Providing students with learning challenges with an environment where they can develop their academic, life, and social skills has been a crucial milestone in education.
The #IDEAL Program at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) has been a model of what an inclusive community should look like where individuals are acknowledged, supported, and cared for regardless of their differences.
Our two-year certificate program is uniquely designed for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities. We aim to meet the needs of our students to prepare them for their future.
As an essential component of the IDEAL program, each student will have a peer mentor (an NDU student) who will accompany them to all activities, cafeteria, gym, and some classes. Also the peers will help with studying and organizing the courses materials. Volunteer peer mentors and IDEAL students are matched based on their expertise, interests and individual class schedules.
The most important thing is that they grow together in friendship, and developing friendships will expand and deepen their knowledge, strengthen their skills, and build their self confidence.
Right alongside their peers, our students enrolled in the program will experience all that the university has to offer. This includes attending courses of their choice, Gymnastics, attending cultural events, completing internships, exploring possible careers, and much more within the University community.
We seek to prepare our student for the next steps in life, personally, socially and professionally.
