The Hill Top Preparatory School is a grade five through twelve preparatory day school for students with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

. It is located in Radnor Township,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and has a Rosemont address.

History

During the late 1960s, there were only a few private schools that educated children with learning disabilities and offered students the appropriate support and understanding. Elissa L. Fisher saw that many of these children had potential and worked to meet these needs appropriately by founding the Hill Top Preparatory School.

Overall Mission

Through the years, Hill Top has offered students opportunities to learn and explore through their integration of technology, the promotion of activism and in the introduction of new ideas. Hill Top strives to arm students with the necessary tools and knowledge needed for transition to life after graduation.

COVID-19

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Hill Top adjusted by adding a virtual learning option during the 2020-2021 school year to its traditional, in-person format. Classes were lengthened to give time for mask breaks, enabling students to have each class every other day, rather than every day. The Linden Halls, where most of the middle school's classes are held, were changed to one-way hallways, due to their narrowness. Most of the high school classes are in the middle school building, due to the larger number of students in high school and the larger-sized classrooms in the middle school building.

Students with special needs

Hill Top has a wide variety of students, many of whom have learning disabilities and neural development disorders, including

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

ADD Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of ...

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

, and

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

Campus

The campus is located on the former site of the Booth School. It currently has five buildings, two of which have been expanded. Two of the buildings are private residences. The other buildings are the mansion/Linden Hall, which holds a library, lunchrooms, classrooms, and offices. The middle school includes classrooms and science labs. The carriage house/gymnasium holds the athletic offices and art classrooms. There is also a gym located east of the carriage house. The long-unoccupied third floor of the mansion was converted into an apartment in 2007 after a massive renovation. Hill Top has recently added a renovation to the carriage house to create a multi-purpose creative space that will further help promote action-based learning.

References

* {{authority control Private high schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1971 Schools in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Private middle schools in Pennsylvania 1971 establishments in Pennsylvania