Specialized School for Children with Autism Opens in Alberta

Specialized School for Children with Autism transforming a former car dealership into Jim Jiwani Autism Academy in west Edmonton to give neurodivergent students a place uniquely suited to their sensory and learning needs.

The school employs the Alberta Education curriculum but also offers individualized service plans related to individualized, social communication and regulation needs, or other goals not related to the context of an academic framework.

“It’s been a long time coming, however, it is picturesque to see the kids and families in the space,” said Terri Duncan, executive director of Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton, while visiting the school for its grand opening. Privately funded and a gift from founder Jim Jiwani of the Prestige Auto Group, that environment may be at least marginally better adapted for their needs than elsewhere, although perhaps a bit more personalized than might otherwise be expected for students who might thrive in a setting such as this.

Many of the academy students have poor communication skill, and school support systems can easily bend toward that end with an adult-to-student ratio remarkably high-especially at the outset of the year.

“Our children are quite dysregulated quite a few times, thus they require much more support, from the initial stage,” Duncan said. For parents, the academy was a godsend. Jennifer Scott, whose child will be seven at the end of this year, said that when her son began to flounder in a public-school program that proved not suited to his needs, “every day I would drop my son off there, I would watch his light dim a little bit.” She described the changes she saw here in totally different terms.

In fact, he operates four classrooms in the school today. Four classes for 40 students from kindergarten to Grade 3 will eventually increase. He emphasized emotionally regulating and structure in teaching, leaving the child safe and ready to learn.

Although the school is provincially funded, the yearly tuition is $9,500. Some of the families who have enrolled their children here have made use of scholarships and community fundraising to be able to help keep their children here, but the academy hopes to gain more sponsorships in the near future so they may expand the school and take on more students.

Registration will reopen in spring 2024 for entry to Grades 1 and 2 for the 2024/25 school year.