School Life

A Place To Be Yourself

The Abbie Way

A Focused Gentle Approach

Our Campus

Our main campus, which includes our Academy and STEPS program, is located on 4 pastoral acres just south of the Park Place Mall. The residential scale and quietness of the campus allows our students to lower their defenses and embrace their education. There is a sense of freedom, openness, and connection to nature that is healing for all students, but particularly beneficial for those who are sensory sensitive.

Our High School campus is located on 12 acres in the heart of Tucson in the Broadway-Wilmot area. The campus features a unique learning environment, which includes a horticultural, farm-like atmosphere complete with a garden, goats and chickens, as well as expansive recreational space with basketball courts, soccer field, and baseball area.

School Life

The culture of Abbie is fun and relaxed. We're not your typical autism school. We track and reward, positive behavior. We also offer ways for our students to interact and bond through fun activities like field trips, water play day, and participating in Special Olympics. Abbie School is a loving and accepting community where students have the opportunity to create and grow meaningful friendships.

Class Size

Our core academic subjects enjoy a maximum 8:1 student staff ratio. Small classes allow students to have a rich classroom experience, benefit from differentiated instruction, and receive the personal assistance they need to be successful, a critical feature of an elite autism school.

Electives

Abbie School students have the choice of a rich offering of electives including art, music, life skills, and Special Olympics. Abbie School students learn to express themselves artistically, lead, volunteer, and use science, technology and engineering to guide critical thinking. They develop life-enriching hobbies and acquire life skills that will help ensure self-sufficiency and independence.

Development

The Abbie School also provides students with development opportunities through Transition to Work partnerships. The University of Arizona Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities offers Abbie School students a Transition-to-Work Program; a unique, business-led, one-year employment preparation program that takes place entirely at the workplace. We also partner with Workability, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching and preparing people with disabilities for sustainable work opportunities in southern Arizona. These valuable partnerships assist students prepare for employment.

Transition

At Abbie High School we strive to prioritize our students' lives beyond graduation by working with families to place them into our Transition Program. Our school partners with several post-secondary education programs, including The University of Arizona's Project Focus, Pima Community College, Beacon Group and Pima JTED. Abbie School loves supporting our students and their families in navigating work, college experience, or promoting independence after high school.

School Life
Class Size
Electives
Development
Transition

Abbie Curriculum

We Make Learning Fun

We have found that the door to learning, is opened by reducing a student’s anxiety. Abbie’s focus is on the whole child, giving equal value to academic work as well as to honing the skills necessary to be successful in relationships and in life.
Our school teaching methodology is based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). We incorporate ABA practices and a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support System (PBIS) into our entire curriculum.
At Abbie School, each child has access to an iPad or other electronic device to make learning fun and encourage technology skills. All of our staff is fully trained in QBS Safety Care (R) crisis prevention and safe crisis management.