Black Mountain Academy is a Premier Specialized Boarding School for Neurodiverse Boys in Grades 9-12
At Black Mountain Academy, we pride ourselves in creating the optimal environment for neurodiverse boys to thrive. We are located in the vibrant small town of Black Mountain in Western North Carolina, just outside of Asheville. Our Program provides the foundation that neurodiverse boys need during a crucial part of their development.
What We Do
We use a dynamic, comprehensive, and team-centric approach that focuses on the pursuit of higher education, skill-building, and the development of social pragmatics. Our students build relationships, a sense of community, and a deep understanding of health and wellness. They do all of this while earning their high school diploma from a small, accredited academic program. Black Mountain Academy believes in the power of a strong community and immerses our students into environments that intentionally foster personal growth through diverse experiences within that community.
The Four Teams at Black Mountain Academy
- Academic
- Clinical
- Residential
- Community Partners
We use an integrated and collaborative team model:
Each student has a Core Team made up of a therapist, a lead teacher, and a lead residential coach who all communicate daily with the student, helping them stay on track.
Personal Growth Plan
Each student’s core team collaborates with each other, the student, and their family to develop goals aimed at their personal growth in each of our Six Core Competencies. These goals are routinely assessed and revised as students progress.
Each student at Black Mountain Academy grows in each of these core competencies as they progress through the Program.
Six Core Competencies at Black Mountain Academy
- Academics – students excel in our small classroom sizes designed to support individual needs and integrate best learning practices.
- Wellness – Every aspect of a student’s stay gives consideration to the development of lifelong wellness.
- Interpersonal Relationships – Our students learn valuable social pragmatics and, most importantly, can practice those skills in an emotionally safe environment.
- Executive Functioning – Our Program incorporates coaching strategies that are proven effective and ensure that students can manage life inside the classroom and within their community.
- Independent Living – We help our students master the life skills needed to live a happy and successful life after graduating from Black Mountain Academy.
- Emotional Regulation – We have an experienced clinical team, and highly trained staff that foster the learning of practical, emotional regulation skills. Combined with consistent structure and comprehensive support, students can implement these emotional regulation skills and apply them to a variety of settings.
“The hardest decision we have ever made as parents was to send our child to a therapeutic wilderness program followed by Black Mountain Academy. For our son, his biggest challenge was school. Although academically gifted, his social deficits and his trouble with executive functioning really prevented him from performing to his highest potential in the classroom. I think this has always been so frustrating for him. Despite the number of different schools that we had tried at home and the tutors and specialists we worked with in the past, nothing quite made the difference. On our tour of Black Mountain, stepping into the classrooms for the first time was what really let us know that this was going to be the best possible place for our son. His teachers at BMA ended up just “getting him,” and because of them, I really do believe that years of trauma and damage to his self-esteem were healed. His teachers helped him to realize that he can be successful in school and really taught him to self-advocate for what he needed. They were able to be flexible when he needed accommodations, but also really held him to a very high standard all at the same time.”
– Black Mountain Academy Parent
