From the clinical point of view, the Summit School program, like every other aspect of the child's life at Summit, serves as an experiential aid in the child's emotional development. As in the Entry Class, the child's feeling of security and success is more important than his or her rapid academic progress. In our experience, however, a relaxed and secure child is a child who can work up to his or her full potential, and progress academically at a rapid rate.
At the Summit School, the teaching staff's expectations are geared to the child's academic capabilities and his or her present mental and emotional state. This is a somewhat sheltered situation, which does not reflect the role-determined interactions of real life. As in the case of home-visits, therefore, we try to balance each student's time in the school program with time in more unstructured settings. This is the clinical reason why we strongly encourage outside coursework.