Functional Academics
Program
​"Every student can learn just not on the same day or in the same way” George Evans
Introduction
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The learning needs of students vary. Learning plans are developed for students with special needs or learning difficulties. Goal setting, adjustments and progress is monitored to promote positive outcomes.
SPED PROGRAM/ INCLUSION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS (CSN)
Jumpyard offers Early Childhood Special Education Program! It is a specific program or set of steps to help a child improve in an area of need. Because we believe that all children CAN. This will provide children with special needs an opportunity to succeed in a preschool classroom through learning experiences integrated in RTI and MTSS.
**Response to intervention (RTI) is a framework that our school use to help students who are struggling with academics.
**A multi-tier system of supports (MTSS) is more comprehensive. It goes beyond just academics. It also covers social and emotional supports. That means it can include behavior intervention plans.
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The Sped Teacher accommodate learners specifically for child's unique requirements/needs. Children with Special Needs students are expected to learn the same material as the rest of the class but with modifications in the course and adjustments in the assessment. The students are may/or may not necessarily expected to show improvement in their social skills and improvement in their academic performance. Mainstreaming requires a child to deal and adjust in the class on his own; inclusion classrooms have a team of specialists supporting the child. (Sessions in Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy/ Speech-Language Pathologist is recommended for CSN).
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FUNTIONAL ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
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Special Education Program are intended to be as functional as possible, maximizing usefulness beyond a classroom setting. Providing learning experiences that are individualized to maximize each student’s strengths, allows application throughout their daily experiences.
Our functional academics program provide access to many modalities of learning to increase students’ ability to generalize across a variety of settings, materials, skills, and people, and to deepen students’ connections to their environment.
We want our students to actively identify and solve problems, ask and answer questions, schedule and carry out plans, make and manage money, and generally be able to learn and share their learning as others do.
Functional skills are those skills a student needs to live independently.
An important goal of special education is for our students to gain as much independence and autonomy as possible, whether their disability is emotional, intellectual, physical, or a combination of two or more (multiple) disabilities.
Skills are defined as functional as long as the outcome supports the student's independence. For some students, those skills may be learning to feed themselves. For other students, it may be learning to use a pencil or a book and read and follow routines. We can separate the functional skills as:
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Life Skills
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Self Care Skills
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Community-Based Learning Skills
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Social Skills
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS
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Life Skills
The most basic of functional skills are those skills that we usually acquire in the first few years of life: walking, self-feeding, self-toileting, and making simple requests. Students with developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, and significant cognitive or multiple disabilities often need to have these skills taught through modeling, breaking them down, and the use of Applied Behavior Analysis. The teaching of life skills also requires that the teacher/practitioner complete appropriate task analyses in order to teach the specific skills.
Functional Academic Skills
Living independently requires some skills which are considered academic, even if they do not lead to higher education or the completion of a diploma. Those skills include:
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Math Skills - The functional math skills include telling time, counting and using money, balancing a checkbook, measurement, and understanding volume. For higher functioning students, math skills will expand to include vocationally oriented skills, such as making change or following a schedule.
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Language Arts - Reading begins as recognizing symbols, progressing to reading signs (stop, push), and moves on to reading directions. For many students with disabilities, they may need to have reading texts supported with audio recordings or adults reading. By learning to read a bus schedule, a sign in a bathroom, or directions, a student with disabilities gains independence.
Community-Based Learning Skills
The skills a student needs to succeed independently in the community often have to be taught in the community. These skills include using public transportation, shopping, making choices in restaurants, and crossing streets at crosswalks. Too often parents, with the desire to protect their disabled children, over-function for their children and unknowingly stand in the way of allowing their children to acquire the skills they need.
Social Skills
Social skills are usually modeled, but for many students with disabilities, they need to be carefully and consistently taught. In order to function in the community, students need to understand how to interact appropriately with different members of the community, not only family, peers, and teachers.
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KEY NOTES:
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A functional curriculum for special education students should focus on the skills they need to be as independent as possible when they leave school. Jumpyard Behavior and Skills Intervention Center Program for Functional Academics was created for that very purpose. Created by teachers for teachers, it is specifically designed to meet the needs of students with a variety of developmental disabilities. The skills targeted throughout the Curriculum have been chosen for the explicit purpose of empowering students to reach their greatest level of independence, access their communities, and live fulfilled lives as contributing, responsible, and equal members of society.
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The hope is that students with disabilities get exposure to and are taught foundational academics such as phonics, multiplication facts, etc., at a young age when their typically developing peers are being taught. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen for all special education students, and many students, regardless of their exposure, are not going to become fluent readers or proficient in math. For these students, it’s imperative to focus on the functional skills they will use for the rest of their lives in the time they have left in school. These are the skills that are included in a functional curriculum and will help students with disabilities become as independent as possible and gain the most out of their education.
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