Betsy Box, Ph.D., director and founder of The Bedford School, gave birth to a vision in 1985.

The result is what led to the current facility, nestled on 45 acres in Fairburn, a building the school has been housed in since 2001.

For Box, founding the school was to fulfill a simple mission.

“Our mission is to maximize the potential in children with learning differences and develop foundations for success,” Box said. “A lot of our children are bright students with mild to moderate learning issues that have not found success in public or private school.”

These learning disabilities range from attention deficit disorder to mild Asperger’s syndrome.

Children in grades 1st through 9th attend the school, and for the 2011-12 school year, approximately 137 students were enrolled at The Bedford School.

In order to facilitate learning for all the students, class sizes do not exceed 12.

The smaller classes, according to Box, are conducive to the intensive learning and the one-on-one help the children often need.

“A lot of our children come to us with gaps in their skills,” she said. “We figure out what those gaps are and fill those in. We use a lot of multi-sensory teaching.”

Instruction outside the classroom is also offered with swimming, volleyball, soccer, basketball, track and field, drama and rope courses to emphasize the importance of physical activity.

Currently, The Bedford School is hosting their annual summer camp, known as the Squirrel Hollow Camp.

The camp started on June 18 and will end next Thursday.

“Most of the [attendees] are not Bedford students,” said Boxer. “We have 50 students between 1st and 8th grade. There is tutoring in math, reading and written expression in the mornings. In the afternoons, we have recreation time.”

According to Boxer, the biggest challenge the school faces as it looks towards the future is technology infrastructure.

“It’s a challenge to stay on top,” she said. “By the time you get what you need, it is out of date.”

Despite that, Boxer said the school plans to implement iPads into instruction into the fall as well as updating the current computer room and updating resources available in the library.

As Boxer looks to the future of The Bedford School, she must focus on the past and what has brought the school to where it is now.

“I decided [founding this school] was something that I wanted to do and that it was a marketable school,” she said. “It’s still working out and doing great.”