Program Description

Mardan serves from 80 to 100 students each year who come from all over Orange County. Our students include boys and girls from ages three and one-half (3 ½) through eighteen (18) years old who have average to gifted intellectual potential, but whose emotional, behavioral, and/or learning difficulties impact their ability to benefit from a regular education setting or a special education program on a public school campus.

Many of our students have been diagnosed by their physicians and/or psychiatrists with:

  • Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder (ADHD)
  • Oppositional Defiant Disorder
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Asperger's Syndrome
  • Tourette Syndrome
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Mood Disorders (e.g., Bipolar, Depression)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Reactive-Attachment Disorder

Grades 1 – 12

The Mardan Day School Program emphasizes a success-oriented focus that balances both academic and social needs in a highly structured environment:

  • Nine classes, with no more than two grade levels per class.
  • Each self-contained class is limited to 12 students, and taught by an experienced, credentialed master teacher and a full-time assistant teacher.
  • Rigorous academic curriculum aligned with California State Standards, with differentiated instruction designed to meet specific learning needs and IEP goals.
  • Concurrent with academic instruction, students learn organization skills, study skills, social communication skills, problem-solving and coping skills.
  • Social skills development integrated into program and addressed throughout the day in a variety of ways.

The school day experience is further enriched by a variety of support services:

  • Regular Physical Education (P.E.) classes, under the direction of a credentialed Adaptive P.E. Specialist, held three times a week in our gymnasium. Our P.E. staff offers a structured program of sports and activities to help students learn skills, develop good sportsmanship, and enjoy peer interaction.
  • Weekly scheduled time in the resource center/library, where students receive guidance on using all resources available in the library in order to complete research and assignments, choose books for personal reading enjoyment, and access various computer applications as well as the internet.
  • Bi-weekly group art sessions guided by the Art Coordinator. Art projects are often coordinated with classroom curriculum, and promote art skills, appreciation, and creative exploration.
  • Life skills/cooking projects in the student kitchen, geared towards teaching healthy living habits and fostering positive group interaction and teamwork.
  • Regularly scheduled time in our computer lab where students learn and practice computer and research skills, as well as creative projects utilizing technology
  • Speech & Language services provided by a licensed SLP for those students with identified needs
  • Clinical Psychologist on staff to provide regular and as-needed/crisis counseling sessions

Preschool/Kindergarten

Mardan offers an early intervention program designed for high-risk young children who have already experienced difficulty or may have been excluded from regular programs due to impulsive or aggressive behavior. They may be show signs of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or may be falling behind in developing appropriate pre-academic and social skills.

  • Limited to a maximum of 10 children with two teachers- an experienced, credentialed master teacher and a full-time assistant teacher.
  • Focus on providing a highly structured and safe environment with clear expectations and firm limits
  • Emphasis upon helping students learn to be responsible for their own behaviors, express their feelings verbally rather than acting them out physically, and experience success in their day-to-day interactions.
  • School day comprised of 'circle time' and problem-solving discussions, phonics and other language arts activities, early math skills, science, social studies, cooking, and music.
  • Time is also spent in the library, art room, gym, and kitchen for organized activities that not only teach additional skills, but encourage generalization of social and communication skills in all settings.
  • Teachers maintain daily communication with parents to ensure learned skills are being generalized to home and community settings.