Profile of The Winston Student

List of 2 items.

• WHAT MAKES WINSTON UNIQUE?

  At Winston, we don’t define students by what they struggle with; instead, we focus on how they learn best. Our experienced teachers use a strengths-based approach to help students build confidence and independence. Our students often arrive with language-based learning differences or other learning challenges, which may include:

  • ADHD: Difficulty with attention and concentration, which impacts multiple areas of learning.
  • Anxiety: Persistent worry that affects academic performance and social engagement.
  • Central Auditory Processing Disorder: Challenges in making sense of spoken language, despite typical hearing.
  • Dyscalculia: Difficulty understanding numbers, operations, and mathematical concepts.
  • Dysgraphia: Challenges with written expression, handwriting, and/or spelling.
  • Dyslexia: Reading difficulties related to identifying and connecting sounds to letters and words, affecting reading accuracy, fluency, decoding, and encoding.
  • Decoding: Struggles applying rules to sound out unfamiliar words.
  • Encoding: Challenges breaking words into sounds for accurate spelling.
  • Fluency: Difficulty reading with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression.
  • Executive Functioning Weaknesses: Struggles with task initiation, organization, planning, prioritizing, time management, and decision-making.
  • Phonological Awareness Deficits: Challenges with blending, segmenting, or isolating sounds in spoken language.
  • Processing Deficits (Processing Speed, Verbal Processing, and Visual/Spatial Processing): Slower pace in understanding and responding to information, difficulty understanding and using verbal and written language, and/or struggles interpreting visual information, especially spatial or geometric material.
  • Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Struggles with understanding and interpreting text.
  • Receptive/Expressive Language Delays: Difficulty understanding spoken or written language (receptive) and sharing thoughts and ideas verbally or in writing (expressive).
  • Working Memory Weaknesses: Difficulty temporarily holding and manipulating information.
  • Written Expression Difficulties: Challenges with structuring, organizing, and articulating ideas in writing.

• STUDENTS WHO THRIVE AT WINSTON

  • Have average to above-average intelligence but may struggle in specific academic areas due to learning differences.
  • Show clear strengths alongside areas that require targeted support. 
  • Benefit from small class sizes, individualized attention, and accommodations that meet their unique learning profiles.
  • Do not require a therapeutic environment for behavioral or psychological challenges.
  • May need extra time to process information and opportunities to revisit material in a supportive setting.
  • Learn best when instruction plays to their strengths while addressing areas of need with specialized strategies.
  • May benefit from integrated services such as Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech-Language Therapy (SLP), with these supports embedded into daily instruction.
  • Embody the values we call the Winston Roots: Caring, Citizenship, Courage, Honesty, Imagination, Respect, and Responsibility.