Our Story

The mission of Tuttle is to empower children with intellectual and developmental challenges to reach their full potential.

Our History
The Tuttle School, located in Houston, Texas, has a rich history that spans several decades. Founded in 1967 by Dave and Yvonne Tuttle Streit, the school was established with the aim of providing a nurturing and educational environment for students with intellectual disabilities.
Yvonne Tuttle Streit

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, 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 handicapped but had struggles to learn 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 developmentally delayed students 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 Difference

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 a school or community setting. Tuttle School strives to teach students to lead successful and personally fulfilling lives at their individual ability level. The unique needs of Tuttle School students are met through individualized instruction; skills for life, social skills, physical education, sensory integration, technology and vocational training.

Visit & Learn!

The best way to learn about Tuttle and get all of your questions answered is to schedule a tour and speak with one of our admissions members.