About the PACE School

PACE School is a non-profit, non-public school certified by the California Department of Education and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The PACE School has campuses in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, California. The Pruneridge Campus (Santa Clara) serves our elementary students, and the Sunnyvale Campus (San Aleso) serves high school students. PACE School serves students ages 6-22 who live with moderate to severe autism, with specific emphasis on non-verbal students and those with more complex behaviors and communication disorders. In 2024, the PACE School earned a six-year accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Placements and Tours

Thank you for your interest in the PACE School. All PACE School tours require a referral from your child’s school district. The PACE School is a nonprofit, non-public school that operates as an extension of your local school district. Enrollment and placement is by referral only and is a coordinated decision with your child’s school district. If your child is currently enrolled in a Bay Area public school, you can begin the process by talking with your district’s special education coordinator about an alternative placement. PACE does not offer drop-in tours.

The PACE Educational Approach

The PACE School Model employs a multi-disciplinary team, including certified special education teachers, behavior specialists, instructional aides, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists. Together, the team, including the child’s parents, helps assess each student’s needs and create a program combining therapeutic and educational strategies to optimize progress. We believe that autism is a challenge of interrelatedness, not a cognitive disability. Individuals with ASD are characterized by impairments in social interaction and social-relatedness and have difficulty interacting with people and the world around them. Furthermore, these students often struggle with conventional language and communication and have trouble regulating sensory input. For students with ASD, the inability to manage the overwhelming stimuli they experience around unsuccessful communication affects every aspect of their learning.

At the heart of the PACE educational model is our vision for every student to develop the ability to self-regulate, to relate, and to communicate. Starting from these building blocks, PACE’s multidisciplinary, multi-methodology educational program strives to help our students develop age-appropriate occupational, language, academic, and vocational skills to last a lifetime. As a result, the PACE teaching philosophy is based on student-centered, social-emotional learning. This affect-based philosophy distinguishes the PACE program from many others that serve the autism population.

PACE School Methodologies

PACE Educational Programs blend multiple methodologies based on each student’s unique needs to craft an effective educational strategy:

• TEACCH®: Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children is a structured educational approach based on the belief that children with Autism often require increased order in their day.
• SCERTS: Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support, a multidisciplinary model.
• DIR/Floortime: Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-based Model addresses developmental disorders based on “affect” for communication and provides techniques for building a child’s emotional reciprocity and engagement.
• PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System uses images to reference and communicate actions.
• ABA: Applied Behavioral Analysis principles use monitoring and positive reinforcement or prompting to teach each step of a behavior.

Measurable Assessments

The PACE methodology is reinforced by assessments that focus on the functional development of an individual through all stages of life:

• Our behavioral assessments are data-driven and updated regularly to reflect current data.
• Functional analysis of behavior allows us to tailor each student’s behavioral program to meet the student’s specific behavioral needs.

PACE Speech and Language Therapy

The PACE School has a team of full-time speech-language pathologists who provide services to our students with communication disorders through a Total Communication Approach.

• Students learn multiple ways to initiate and respond to people, communicate their needs, and appropriately comment on their environment.
• Each student’s communication system is tailored to fit his or her unique needs.
• Some students communicate verbally, while others use picture exchange, sign language, voice output devices, or a combination of systems.
• Students’ receptive language skills, or how they understand language, are also emphasized and developed with visual supports and schedules.
• Students also practice pragmatic language, or how to use language socially, in a variety of contexts by learning expected behaviors in multiple social situations.
• Individual or group therapy is available in a variety of settings depending on the student’s needs.
• Training can be provided to families.

PACE Occupational Therapy

The PACE School has a team of full-time occupational therapists who provide individual, group, and consultative services.

Intervention may include:

• sensory integration strategies
• sensory diet application
• environmental modifications
• use of adaptive equipment
• Therapeutic Listening (Listening With the Whole Body)

PACE School Buildings

In January 2008, PACE opened its own privately owned facility designed around the special needs of the autism population in Santa Clara, CA. Creating the building from the ground up allowed special design elements such as natural lighting, precision climate control, hypoallergenic materials, and flexible therapy spaces—an energy-efficient and natural environment consistent with green initiatives and supporting the sensory needs of PACE students. Now referred to as the PACE Pruneridge Campus, this facility serves elementary students.

In September 2023, PACE expanded its school program and opened its second campus in Sunnyvale, CA. Referred to as the PACE San Aleso Campus, the facility can accommodate up to ten classrooms and features an innovative Occupational Therapy gym, dedicated vocational training rooms, and indoor/outdoor space designed to fit the sensory needs of our students. The PACE San Aleso Campus currently serves high school and post-secondary students.

Program Contacts