History of The Learning Tree

The Learning Tree is a private, non-profit school for individuals with mental retardation who face language/communication difficulties and engage in challenging behaviors directed towards others of themselves. The educational component of the program is licensed and monitored by the Alabama State Department of Education and its divisions of Special Education Services. The home life component of our program is certified and monitored by the Alabama State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

The Learning Tree was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the Mobile County in April of 1983 by three parents of multiply-handicapped children who sought to establish an environment that would nurture, challenge, and provide individualized instruction. The goal was to provide their children with a quality education using individualized instructional processes that would focus on their children’s strengths and use those strengths to develop skills.

In 23 years of service, the school has grown from four students and two staff persons at one small school in Mobile; to over 80 students and over 350 full- and part-time staff. Still, the school has not deviated form its original mission, to provide quality individualized education to those we serve.