© is a theme-based curriculum that aligns with the Illinois State Board of Education’s learning standards for all students. Weekly and monthly themes are aligned with holidays, seasons, and other topics that children will engage with in their daily life to help them generalize the skills they learn in the classroom in their home and community.
Culturally Relevant and Leveled Reading Books
Our literacy instruction utilizes culturally relevant books that align with our weekly and monthly themes to help children continue to generalize their skills across classroom subjects and environments. Children are provided with books at and above their current reading level to promote growth, and our data collection ensures children are continually progressing towards their goals.
Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Visual Supports
A wide variety of evidence-based visual supports are utilized by our staff to promote sensory regulation, communication, feelings identification, and learning. Our staff utilize visual schedules, first-then charts, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), social stories, and create custom visuals to better support children in their learning.
