Good Friend Academy

What does an inclusive learning environment look like to you?

  • Neurodiverse relationships are intentionally fostered.

  • Students with different learning styles can access universally designed lessons.

  • All learners enjoy improved academic and social outcomes.

A welcoming, respectful, positive and inclusive learning environment is key to both academic and social success. 

That's why we created Good Friend Academy!

Our courses provide your students with the foundation they need to build ongoing awareness, understanding, and empathy. When we start with inclusion in the classroom, it paves the way for classmates to understand what it means to be a part of a community. When neurodivergent individuals are grouped with neurotypically developing peers, it facilitates positive social interactions, acceptance of differences, and lays a foundation for better awareness and acceptance as they continue through their educational journey together.

Early Elementary

  • The Early Elementary School Course includes everything a teacher, social worker, school counselor, or child service provider would need to facilitate a Good Friend autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy building service for K - 2nd grade learners.

  • •20-minute "We ALL Fit" film in English and Spanish

    •Developmentally-specific film discussion guide

    •Supplemental activity printouts

    •Customizable templates for family engagement

    •Supportive resources to deepen understanding

Intermediate

  • The Intermediate Elementary School Course includes everything a teacher, social worker, school counselor, or child service provider would need to facilitate a Good Friend autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy building service for 3rd - 5th grade learners.

  • •20-minute "We ALL Fit" film in English and Spanish

    •Developmentally-specific film discussion guide

    •Interactive Kahoot! game for students

    •Supplemental activity printouts

    •Customizable templates for family engagement

    •Supportive resources to deepen understanding

Bundle and Save!

Elementary

Middle School

  • The Middle School Course includes everything a teacher, social worker, school counselor, or child service provider would need to facilitate a Good Friend autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy building service for 6th - 8th grade learners.

  • •20-minute "Choosing to Be a Good Friend" film in English

    •Developmentally-specific film discussion guide

    •Interactive Kahoot! game for students

    •Supplemental activity printouts

    •Customizable letter for family engagement

If you’re working with broader age ranges, our course bundles are perfect for you! Choose from our Elementary or Everything bundle and save 17%!

  • The Elementary School Bundle includes everything a teacher, social worker, school counselor, or child service provider would need to facilitate a Good Friend autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy building service for K - 5th grade learners.

  • •20-minute "We ALL Fit" film in English and Spanish

    •2 Developmentally-specific film discussion guides

    •Interactive Kahoot! game for 3rd-5th grade students

    •Supplemental activity printouts

    •Customizable templates for family engagement

    •Supportive resources to deepen understanding

Everything

  • The Elementary & Middle School Bundle includes everything a teacher, social worker, school counselor, or child service provider would need to facilitate a Good Friend autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy building service for K - 8th grade learners.

  • •20-minute "We ALL Fit" film in English and Spanish for 5-11 year-olds

    •20-minute "Choosing to Be a Good Friend" film in English for 11-14 year-olds

    •3 developmentally-specific film discussion guides

    •2 developmentally-specific interactive Kahoot! games

    •Supplemental activity printouts

    •Customizable templates for family engagement

    •Supportive resources to deepen understanding

Good Friend, Inc.'s early elementary school curriculum is intended for kindergarteners as young as 5 years of age.  Contact us for ideas to use with pre-school or early childhood learners.

If you're an administrator with several staff members interested in various courses, click here for value pricing!

Good Friend, Inc. knows there is beauty in diversity, there is strength in community and there is magic in inclusion.

We All Fit Trailer

Choosing to Be a Good Friend Trailer

We're here to provide social emotional tools to establish a culture of acceptance in schools and beyond.

Pre-purchase FAQ

  • While we welcome your organization's check or purchase order, you will not be able to create an account until payment is received. Click here to complete this form, and we’ll get back to you with an invoice. We’ll get back to you within 2 business days.

  • The course itself is housed in our learning management system (LMS), Good Friend Academy. Upon purchase, you’ll create an account. You’ll be able to login to your account immediately through the link provided in an email. Once you log in, you’ll navigate to your course(s) and can return to them at any time during your access period. You will be able to download several PDFs within the Course Materials lesson. The films are streamed through the LMS so you don’t have to worry about storage space.

  • We are delighted that schools, school districts, and community groups see the value in making inclusion of children with different brain wiring a priority! We are happy to customize a value package for you based on your community’s needs. Click here to complete a form that will help guide our discussion.

  • Your unique login information cannot be shared. During the checkout process, we'll ask you to agree with a statement regarding the acceptable use of these materials.

  • While you don’t need to, we think it would probably be helpful to at least print the discussion guide to have handy as you lead students through the curriculum. There are some supplemental materials for students, such as coloring sheets, a word search, and an interactive writing exercise, that you have the option to print.

  • Absolutely! You might be the coach of a sports team, or a Girl Scouts Troop leader, or a children’s ministry leader. Your neurodivergent participants deserve good friends, too! (And by neurodivergent, we mean any aspect of different brain wiring. This message of acceptance and inclusion covers them all!)

  • The voices in We ALL Fit have been recorded in English and Spanish language versions. (The Spanish language version of Choosing to Be a Good Friend is currently in production and should be available in the spring of 2023.) Through the embedded media player, you can click on Enable captions (CC icon) and select the language you’d like to see subtitles in. We hope this maximizes accessibility to a variety of audiences. Note that there is no audio descriptive services available at this time.

  • Whether you’ve purchased courses as a bundle or individually, you will be able to access your course for one year from the date of purchase. We know you’re here because you want to deploy this curriculum to your students as soon as possible, but what’s “possible” sometimes takes a while to get set up. A year allows you plenty of time to plan, execute, and follow up. If you’re purchasing the film only, you’ll have access to stream the video through your account for one week from the date of purchase. You may access any of the content at any time in any of the purchased courses for the duration of your access period.We are constantly learning and updating our materials. To ensure that materials are up to date and relevant for account holders, we set our courses to expire one year after purchase. This expiration date is visible in red on the Course introduction page after purchase so you can maximize your access time.

  • In our middle school film, Choosing to Be a Good Friend, Danielle talks indirectly about the possibility of suicide based on her negative social emotional experiences. We know from the research that suicidal ideation among adolescents on the autism spectrum is real and sadly more common than we’d like to think. We chose to reflect this reality through Danielle's story. This content (from 18:38-18:50) may not be suitable for children under age 12. For those who purchase this content, we have added a time stamp to the film labeled “trigger warning” so it’s easy to preview and/or skip if needed.

  • You’ll need internet access to get into your account, where you’ll find the video. To stream the video, which is embedded in the Academy, you’ll need a good internet connection, speakers, and a video display (such as a large monitor or other screen). Be sure to test the video by streaming it in the place you’re planning to show students. Even before you make a purchase, you can play the trailer from one of the Video Only courses. If, after purchase, you can’t access your course or play the video from the Academy, you might ask your school’s IT folks about a firewall that might be blocking our Bunny.net streaming service.

  • You can, but we highly recommend that you use a laptop or desktop computer.

Checkout FAQ

  • Of course, we want you to be happy with the content you’re purchasing. You can preview the videos through the trailers from one of the Video Only courses. You can even click here to watch our “We ALL Fit” music video on YouTube to get a flavor of our messaging. But once you let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak, by accessing the course content, you can’t stuff it back in. You’ve purchased access to intellectual property, and that cannot be refunded.

  • We love that you see the value in spreading this message to lots of children! To protect both our customers and our content, each person presenting the curriculum must have their own account. Therefore, the cart will not allow you to purchase the same course more than once during your access period. We do have value packaging for you, though! Click here to complete a form that will serve as a basis for a discussion about your needs.

  • If you’ve gotten as far as clicking on the shopping tote icon you’ll find both in the lower right corner of your screen as well as on the far right end of the white menu bar, but you’ve not been able to get your payment processed, we’re glad to help. It’s so hard to know what the source of your challenge is. Please fill out the form on our contact page and we'll get back to you.

  • Yes. An email will go to the same one you used to set up your account. If you’re using a purchase order, you’ll receive an invoice. Once that invoice is paid, you’ll receive a receipt.

  • Basically, we won’t share your name, email address, or any other identifying information without your express permission, as you might indicate during a secure transaction and/or when being asked to be added to our email list. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information.

  • During the checkout process, you’ll be able to check a box indicating that you’re part of an exempt organization. We’ll ask you for the relevant account number and provide means by which to upload your status certificate.

Check out this amazing feedback from educators who have already completed our course!

  • "My entire team thought this program was fantastic. The students (6th grade) were very engaged. They participated and shared some personal information. One of our students with Autism spoke up and she was able to tell her peers a little more about who she is and how she learns. The classroom teachers were appreciative for the program in helping to explain to the students what goes on with some of their friends/peers. Thank you for creating and sharing this resource."

    Sarah Russell, Speech Language Pathologist, Ben Franklin Academy (Highlands Ranch, CO)

  • "What an amazing resource! Good Friend provides age-appropriate lessons, resources and assemblies that promote acceptance and empathy. The resources are engaging and inspirational. They help bring students together in a very meaningful way."

    Dr. Amanda DeSua, School District of Waukesha

  • "It was a great curriculum and very easy to use and follow. Seems like a great tool to be able to spread to more places!! "I have seen some cool moments since I did the curriculum. It opened so many conversations and ways for my students to interact together. Way more attempts at social interactions with our neurodiverse students and a few self awareness things have popped up too!!!"

    Megan Due, Special Education Teacher, Waterloo Intermediate School

Good Friend Academy Supporting Partners

Good Friend Academy, launched in January 2023, was made possible by the following organizations: