Dear Ms. Peggy Key,
My wife and I would like to let you know that we couldn't be more pleased that our daughter is now receiving her education from your school, Lovers Lane Academy for the Deaf. It has been a wonderful experience for not only our daughter but for us as well. As you know, there are not many local options for Deaf children to be educated in an environment which supports Deafness and the Deaf community. We are extremely fortunate that we came to know about your fairly new school since our hopes for our daughter to receive an appropriate Deaf Education were looking very bleak.
One of the most positive things we're grateful for with our daughter attending LLAD is that we're able to have a close relationship with yourself and the teaching staff which allows for excellent communication and trust between family and school. We know that we can present any concerns or suggestions to your staff or ask how our child is doing in school and that we will get honest replies and a true desire to work together as a team. Enough can't be said about how comforting that is for us in knowing that our daughter's well-being and academic needs are both upmost priorities at LLAD.
It is pleasurable to finally see our daughter happy to go to school each morning and happy when she comes home from school due to being in the signing-rich environment in which she knows she belongs. Even though our daughter has only been attending LLAD for less than a year, we can greatly see the positive results of her attending school there. At home or any other environment we go, her sign language skills and use continue to flourish, she is learning how to conduct herself more appropriately and she has much more self-confidence. We feel that all of those things as well as her academic progress are hugely important for our daughter's development especially being that she has special needs, and that they are critical to our daughter successfully receiving and benefitting from the education she receives from this point forward in her life.
Thank you LLAD for all that you're doing for our child and also the others you serve!
Kindest regards,
Shane and Shanna Fechner
Because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.
Mission
History
Enrollment
Tuition
Mission:
Our mission is to provide, in a Christian environment, a bilingual (ASL and English) education for Deaf students that will develop their physical, mental, and spiritual abilities to live an independent, productive, and happy life in a personal relationship
with God.
Lovers Lane Academy for the Deaf was established in 2008. Our Deaf Ministry adults at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church were concerned that far too many young deaf adults were graduating with low literacy rates. We knew that our school could help alleviate that problem.
We began with 6 students. Several of them had already graduated, but they were still struggling with communication issues. Since our teachers are deaf and have grown up facing the same challenges our students faced, our teachers are uniquely qualified to help our students succeed.
We added our younger students in August 2010. Three beautiful young ladies joined us. We work with students aged 5 - 25.
Our classes are designed so each student receives individual attention and small group help. It has been exciting and rewarding to watch the self esteem and communication skills of each student improve at Lovers
Lane Academy for the Deaf. Each member of our staff
considers it a blessing to be able to work with each of our
students.
Our students are indeed beautiful children of God.
LLAD accepts students ages 5 - 25 who will benefit from an educational environment presented mainly in American Sign Language (ASL). We use a bilingual approach, teaching both ASL and English. Communication is a very important part of our curriculum.
If you are interested in learning more about our school, please contact Peggy Key, our Executive Director or Dr. Kristen Jackson Dacres, our Assistant Executive Director. Either will be happy to set up an appointment with you and your child. It is critical that you bring your child with you. We want to be sure LLAD is the appropriate place for your child.
During your visit, we will discuss our philosophy and curriculum. Please ask questions and be sure to bring any testing or educational information with you that will help us determine how
we may assist you and your child.
If you determine that we are the appropriate
placement for your child, we will give you the
forms you will need to complete for our enrollment.
It is the policy of LLAD to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, citizenship, marital status or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. This policy permeates all decisions, including but not limited to those involving employee compensation, benefits, hiring, promotion, training and development, and other terms and conditions of employment.
LLAD is a private non-profit (501 (c) 3) school. We depend on our students and individual donations for the majority of our financial support. We are different from public schools in that we do not receive federal and state education money.
LLAD depends on 4 main ways to fund the school:
The tuition for school year 2012 - 2013 is $20,000. Scholarships are available for students who
demonstrate a need. Please contact LLAD for
information regarding scholarship applications.
We want to do everything we possibly can to make
LLAD available for your child.
Click on a picture to see more information.
Click a second time to close that picture and select another one.
Our upper grade students are very busy learning. They focus on improving their communication skills in ASL (American Sign Language) and English. They work on reading and writing. We are very excited about our Visual Grammar program we started this year. The students are writing more clearly now.
God answers our prayers. We ask that you pray for:
Most of our students come from families with limited incomes. LLAD operates on a frugal budget, but there are still costs associated with running a school. We would be very grateful for your financial help, in whatever amount you would like to contribute.
There are 3 ways to donate:
Thank you so much for your generous spirit. Your gift will be used specifically to benefit our students.
We are a 501(c)3 corporation so all of your donation is tax
deductible.
The link http://llumc.org/give/ will take you to a Lovers Lane
United Methodist Church website where you can select
online giving to donate. First time users will need to register.
On the donation page, please be sure to select Lovers Lane
Academy for the Deaf.
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Staff Page
Hello! I am Dr. Kristen Jackson Dacres. I am the Assistant Executive Director for LLAD.
Hi! I'm Elena Grinberg. I am the Lead Teacher in the Elementary Room. I was born in Moscow, Russia. I moved to Vermont about 11 years ago. I worked at the Vermont School for the Deaf until I moved to Texas last summer.
Hi. My name is Tom Hudspeth. I am the pastor for the deaf at Lovers Lane UMC. I am also the Chaplain for the students and staff at LLAD.
I love to teach and work with my deaf students. I have been in the Deaf Education field for over 25 years and have worked with all grade levels. I have taught in Arkansas and in Texas.
I enjoy seeing the excitement and comprehension the deaf students display when they learn new things. LLAD is important to me because it provides an opportunity for the students to work on their level and feel successful.
When I am not teaching, I enjoy reading, sewing, and playing the hand bells with Lovers Lane Sanctuary Ringers. My husband, Stephen, and I are both deaf. We have three beautiful Shetland Sheepdogs or Shelties.
Pepper is a tri-color Sheltie, Sugar is a double merle Sheltie, and Kellie is a sable Sheltie. Being a double merle Sheltie, Sugar is white with a few silver patches. She has light blue eyes and is deaf.
But you would never know that she is deaf, because she acts just like the other two dogs! Also, Sugar was adopted from the DFW Sheltie Rescue.
My name is TaNeShea Walker. I am the assistant teacher for the elementary students. I love my kids!
I love my job! It is so much fun working with people of all ages and learning more sign language every day. The best part is working with people who are serious about improving the lives of our young students who are deaf.
When I am not working, my favorite place is to be with my family. Rin, my husband, and I have 3 beautiful girls. Our oldest one is Casi. She works with another private school that serves special needs children. Our second child, Kristi, is a special education teacher for Coppell. She is married to Ryan Cortez, Fireman of the Year for the Sachse Fire Department! Our youngest daughter is Nicole. She is a student at LLAD. Our girls have beautiful loving spirits.
We also have 2 dogs. The dog farthest on the right is my dog. Her name is Coco. The dog in the middle is Gizzie. She is Nicole's dog. The brindle dog is Bruce. He belongs to Casi. Poor Kristi doesn't have a dog yet!
Our family enjoys being outdoors. We especially like camping. We usually go somewhere close just so we can go camping! We like to kayak, ride our bikes, and watch the sun rise and set.
LLAD students helped Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Gustav.
LLAD students traveled to Senter Recreation Center in Irving to help serve meals to people who had to flee their homes.
LLAD students awoke at 4:00am one Saturday to prepare breakfast for homeless people in San Antonio, TX. They first prepared breakfast burritos with other volunteers from New Life Deaf Fellowship.
We traveled to downtown San Antonio to an area underneath an overpass. LLAD students and NLDF volunteers handed out breakfast and other items of need.
It was especially fun to visit with a young man who was deaf.
During Spring break, LLAD students and teachers traveled to Santa Fe, Texas which is close to Galveston. They spent the week repairing a house that had been damaged by the hurricane.
The house we worked on was owned by a family that was deaf. We had a lot of fun talking with the family and learning new skills.
LLAD students have traveled to HHR several times to volunteer. They have helped with landscaping and lawn care, odd jobs, and the huge task of clearing an area in the edge of the Sam Houston Forest for a prayer garden.
We enjoyed our fellowship time with our new friends who were volunteers from Arkansas.
Lovers Lane Academy for the Deaf
9200 Inwood Road
Dallas, Texas 75220
(On the campus of Lovers Lane
United Methodist Church)
214.706.9599 voice
469.522.2974 video phone
peggy.key_deafacademy.com
Welcome!
