Classroom Spotlight: Life & Career Class at Royal
At ASUA, the Life & Career class establishes building blocks for our students to succeed during and beyond their time here. We serve the entire spectrum, so the class is designed to accommodate each student’s unique goals, starting with middle school students and then transitioning to the upper school and then our Bridge program.
“Starting early gives them more time to practice, build routines, and develop those skills at a pace that works for them,” Shanna Martinez, one of the Life & Career teachers, said.
We understand that every student is at a different level in their education, so we tailor the activities to their goals. The middle school class offers a variety of settings for students to learn from, like our simulated apartment, school store, cooking and food assembly station, as well as introducing the new bathroom and ‘Work Room’ spaces.
“The bathrooms are being used for students to practice specific cleaning skills, maintaining supplies and hygiene skills such as handwashing, using deodorant, and working on individual bathroom goals” explained Ryan Rose, a teacher for the middle school class.
Additionally, the new ‘Work Room’ is meant to demonstrate office and job setting tasks like laminating, stapling, hole punching, school dollar production and a full grocery mart simulation.
When a student turns 14, their IEP focus expands to include Transition. Transition, in the field of Special Education, is coordinated supports, services, and activities that provide the "on ramp" to life after graduation in the areas of post secondary education, employment, and independent living. That is where we focus on each student’s abilities, communication styles and level of independence for their learning. The end goal is to apply a solid foundation to continue building on when they become an apprentice in the Bridge Program.
Recognizing each student’s different individual needs, every task is designed so that it can be adjusted by using visuals, breaking a task into smaller steps, modeling the task, offering choices or providing prompts and support. “One student could be working towards completing a task independently while another might be learning the foundational steps with visual support, modeling or additional assistance,” Martinez said. “The important thing is that every student has an opportunity to participate, make progress and build on their strengths.”
Life & Career classes give students the opportunity to discover their interests and recognize their strengths and which supports help them feel successful in order to build a strong foundation for the Bridge program and future experiences. If students decide to enter the Bridge program, they continue learning daily living skills that align with their goals.
“They learn how to follow routines, complete tasks, communicate their needs, work with others and make choices,” Shannon Caroccio, Life & Career Readiness Specialist, said. “Our goal is for every student to enter Bridge with greater confidence, independence and excitement about their future.”
Life & Career is one of the ways ASUA sets our students up for success in the world beyond school. By building real-world skills and routines, our students feel confident to take their place as active, empowered participants in the community and the workforce.
Charlotte Roscher [she/her]
Marketing & Design Specialist