Dr. Amy Leinen; Founder and CEO
I believe in the power of the teacher. My youngest brother was diagnosed with Autism. At the age of 7 he was not using verbal communication and was still in diapers. His school was proposing to move him to a separate school for children with Autism. My parents were reluctant. Luckily, his teacher at the time said she believed in him and was committed to supporting him to stay in his home school. Now, I am proud to say he is a college graduate from the University of Minnesota!
The experiences of my brother instilled within me the understanding of the limitless potential of students and the power of teachers to impact student success. I became a special education teacher where I held the same belief with my students receiving nominations for Teacher of the Year three times. My reading class began the school year thinking they were “doomed for failure.” By the second semester, however, I had created a completely different mind-set. It was not uncommon to hear comments such as “I don’t want to watch the movie in my regular classroom because I have too much learning to do.” The work ethic and intrinsic motivation I create in my classroom is demonstrated by the significant growth in my students’ academic growth. Starting at an average reading grade level of 1.0, my class grew to an average of 2.6 in one academic year with similar gains in math, writing and pro-social behavior.
I ultimately decided I wanted to broaden my knowledge and impact. I got my PhD in Educational Psychology where I learned research-based, high quality instruction and assessment in reading, writing, math and social emotional learning. I was the project manager on a Reading Comprehension research grant and completed my dissertation in reading instruction for multilingual students. I then became an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota and later at Volkshochschule Würzburg e.V. teaching courses in: (a) Autism, (b) reading and writing for students with difficulties, (c) special education, (d) special education assessment and IEP writing, (e) classroom management and behavior analytics, (f) English for business and (g) bilingual parenting.
Growing up with 2 brothers with disabilities, my deeply-rooted knowledge in educational research and my experiences both teaching and training teachers to help students reach their highest potentials, I know first-hand that every child, no matter what, can learn any subject matter and can do great things. They just need the right support. I started this company to be that support.
Exceptional Acts 