For Professionals
Not all Great Minds Think Alike
For more than 28 years, The Janus School has set the standard in Central Pennsylvania for educating students with learning differences. We can work together to make sure they have the best chance at a bright future.
The Janus School is a non-profit, independent K-12 day school centrally located in Mount Joy, Lancaster County serving students with language- or math-based learning differences, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Executive Function Disorder, Nonverbal Learning Disorder, or Auditory Processing Disorder.
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Founded in 1991, Janus is accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools grades K-12, The Janus School is also a member NAIS, PAIS, ADVIS, IDA, LDA, and PIAA. Janus uses a clinical, diagnostic, and research-based approach to teaching students with learning differences. Certification in the All Kinds of Minds neurodevelopmental program and a student-teacher ratio of 4:1 help to ensure success for our students that come from a thirteen county area. Bus service is provided from Harrisburg, Reading, York, Lebanon/Hershey, and the Mount Joy Amtrak station, and significant financial aid is available for qualified families.
Assistive Technology
The Janus School believes that technology can be effective in helping students with their areas of difficulty. Assistive technologies are explicitly taught and employed in every classroom, and every student uses the tools that work best for them and their learning profile.
Janus’s assistive technology program ranges from text-to-speech and speech-to-text to executive function tools and word prediction programs.
Some of the assistive technology tools we use at Janus include:
- Read&Write
- Chromebooks voice typing
- Bookshare
- Audible
- 1:1 Chromebook program
- iPads
- Grammarly
- Newsela
- Assignment books and calendars
- Interactive Whiteboards
Academic Programs
The Janus School uses a hands-on, multi-sensory curriculum rooted in the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics. Lower Division (K-5) and Middle Division (6-8) focus on core skill remediation, while Upper Division (9-12) focuses on skill development, graduation, and college or other postsecondary placement. Comprehensive narrative reports are written at the beginning and end of each year, meaningful standardized assessments help monitor progress annually, and parent-teacher conferences held three times per year give parents a chance to meet often with their child’s teaching team.
All first-year students receive a 1:1 tutorial, with the option to continue as needed in subsequent years with an advisory system in place for all students. Speech-language and occupational therapy services are also offered. Janus has a licensed clinical social worker on staff, and will facilitate coordinated care with outside medical, mental health, and educational agencies.
Socialization-communication and study skills are integrated throughout the curriculum, and a variety of classes are provided, including visual & performing arts, senior internships, Success classes in each year of Upper Division, and foreign languages.
Academic programs include:
- Writing Skills – Diana Hanbury King (grades 1-12)
- Math in Focus – Singapore Math (grades 1-8)
- Houghton Mifflin Science Modules (grades 1-8)
- Houghton Mifflin Social Studies (grades 1-8)
- History Alive! (grades 9-12)
- Handwriting Without Tears
Reading programs include:
- Orton-Gillingham
- Wilson
- Lindamood Bell
Assessments used to evaluate students’ speech-language, academic achievement, social-emotional, and executive functioning levels:
- Speech-Language battery
- Measures of Academic Progress (Reading and Math)
- Gray Oral Reading Test, Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, and Woodcock Reading Mastery Test
- Stanford Mathematics Test and KeyMath Diagnostic Assessment
- BASC-2 (Behavior Assessment System for Children)
Summer Programs
The Janus School’s five-week Summer Programs are designed to provide extended school year experiences for students in all grade levels. The morning academic program maintains and reinforces skills in various subjects while the afternoon programs offer enrichment opportunities such as Outdoor Adventures, Ceramics, and a Letter Learning Lab. Visit our Summer Programs page to see information about this year’s programs.
Classroom Technology
The Janus School uses classroom technology to support our mission to empower students with learning differences. We are committed to helping our students navigate in this 21st century technology-driven society, teaching and encouraging students to be not just digital citizens, but digital leaders. Through modeling and direct instruction, students learn how to search, analyze, and scrutinize the information they have at their fingertips and develop problem solving skills.