Using her degrees in psychology and education as a basis, Mrs. Streit spent several years traveling the country looking for effective programs for educating children with special needs.
She took the skills she learned and recruited a special education teacher, an art teacher, and a physical therapist, gathered six students into her backyard, and started teaching. By fall, the enrollment had tripled, and the school moved to Memorial Drive Baptist Church.
Soon, parents were bringing children who were not diagnosed with intellectual disabilities but had struggles learning in “traditional” class settings and were frustrated with schools that were not able to address their children’s learning needs. Thus, the unique concept of having both populations in one school began. The Briarwood School broke ground in its current location in west Houston in 1972. In 2015, the school for intellectual and developmental disabilities became known as The Tuttle School. Today, we are enthusiastically continuing the Streits’ mission by empowering students in a traditional school setting that caters to each individual’s needs, while teaching age-appropriate academics.
The Tuttle School serves students ages 5-25, with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is designed to teach functional skills and age-appropriate academics in school and community settings. The Tuttle School strives to teach students to lead successful and personally fulfilling lives at their individual ability level. The unique needs of Tuttle students are met through individualized instruction; skills for life, social skills, physical education, sensory integration, and technology and vocational training.
