The Treehouse Learning Center

I went to Treehouse Learning Center when I was in my elementary years of life. I believe from ages 6 to 8, and the place was in Holland, Michigan. On the outside, it seems like a friendly, Christian establishment. But it was run by people who should never be around children.

It taught nothing about responsibility. In fact, the staff working there would frequently let me know that I wasn't able to do anything by myself, and this inadvertently led to issues in proactiveness that I still experience as a fifteen-year-old. One incident stands out in my mind where a staff member, Ms. Jackie was struggling to explain a game to a kid. In a pause in the conversation, I tried to explain it, but was shoved to the ground roughly. "I can explain it," she said. "You can't."

Frequently, I would be accused of lying. The particular place I went to was owned by a grandmother, her daughter, and then her daughter's daughter, who was in the 6th grade. When I told the grandmother (Ms. Jackie) about how her granddaughter would bully my sister and me, she outright said. "Now I know you're lying." And she'd believe nothing else I told her. I

'm autistic, and I struggle with directions and motor skills. I remember vividly a day when we had to stack boxes for some kind of competition, and we were divided into four groups. Our group lagged behind due to us being younger than the others. Ms. Jackie singled us out in the end and got everybody's attention. "This is the group that doesn't listen. Notice how all the other groups have finished except this one. Nobody in this group follows directions..." How could you say that? How could you humiliate a group of younger kids who just had to sit there and listen to all that? Little did she know the profound impact on my mental state it would have. I still suffer from self-worth issues even to this day.

Worst of all to some people, I have been pushed away from Christianity. I associated physical and verbal abuse with God and His teachings. I started to resent Jesus and his teachings because the people teaching them to me were evil. I have only just come to terms with the trauma and abuse I endured during the summers I would go to treehouse.

I wasn't taught responsibility: I was pushed away from making any decisions by myself.

I wasn't taught self-esteem:I was humiliated in front of my peers and told I was one of the kids who NEVER LISTENED. Who could NEVER match up to the rest.

Again, this is my experience as a kid who went to this place in HOLLAND, MICHIGAN. Ms. Jackie and all the other staff that worked from 2012 to 2014 in this facility should be banned from working there. My trauma (and my sister's) is real. Also, there was a clear bias against autistic people I only realized later in life.

DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE, UNLESS YOU WANT THEM TO NEARLY COMMIT SUICIDE IN THEIR LATER YEARS.

Ms. Jackie, I don't know if you remember Bridget LaRuffa (who'd later turn out to be Ryan LaRuffa)
But that Bridget LaRuffa you taught will never forget you. Never as long as I live. I hope God turns out to be more merciful than I am.