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Switzer Learning Center began in 1966 as the South
Bay Center for Educational Therapy in Hermosa Beach.
Dr. Switzer’s innovative after school,
educational therapy program became a groundbreaking
model for helping children with learning and
emotional problems.
In 1972, the Center moved to Torrance and
with the addition of a nonpublic special education
school became Switzer Center.
As a nonpublic school and nonpublic agency, Switzer Learning Center
contracts with South
Bay school districts to provide special education
classes and clinical services (e.g. counseling,
speech and language therapy, occupational therapy,
and adaptive physical education) to third through 12th
grade students with severe learning, emotional and
behavioral problems.
When Dr. Switzer retired in 1994, Dr. Rebecca Foo
became the executive director.
Under her leadership, a new campus was built.
With the move to the new campus in 2005, the
school’s name was changed to Switzer Learning
Center.
Switzer Learning Center’s new campus includes:
12 classrooms, home science lab, arts and
crafts studio, sensory/occupational therapy room,
fitness room, student kitchen, commercial kitchen
and an auditorium.
In fall 2006, the Relational, Emotional, and
Affectional Learning (REAL) Autistic Spectrum
Disorders (ASD) Program for middle school and older
children with moderate to severe levels of autism
began.
The
REAL ASD Program
teaches creative problem solving, referencing others
to learn what is appropriate, and self-regulation.
For over 43 years, Switzer Learning Center has
provided a caring, supportive and individualized
academic program so students who learn differently
can learn in different ways how to develop their
strengths, accommodate for their weaknesses and
build upon their successes one step at a time.
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