In her third year as a special education teacher at an international school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sara Brenneman (BS ‘86/MA ‘97) had an idea. She observed parents of children with moderate to severe learning disabilities frustrated because the local schools didn’t offer adequate programs and services.

Local families did not have good options for their kids,” she said. “They usually ended up home schooling and doing the best they could with them.”

So Brenneman set out to fill that gap. She started The Learning Connection in 2005 to fill that gap and support struggling families.

She initially intended for The Learning Connection to offer parents help in the form of assessment and individual after school tutoring with students. But the phone calls from parents looking for an alternative day school for their children started and didn’t stop.

Now the center has two classes—a kindergarten class for ages four to six and a level-one class for ages seven to nine. She keeps the class sizes small, a maximum of six in each, so that the children can have individualized attention.

Brenneman’s staff has expanded to include a speech therapist, occupational therapist, and one teacher assistant for each class. Having a team of professionals working together under one roof is a relief to parents.

“The services available in Kuala Lumpur are fragmented. There is no concept of working as a team of experts to come up with one comprehensive plan for each student,” she said. “If parents are lucky enough to find quality services, they often run back and forth across town to a speech therapist, a tutor, an occupational therapist, and an educational psychologist, and none of these people know what the other is doing.”

Brenneman leads the kindergarten class in addition to tackling administrative duties as the center’s director. She said she finds the work rewarding.

“I am proud every day when I see six kids happy, learning at their own rate, improving every day, and the parents who are so appreciative of all we do for their kids,” she said.

One parent, a wealthy local businessman, believed so strongly in Brenneman’s new center that at the end of her second year he asked if he could fund a center expansion. One year into their initial plan, Brenneman and the businessman are already talking about developing a larger, specially designed facility.

“It’s fun to brainstorm and think of innovative ways to design the facility to accommodate the population with which we work,” she said. 

In addition to the day classes, Brenneman would like to add and expand services in her new facility, including English as a second language, tutoring, and after-school programs for all students.

Marios Genethliou is the speech therapist on Brenneman’s staff. He said he enjoys working with Brenneman and observing the positive learning environment she has created at the center.

“Her school is a jovial, warm place for everyone, where a lot of learning takes place and where children are free to express themselves in any way they can,” he said.

Brenneman previously taught in Nairobi, Kenya, as well as for seven years in the Iowa City Community School District. She said she’s happy she found her way to Malaysia, which she now calls her “second home.”

“Teaching special education has always been important to me,” she said. “I ended up in a place where expertise, awareness, services, and facilities are all in high demand because they are so limited.”