• DCD Program Syllabus

    2019-2020

    Kathleen Winters, Laura Ahrendt, and Andria Baumann

    Purpose

    Students with Developmental Cognitive Disabilities have unique needs that require

    specific techniques and strategies to support the student and meet his or her individual

    needs while supporting the student in achieving success with as much independence as

    possible.

    Beliefs

    •        All students can, and will learn. It is our job to challenge them to learn as much

    as possible

    •        Having positive relationships with students is a top priority

    •        Behaviors can be a direct result of a number of factors, including skill deficits,

    misunderstanding social cues/situations, difficulty regulating sensory responses,

    of frustration in not understanding the task demands, frustration in not being able

    to respond to task demands

    •        DCD Students require additional time to process and meet task demands

    •        The focus of all staff working in the DCD program is to modify tasks and support

    students in meeting those demands both socially and academically

    •        When behavior is an issue consequences need to be tailored to each

    student/incident, and feedback needs to be immediate

    •        When students feel safe, they are more willing to take risks in their learning

    •        Students with DCD have difficulty generalizing skills across environments

    •        Many students need modification and/or accommodations to their environments

    to be successful

    •        Many DCD students will lag in their social development and will appear immature

    relative to typical peers

     

    Functional Domestics

    This domain refers to a range of competencies that are essential for participation in

    one’s daily routines and activities. These competencies cover, but are not limited to,

    areas such as: eating, dressing, hygiene, health and safety, choice-making, daily

    scheduling, food preparation, seeking assistance when needed, self-advocacy, and

    household tasks. Self-care skills instruction and practice are addressed as part of an

    integrated curriculum

    ·         Students are developing and practicing dressing skills

    o   Students care for personal clothing and materials, placing items in appropriate location

    with verbal reminders and prompts

    o   Students remove and put on outerwear with support when needed based on student’s

    physical limitations

    o   Students are acquiring and practicing skills in zipping, buttoning, snapping, velcroing and tying

    ·         Students are developing and practicing appropriate hygiene skills

    o   Students wash hands after using the bathroom and after eating with adult reminders as

    appropriate

    o   Students practice hygiene habits such as covering their mouth when they sneeze or

    cough, using a tissue to wipe/blow nose and dispose of tissues appropriately working

    toward independence, but with prompts as needed

    o   Toileting skills are accommodated to the needs of the students and needs are met by staff, students are working toward independence as they are able

    ·         Students are developing and practicing eating and feeding skills

    o   Will care for minor spills on clothing with adult prompt

    o   With appropriate support (cutting up food, or telling the student where items are on their tray) students will feed themselves independently

    o   Students go through the lunch line with adult support to select appropriate foods and take appropriate amounts of each item

    o   Students participate in simple cleaning tasks (wiping off tables, throwing away trash,

    putting supplies away when done)

    ·         Students are developing and practicing self advocacy skills

    o   Students who are verbal state that they are not feeling well (have a headache, stomach

    ache) with adult support or prompts

    o   Students who are nonverbal respond to adult inquiries regarding how they are feeling or if something hurts

    o   Students practice stranger safety in school with consistent adult support and prompts

    o   Students follow a daily routine with minimal adult support and will adjust to changes in the routine when explained by adult verbally, visually or in another fashion

    o   Students express needs when prompted by adult

    o   Students participate in making choices for activities or scheduling activities when offered

    Functional Community Participation:

    Community includes the school environment as well as the larger social community.

    This domain refers to a range of competencies that are essential for participation in

    one’s daily routines and activities. These competencies cover, but are not limited to,

    areas such as: knowledge of community resources, facilities, and programs, travel skills

    to access the community, knowledge of which stores to visit when purchasing an item,

    ability to access community resources, facilities, and programs, including transportation.

    All students will learn social skills that will allow them to be actively involved, at least on

    a partial participation basis, in community activities

    ·         Students are developing and using a knowledge of the physical layout of the school

    o   Staff support students’ knowledge of locations for services (such as the nurse, bathroom

    and lunchroom), classrooms (such as specialists and regular education classroom) and

    movement to these locations with minimal assistance.

    o   Students locate locker and open the door with minimal assistance (no lock is used).

    ·         Students are learning and practicing skills to meet their needs at school

    o   Students are encouraged to learn and use a PIN number to access their lunch account.

    o   Staff support students in regularly visiting and selecting appropriate books from the library, checking out a book and returning books on time.

    o   Adults support, for safety, students exiting the bus and entering the building and exiting the building and boarding the bus.

    ·         Students are practicing and using skills to participate in the daily activities of the school

    o   With appropriate individual accommodations (use of headphones, exiting if needed)

    students participate in all school assemblies

    o   Adult support is provided for students to participate in evening music programs and

    concerts, at parental discretion

    o   Students practice typical hallway expectations such as keeping hands to themselves, not

    touching the walls, walking on the right, walking in line, being quiet in the hallways.

    o   Students wait in line and take turns.

    o   With additional adult supports as needed, students participate in specialist classes with

    regular education students.

    Functional English

    This domain refers to a range of functional competencies that are essential for

    participation in one’s daily routines and activities. These competencies cover, but are

    not limited to, areas such as :Handling money, Basic math, Managing time,

    Environmental/survival words, Life skills vocabulary, Pre-literacy skills which includes

    Basic science, Basic geography, Basic social studies, and Basic writing.

    ·         Writing and Fine Motor Skills

    o   Students are writing upper and lower case letters

    o   Students are learning and practicing writing numbers

    o   Students are learning and practicing writing their first and last name

    o   Students are learning and practicing drawing shapes

    o   Students are learning and practicing cutting straight and curved lines

    o   Students are learning and practicing tracing shapes, numbers, and letters

    ·         Reading

    o   Students use the News-2-You and Unique Learning curriculum

    o   Students are learning and practicing letter identification

    o   Students are learning and practicing letter sounds

    o   Students are learning and practicing sight words

    o   Students are learning and practicing survival/safety words

    o   Students are learning and practicing comprehension strategies

     

    Functional Math

    This domain refers to a range of functional competencies that are essential for

    participation in one’s daily routines and activities. These competencies cover, but are

    not limited to, areas such as :Handling money, Calendars/scheduling,  Basic math, and Managing time.

    ·         Math

    o   Use the Equals math curriculum

    o   Students are learning and practicing number identification

    o   Students are learning and practicing counting from 1-100 by ones, fives and tens

    o   Students are learning and practicing shape identification

    o   Students are learning and practicing color recognition and labeling

    o   Students are learning and practicing basic addition skills

    o   Students are learning and practicing basic subtraction skills

    o   Students are learning and practicing telling time with analog clock

    o   Students are learning and practicing money skills identifying coins/dollars and their values

    o   Students are learning and practicing how to match, continue, and create patterns

    o   Students are learning and practicing basic measurement skills

    o   Students are learning and practicing basic graphing skills

    o   Students are learning and practicing calendar skills: yesterday, tomorrow, days of the week, months of the year

    o   Students are learning and practicing understanding of opposites and concepts (e.g. under over, hot cold, on off)

    Functional Vocational

    This domain refers to a range of competencies that are essential for participation in one’s daily

    routines and activities. These competencies cover, but are not limited to, areas such as:

    completion of tasks, awareness of schedules, knowledge of job options, knowledge of support

    needs, developing job skills, accepting direction, demonstrating independent work habits, ability

    to work with others, work ethics, career exploration, and accessing training

    ·         Students are developing and practicing knowledge of schedules and routines

    o   Students review schedule for changes from the routine

    o   Students gather materials for classes or activities based on the daily schedule with adult prompting and direction

    o   Students put away materials or clean their area when a task is completed

    o   Students are beginning to show ability to work independently on well understood tasks or routine tasks

    o   Students use modified means of telling time and knowing when a task is completed

    o   Students are learning to tell time using an analog clock with adult instruction and support

    o   Students use a communication system between school and home to organize forms, money for activities, transportation etc.

    ·         Students are practicing and developing pre-work skills

    o   Students are developing pre-employment skills such as knowledge of personal information address, birth date, social security number; knowing skills they have such as sorting by color, greeting people, cleaning items etc.)

    o   Students are practicing asking for help when they are unsure of the task and its demands, when a task is completed or judging when a task is done correctly

    o   Students are practicing following multi-step directions in academic and settings

    o   Students, with adult encouragement, will try new activities, foods or work with new students without resistance or refusal