About Cornerstone
Cornerstone Preparatory School For Therapeutic Education (CPS) was founded in 2017 by the Gummels Family. We are a full time micro school operating in a homeschool capacity. At CPS, we integrate a therapeutic and remedial academic approach into every aspect of our program. Our team is made up of an occupational therapist and a speech language pathologist. Classroom size is small in order to focus on the specific needs of each child. Take a peek at our learning space here. We serve able bodied, developmentally independent children who are able to fully participate in the program academically, emotionally and physically. CPS is not an appropriate placement for children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Cornerstone Preparatory School for Therapeutic Education functions in a homeschool capacity and is currently serving children starting at 12.
CPS uses a unique collaborate approach in conjunction with both a kinesthetic and visual curriculum to target the whole child; academically, socially, emotionally and physically. Children can flourish developmentally and socially as any weaknesses in language development, fine motor development, sensory processing and learning delays are addressed. In addition to our unique academic curriculum, we integrate social and daily living skills in and out of the classroom through real world experiences.
In our classroom an Occupational Therapist prepares the child for cognitive learning by first regulating the child’s sensory system. A child has a far greater chance at academic/cognitive success when their central nervous system is regulated first. Once a child is regulated, skills such as fine motor development, gross motor skills, and visual perceptual skills can be addressed through therapeutic and academic activities. Our occupational therapist also overlaps academic learning in a functional manner in order to better prepare the children for real life application. For example math and money skills are applied functionally in a pretend store environment where the children are asked to identify regular prices, sale prices, compare prices at different stores, add, subtract and exchange money. These skills are then applied in the real world on visits to the grocery store to purchase items for a recipe where the children will then apply reading, following directions, motor planning & measuring skills. Science is also taught in the classroom and specific aspects such as temperature, weight, volume, etc are then applied in real life scenarios such as weather and how to dress for the weather. Click here to learn more about Occupational Therapy in the classroom.
Our speech language pathologist teaches reading, spelling, language arts and history. She also works closely with the children at social gatherings to develop their pragmatic speech, expressive language and fluency skills as well as social emotional behaviors. Click here to learn more about these skills and how they are covered in the classroom.
At CPS we are fortunate to have a ‘super team’ of teachers and therapists who constantly seek the best methods and resources available to the individuals we serve because we believe there is always something better. We also understand that our students do not fit a “one size fits all” program. The program must be tailored to the child. At CPS we not only create a therapeutic educational environment designed to help each child reach his or her full potential in school and in life but also foster joy in relationships and a love of learning.