The school has been around for decades so staff, policies, protocols, and methods have changed over time. As better methods and supports come out in the field of autism, Odyssey always looks to adapt and evolve. The school is very small, classroom sizes are small, and this allows for the students to recieve the attention and individual support they deserve. Staff focus on safety and self regulation over anything else. Once those basic needs are met they work on educational and life skills. For such a small school there is an abundance of opportunities for the students onsite. Like a pool, laundromat, student kitchen, garden, and playground. Onsite occupational therapy, speech therapy and behavior therapy. Students also get to go out in the community to learn real world skills. Odyssey doesnt use food reinforcement but instead looks at more valuable rewards like prefferred items, activities and praise. They also focus on teaching students how to get they needs met in safe ways instead of using a punishment system. The staff and admin know every students name and build rapport and relationships because they truly care about the students they serve. read more

This review is about their school as I know nothing about their home facilities. This school is meant to cater to children in the Autism Spectrum or Autistic-like symptoms. This is their mission statement, "Odyssey Learning Center is committed to enhancing the lives of children with autism, using a collaborative approach to educate and nurture them in their journey towards independence with integrity and dignity." When you go visit to see if this is the school you want to bring your child to, things are always "perfect" as the classroom you will be checking out is informed prior to you getting there and even if a child is not behaving he/she is moved to a different classroom. If you are visiting and didn't go to the office, the minute any staff sees you they call the classroom your child is in to inform them that you have arrived. My son has a few behavioral issues as most if not all of the children at that school do. He acts the same way at home and I have NEVER had to resort to restraining and neither has anyone that worked with him before or after this school. While at Odyssey I would pick up my son some days exhausted to the point of falling asleep in the car, hungry and with bruises and nail marks embedded on his skin. Every time I expressed my concern to anyone there, they would brush me off and even lie about what had happened. Well as time went by and getting information from different sources whom I will not mention I started discovering disturbing things... If my son reached out and grabbed food from someone else's plate, his lunch was taken away from him so that he would not "steal". On numerous occasions staff would get upset at him and squeeze him by the arms leaving bruises or embedding nails til they opened skin. They rotate turns and the staff that worked with him in the AM was not the same as after lunch but I started noticing that every single time he worked with a specific girl, he was hurt. I even got into an argument with her in the class (all students were gone for the day) for which I was labeled as psycho for. She got fired recently... I know why and if Odyssey could respond honestly without getting into trouble they would now agree that the girl truly was sick in the head because what she got fired for could have even had her arrested. Once I picked my son up and he had what looked like a rug burn on his chin. Nobody knew what it was, how it happened. I was not taking that for an answer. They produced a false "incident report" having a new staff member sign it. I made a stink about that and had the teacher removed from that classroom also and my son continued at that school. Well eventually I found out that the children were being wrapped like burritos in giant yoga mats when they weren't behaving. I saw this a few times. They would call it "sensory". Let me explain something here... it is sensory if the child is in need of that pressure, done properly and for a specific amount of time. Oh and with sensory there aren't 2 women sitting on top of the child. I asked them if they were doing that only to find out that any time my son even looked like he was going to have a melt down he was wrapped. That kids were told "behave otherwise you are getting wrapped". That is not sensory, that is PUNISHMENT AND RESTRAINT! (I've enclosed pics of the mat bitten by restrained children all over the edges) Anyway I found out it was the wrapping that got my son hurt (rug burns on the chin). I can go on about this school, the NUTS that work there, their messed up doings, etc. but I'm surprised you have even read this far. If anyone wants any other information do not hesitate to contact me as I have NO problems telling you what they will not and I have PLENTY of witnesses that can back up anything I will tell you. Parents engaging in conversation is frowned upon and if any parents are talking to each other on campus, they are being monitored. In a meeting the principal lied to my face. She knew she was lying and I knew she was lying. That was very scary as she was bold enough to go ahead with her lie to cover her behind. The staff that works there (other than the teachers) does not need any prior experience working with special needs children. They are finger printed and a little background check is performed. PS when telling the San Juan Unified School District about Odyssey's practices their response was always that Odyssey was a private entity that they contracted with and that there was nothing they could do about anything. Well here... there should be no problems with me YELPING a private entity, A BUSINESS. And if anyone at Odyssey feels the need to address me, do it IN WRITING... choose your words wisely as I will make any and all responses public information. Your wrong doings have been kept quiet too long. read more

Odyssey Learning Center - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Orangevale, California

I'm writing as a parent who cares for the community. My son is non-verbal and spent nearly 2 years there with a folder of issues I could never get resolved. He was called, "one of their highest functioning students," but that was due to his family support. He went in that way. However, he didn't leave that way. He regressed. A LOT. There is 1 behaviorist for 100 students. I would email or call and get zero response. Due to the lack of communication, I had to call random IEPs just to get information about why he was regressing. My son developed high anxiety. Due to the school not doing their job, I hired a 3rd party to work with the school for 6 months and their findings were "inadequate staff support," "inadequate approach to meeting student needs," inadequate cooperation from administration." They also reported there is a lot of unnecessary downtime where they could be doing something creative. My son came home with bruises and no one knew why. If your looking a for an advocate, this is not the place to find one. It's basically a babysitting service that you send your child to posed as a school setting. The school district won't help because they are a private institution. They do not enhance their life, skills or independence. In nearly 2 years, my son did not learn anything new but developed horrible habits, meltdowns and severe anxiety. The administration is not pro-active. They do not hold events. They do not welcome "show up" visits. They have newsletters from 2012 on their website; nothing current. You will not receive updates. You will not receive email or newsletters or information on innovative techniques/technologies. This isn't a school you will brag to your friends about. They collect a paycheck. They keep is running. That's about it. They also don't use the pool. Our children deserve the very best care. They deserve to go somewhere where they will find purpose and fulfillment. Parent participation is vital for school-home relationships/growth/independence building blocks. Odyssey offered none of those. My son is in a new school/program and thriving. In a month I've seen a drastic difference. He comes home happy not biting his fingers off like he did when he came home from Odyssey. His anxiety is minimizing. He's almost the same guy he was before he started there. I wish I pulled him out sooner. Please do your homework on this place. read more

Best place to work and be a part of! I'm honored to be a part of this amazing organization

Here's a letter I wrote to their principal. It speaks for itself. This email is one I tried really hard to avoid, but one that is, quite frankly, way over-due. As a mother I couldn't stop circling back to what you put our family through at a very difficult time. I need to do this not only for my son, but so hopefully you will think long and hard before doing this to another child in the future. I want you to know that the way you handled the recent placement request for my son, Hunter Granger, at your school was completely unacceptable and by far the most unprofessional experience our family has encountered in the 13 years our boys have been in the school system here in Placer county. The fact that you admitted him, then only admitted him with a 30 day probationary period then shut him out completely leaving our family in limbo at the Thanksgiving break without the decency of letting us know is despicable. All the while, I am scrambling to fill out all of your admitting paperwork, am showing my son pictures of the school online and telling him all about the campus, his classroom and new teacher to prepare him for his first day at your school the day after Thanksgiving break. Your campus was the perfect fit for our son, only you failed to even give him a chance. I know you think I didn't disclose everything- but you are mistaken. I told you every gory detail about the issues he had experienced at his previous school. That school was NOT a good fit for him for many reasons that I will not go into. If you had done proper due diligence to really try to access the situation and if you really cared about my child- you would have seen what an amazing kid he is and that he had a ton of potential if he was removed from the current situation. You chose to judge him by what was written on paper by a few people that were incapable of handling the situation properly, despite the fact that also on that very paperwork his father and I had it written in that we were not at all in agreement with the description these "few" people gave of our son. I want you to know that our son has not had a single incident since he was placed at another school. At his recent 30 day evaluation the teacher stated that she had NO IDEA why the term aggressive was EVER used to describe Hunter. In fact- she said he is the farthest thing from aggressive. He is a sweet, funny boy who has gone on every community outing due to perfect behavior- which is only offered to students who reach the TOP tier for behavior, and classroom work weekly. He has attended a school dance and is a complete joy to have in their classroom. She even crossed all of that horrible verbiage off of his IEP. His report card we just received says he has satisfactory behavior in English, Health, Life Skills, Math and PE. Finally we found someone who would give him a chance to prove what an amazing boy he is. Sierra Schools East did what you and your staff was to discriminate to do. You should be ashamed of the way you handled that situation. I called you to discuss his upcoming first day and to make sure you received the paperwork I sent and you blew me off asking if you could call me back in a few minutes. I never got a call from you. I did, however, get a call form the district office stating that you were rejecting Hunter suddenly after we had gone into an IEP with your school as temporary placement and given up his current placement. You should be ashamed of the way you left us in limbo right at Thanksgiving break and made our Thanksgiving one of stress and uncertainty. You should be ashamed at the way you treated my son. you should be sorry that you will never get to know him. Darla Granger read more

My son who has special needs has gone to Odyssey Learning Center for two years now and enjoys his teachers and aides very much! They have a pool, on-site Occupational Therapy, playground with cool equipment, and all kids of adaptive equipment. He goes on outings to the store as well to buy treats. I love the hours from 9 to 2 so it's not too long of a day for my son. They call me any time anything has happened, and well in this population stuff always happens and the staff has acted appropriately every time. Speaking of staff they are smart, energetic, and actually love working with my child. if your reading this Lolo loves Odyssey! read more

The patience, the love, the genuine caring attitude and behavior, the teachers and aides are all top notch. Very difficult environment of students, but they do their very best to make sure they get the best assistance possible. read more

To be honest, after reading the reviews from previous yelpers I was a little disappointed. Not so much with the school itself, but with the parents that posted the reviews. My child has been going to this school for two years and he has improved alot since then! This school does enhance the child's life, skills and independence. Maybe in the past it wasn't the same way, but the school has changed for the better! To the parents: did you ever think of how difficult it might be to work with aggressive students? Not one, but many all in the same classroom. I love my child and sometimes it definitely is difficult, but the school manages to still educate the children and deal with behavioral issues. Not many people are willing to work with autistic kids, so I give all my props to the staff at Odyssey Learing Center! Also, this could be the reason why they hire some staff that dont have experience working with autistic children, but with special training and a passion I believe anything is possible! I've never heard of staff being aggressive towards a student, in fact they get trained in safety training, cpr and first aid and water safety training according to administration. Which leads me to another point, why would they train staff for water safety when they "dont use their pool". Of course they use the pool, my son swims in the warmer months. Odyssey Learning Center, you rock!!! read more