Rick Weinberg shares our story through the eyes of Mrs. Valentine, Newton Learning Center Reno teacher, who changed her life after enrolling her child in one of our schools.
BY RICK WEINBERG, CALIFORNIA BUSINESS JOURNAL
Bethany Valentine was so impressed with the Second Start autism program at the Newton Learning Centers and Pine Hill Schools that she not only enrolled her son Zach there but she also went to work for them.
Second Start’s programs turned her son’s life completely around, which is exactly what it does for every child who enters the progressive 41-year-old, award-winning schools, which are in San Jose, Monterey and another in Reno, Nevada.
“The incredible work they do there really inspired me – they’re the masters of understanding and dealing with behavioral challenges,” Ms. Valentine says. “When I saw what was going on there and how they helped my son with the innovative programs they were using, I said, ‘Hey, I want to be a part of this. I want to work here.’ So I went back college, got my degree and here I am, working for them.”
Ms. Valentine’s son was diagnosed with autism at the age of five. “I homeschooled him because I knew what we’d get in the public school system,” she says. At the same time, she was reading books and conducting deep research on autism.
That’s when she found Second Start.
“Right away Zach started bonding with his teachers and other students – that’s how effective the program is,” she says. “He had never done that before.”