MENASHA (WLUK) — A new day school program in Menasha aims to meet the needs of special education students in the Fox Valley.
The Chileda Learning Center, located at 1180 Province Terrace, is designed for children and individuals ages 5 to 21 with autism and intellectual or developmental disabilities and will welcome students for the first day of school on August 26.
“We serve students with special education needs – typically students with severe to profound autism, students with intellectual disabilities and students with traumatic brain injuries. Many of our students cannot speak, but we work with school districts to provide them with an excellent educational alternative,” said Rob Becker, director of the Menasha Center at Chileda Learning Center.
Chileda features state-of-the-art classrooms, innovative learning spaces, and unique curriculum and programming options for students.
Becker said the school is fully staffed with a team of behavioral specialists, teachers and direct support specialists. It also offers occupational therapy, recreational therapy and speech therapy on-site.
We are committed to providing a nurturing, stimulating and safe environment that supports academic success and social-emotional development and encourages lifelong learning.
Becker said some students attend Chileda exclusively, while others spend half the day in their school district and the other half in Chileda. It’s up to students’ families and districts to decide what the best path is.
Becker said the Menasha campus will not only serve the Fox Valley region, but hopes to welcome students from Fond du Lac and Green Bay as well. He said the services provided by Chileda are in high demand.
“There aren’t many places like Chileda. Our La Crosse location is constantly contacted by school districts asking, ‘Could you please open a location closer to us? We really need this in our area, but it’s too far to bring our students to La Crosse.’ So that’s a big reason we opened the Menasha center. We heard from the Fox River Valley that they wanted more educational options, and we thought this would be a great location for us,” Becker said.
Chileda was originally founded in Stevens Point in 1973 before moving to La Crosse in 1977. The new learning center in Menasha is the first satellite campus.
“We think this is a great location. This part of Wisconsin needs more service in this area, and if this goes well, Chileda will look to expand to other locations in the state of Wisconsin and maybe even beyond,” Becker said.
To learn more about Chileda, click here.
