Admission Viewbook

There’s no place like Forman.

YOUR GUIDE TO AMERICA’S FIRST COED COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL SPECIALIZING IN ADHD & DYSLEXIA

Where learning differently isn’t what makes you different

Forman is, to put it simply, one of a kind. For almost a century, we’ve transformed the lives of teenagers with ADHD and dyslexia, via a committed, research-driven curriculum and expert teaching adapted to their individual learning needs.

Every Forman student has extraordinary promise. Here, they’ll understand that promise for themselves as they learn to self-advocate, trust in their intelligence and abilities, engage deeply with course material, and develop proven, personalized strategies to thrive in college and beyond— with a cohort whose experiences are just like theirs. Importantly, they’ll also explore who they are outside the classroom on our breathtaking, hightech, 125-acre campus just a couple of hours from New York City.

A century of innovation

From our rigorous professional development—all teachers are executive function-trained—to weekly, goalsetting advisory meetings with students, an immersive Winterim experience, and our exploratorium Promethean Lab, Forman remains a community driven by innovation. A place where no student is left behind.

Academic learning is supplemented with hands-on research and fieldwork.

From the outset, Forman was radically progressive, inclusive, and evidencebased. In the 1930s, pioneering physician and dyslexia expert Dr. Samuel Orton trained our faculty in techniques for students with dyslexia.

In the 1940s, we became coeducational, better preparing students for real life.

In 1943, Dr. Albert Einstein—who also had reading difficulties—joined our board of directors and consulted on Forman’s curriculum.

In the 1980s, we were the first to introduce computer-assisted writing courses. By 1982, TIME declared Forman the best school for students with learning differences in America.

With ergonomic seating, high ceilings, abundant natural light, and integrated tech, Forman’s learning spaces are engineered to accommodate student needs.

Our athletes— including AllStar, All-League, and All-American players—train weekly on state-of-the-art facilities. These include tennis and basketball courts, a well-equipped gymnasium, and fields for baseball, football, soccer, and lacrosse.

A transformative, tranquil campus

Ultramodern art facilities nourish students’ big ideas: a mirrored dance studio, 300-seat theater and costume shop, photography dark room, green screen, recording studio, and multiple music rehearsal spaces. Forman’s ceramics studio has indoor and outdoor throwing areas, electric potter’s wheels, and two kilns.

The Lion’s Den Bistro is an oncampus eatery with a rotating, locally sourced seasonal menu. Enterprising student chefs can hone their skills here year-round as an alternative to a sport.

Every classroom on our leafy, lightfilled campus is fitted with the latest assistive technology. Specialist facilities—from the 9,000-squarefoot Science Center with its own rain garden to photography labs and theater spaces—are designed by leading architecture studios to maximize focus and accessibility.

My proudest achievement is learning how to advocate for and support myself.

FORMAN STUDENT

DR. CATHERINE STINES, DEAN OF FACULTY

We know specific students are intrinsic savants in 21st-century learning skills. We highlight those skills— such as adaptability, communication, and collaboration—within topics of courses that they resonate with.

It allows them to become interdisciplinary experts.

Befriending the brain

“We want students to truly know themselves as learners.”

– Devin Burkhart, Director of the Cognition and Learning Department

The Cognition and Learning Department is a flagship Forman offering. Its small, hyper-focused classes—such as executive function coaching, reading principles, and metacognition strategies—are developed in tandem with experts in both education and the neuroscience of adolescence, and built into the timetabled curriculum.

They’re designed to help students unpack how their own brains function so they can effectively tackle learning challenges in high school and beyond.

Q&A FAMILIES DISCOVER FORMAN IN UNIQUE WAYS, BUT THEY TEND TO LOOK FOR THE SAME THING: AN EMPOWERING, WELCOMING COMMUNITY WHERE STUDENTS THRIVE

AND REDISCOVER THE THRILLS OF LEARNING. HERE ARE TWO

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES—FROM A STUDENT AND PARENTS— ON HOW TRANSFORMATIVE FORMAN’S EDUCATION CAN BE.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIFE AT FORMAN. I’m a senior, and I’ve been at Forman for three years. In my free time, I love

WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU’RE INVOLVED IN OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM?

walking around campus with my friends and conversing with my fellow

I’m a dorm prefect, a student

peers and teachers. We all love going

ambassador, and was captain for three

to the MGC Student Center—watching

years of junior varsity volleyball.

movies and playing fun games. I love

I’m also a chapter leader in the Eye to

going to the gym and playing volleyball

Eye mentoring program—which is 100%

and other fun sports with anyone who

my favorite activity outside of class.

is willing. Some nights I prefer to get

Eye to Eye is a mentor-mentee-based

off campus and go into town to talk with

leading style for kids with learning

everyone and get food together. I also

differences. We work [as volunteers with

love going to the open Visual Arts and

kids] to learn the meanings of common

Performing Center, where I can work

words in the learning differences

on fun projects and try new techniques.

community: accommodation, grit, and more. Being able to share our stories

DO YOU BOARD AT FORMAN? IF SO, IS IT ANYTHING LIKE YOU’D EXPECTED?

with the kids and each other is so powerful. It doesn’t matter what type of day I’m having; after I walk out of that classroom, I’m smiling, happier than I’ve ever been.

Hearing them make a plan for the next

Yes, I’m a boarding student. I’ve also

five years of their lives made me so

been a prefect for two years, and

happy. I remember being in middle

I love it! Learning how to live with others

school and not knowing what I wanted.

can be a struggle at times, but at the

For kids to have someone with a

end of the day, when we hang out in

learning difference to look up to—who

the common room together, we always

is doing well in education and in life—

appreciate one another and the time

is so important.

we spend together.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE FORMAN’S STUDENT COMMUNITY?

The student Understanding and loving. I would

say that everyone has a home base

[of friends], but you end up knowing

everyone’s name and face really fast.

ONCE A PIONEER, FOREVER AN INNOVATOR.

The parents

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER FORMAN? While working at a summer day camp, our son was paired with a young lady who happened to be a Forman student.

After learning about the school from her, he came home and talked about Forman with us. Knowing a place like Forman exists engenders a sense of hope.

Around every corner and through every door, opportunities that students with learning differences never thought possible are waiting to be discovered.

WHAT LED YOU TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP AND ENROLL?

Our son needed something different— a school that understands square pegs can fit through round holes if you make the hole big enough. In other words, he needed a place where academic instruction included finding methods that worked best for him.

Forman has small classes with intensely focused instruction that meets students where they are, then challenges them

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY DIFFERENCES— EMOTIONALLY, SOCIALLY, ACADEMICALLY— SINCE YOUR CHILD STARTED AT FORMAN?

to dig deeper into course materials.

Our son needed to know how capable

As parents of a student with learning

he is and how self-reliant he can

differences, we face a constant

be, and it’s the ideal place to instill

internal struggle of how to support our

the confidence he needs to really know

child—knowing when we should be

himself as a learner.

helping. Watching a third grader develop anxiety in an academic setting (and

DOES YOUR SON BOARD AT FORMAN?

not knowing how to help) is paralyzing.

But Forman doesn’t emphasize the difficulties. They allow students to discover what they can do.

For years, we listened to school

Yes, and we live 1,000 miles from

administrators extol the virtues of

campus. From discussions with

The results are clear. Our son is

“teaching to the individual child.” But

our tour guide and the Admission

developing real, sustained academic

we quickly realized that this frequently

Office, we developed a very good

confidence. Instead of working

repeated mantra meant individual

understanding of a day in the life of

hard to avoid challenges, he’s

students were expected to conform

a boarding student. The structure

embracing them and finding pride in

to a one-size-fits-all curriculum,

of their day encourages the formation

small successes. During one phone

and the school would assist with getting

of healthy habits and a routine.

call, he announced, “Today I learned

everyone on the exact same page.

Boarding provides the framework

that I can read Shakespeare and

for how they interact with peers and

actually understand it.” And when he

learn the value of community in a

doesn’t understand a concept, he takes

residential setting. We felt a boarding

responsibility for seeking extra help.

school experience would help our

As parents, we can spend months and

son develop confidence in himself,

years begging our children to master

a sense of responsibility, and prepare

self-advocacy. Forman begins infusing

him for college life.

that skill on day one.

The results are clear.

Our son is developing real, sustained academic confidence.

Specialists in STEM

STEM learning revolutionizes our world, from climate change to healthcare delivery, data, and artificial intelligence.

Our modern Science Center includes four large laboratories, two smaller classrooms, study rooms, and a collaborative common room. Learning spaces integrate everything from iPads with Epson Bright Link screens to live recording technology.

Forman’s STEM program challenges students to be flexible and futureoriented, able to connect ideas and concepts across disciplines. For budding STEM researchers, we offer lab courses—including robotics— where they can program and experiment, and the data collection-focused Rainforest Project.

Where creatives dream bigger Neurodivergent teens are often creative: original thinkers, experimental, inventive problem-solvers. At Forman, they access dozens of hands-on art courses—photography, video, painting, jewelry-making, ceramics, and more—all taught in fully-equipped studios. We offer weekly classes in dance, drama, music, and music theory, plus music ensembles and three annual theater productions. Many faculty members are working artists, actors, and musicians, infusing their classes with invaluable industry experience.

Forman art students have access to nearinfinite supplies, ensuring they can explore new ideas without limits.

DISCOVER YOUR INNER CHAMPION

A healthy lifestyle looks different for everyone—which is why Forman’s expansive athletics and club program creates infinite opportunities to cultivate it. Our 30 sports and recreational options range from highly competitive to wholly unexpected: soccer, cross country, lacrosse, football, basketball, equestrian, skiing, boatbuilding, rock climbing, meditation and mindfulness, and culinary arts. Our club program is student-conceived, changing each year, with offerings such as archaeology, retro video games, newspaper publishing, and debating.

The Forman Lions compete in a multi-school league, where sportsmanship is as crucial as winning.

We value generosity of spirit—and inclusivity—above all else.

GO LIONS!

A place to find

There’s a natural closeness—and radical, refreshing openness—forged on a campus where everyone has a learning difference. In life, it’s rare to enter spaces where everyone understands you.

Opportunities to meaningfully connect with others are built into daily life at Forman, be it weekend trips into nearby towns, movie nights in dorms, volunteer programs like Eye to Eye mentoring, clubs, or school-wide Green and Gold competitions.

your people

I’m a day student, but I stay until check-in almost every night because I enjoy the community atmosphere on campus.

FORMAN STUDENT

Future-ready learners

Forman has a 100% college acceptance

More than college preparation, Forman

rate, every year. All graduating

prepares students for an ambitious,

students take post-secondary planning

full life of learning differently. When they

courses, alongside individual college

graduate, it’s with a tailored, emotionally

counseling, and can access our College

intelligent toolkit to navigate any

Counseling Office—and its workshops—

challenge and a global community ready

throughout the summer.

to champion their journey.

Discover more reasons why there’s no place like Forman.

Book a school tour or enroll today.

THE OFFICE OF ADMISSION 860.567.1802 admission@formanschool.org formanschool.org Forman School 12 Norfolk Road, P.O. Box 80 Litchfield, CT 06759

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