The Learning Spectrum, Ltd., Columbus OH

For nearly a year, my son received therapy at the behavioral health center in Worthington, and also attended school at the central location. Generally, our experience was pretty bad, and after a few months we were looking at other options (most of which had long waiting lists). We would have stayed at TLS until our preferred program had an opening, but once the directors learned we were on a wait list for another program, they kicked us out, knowing that it was likely to be months before an opening was available. Despite the way our family was treated, I'd like to leave as fair a review as possible, so here are some useful thoughts on our experiences at TLS.

Pros: Most of the individuals at TLS genuinely love the kids. The environment is safe and fun, and until the last few weeks, our son was happy there. Most other TLS parents have found the community to be warm and welcoming: family-like.

Neutrals: A surprising number of the staff and faculty are parents of the students. While this may demonstrate dedication, it is not necessarily an indication of expertise. Also, the organization takes what they call a more "naturalistic" approach. I think this means they wish to provide latitude for the kids to engage in more comfortable behaviors. Kids need to be challenged in order to learn, but the challenges should not be overwhelming. Finding the balance is really hard, and in my experience, TLS has a tendency to be more lenient. Depending on the kid and the situation this may come at the expense of learning opportunities.

Cons: Where to begin? To start, the behavioral health center and the school are in separate locations, which severely limits scheduling options if you are interested in both ABA and classroom time. Their ABA program also offers limited communication about progress, very few scheduled meetings with team leaders (one 30min meeting/semester), and no parent training or in-home behavioral consultation (as far as I know), which means there is no continuity between the work at home and at therapy. I did find the team leaders to be responsive to questions and concerns, and some of these were even addressed to our satisfaction, but not all. I initiated discussions about new goals, including introducing new foods and using PECs for communication, but the feedback on new foods ended after a couple days, and I never heard anything about using PECS. It was like they just forgot.
In fact, some of the biggest problems we encountered were several accidents and mistakes where somebody just dropped the ball. More than once we were not notified about important changes, including a funding policy change (which may have cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars), and a day the therapy center was closed (we had to scramble for childcare). Sometimes forms were not taken from my son's bag on the day they were due (including the order form on school picture day, and my's son's portrait was lost). I know that some mistakes are unavoidable, but they seemed to happen ALL THE TIME at TLS, which suggests very poor administration and organization.
Other problems included troubles with billing, and it took weeks before our calls were returned. Paperwork was lost, and the casual, family-like atmosphere that has appealed to other families, in my opinion, fosters a lack of professionalism and accountability. In some cases, it masked incompetence. Of course the absolute worst aspect of TLS is the attitude of those in leadership, which turned from disinterest in our concerns to outright spitefulness.
My son has immense potential, despite his developmental delays, and it is my job as a parent to demand the highest quality of care and to advocate passionately for him. Forthright, committed professionals should be working alongside parents to ensure the best outcomes for these special kids, and it’s a shame that these professionals are so hard to find at The Learning Spectrum.

My husband and I couldn't even get anybody to respond to our requests for a tour. To make matters worse, there was an issue with a couple of employees we would have liked the owner to address, and she just blatantly disregarded our concerns. She was very matter of fact about the serious issues regarding employee behavior that was brought to her attention. We are a conservative Christian family and we would like to know our child is getting the best education academically, behaviorally, and morally. My husband and I contacted other directors for a tour and they had not even acknowledged our emails. Sad to say, if this is how the school treats prospective parents, then our son is better off with our original option for schools.