The Special Education Department is committed to providing specially designed instruction, special services, or programs to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. The Committee for Special Education considers the student’s strengths, areas of challenge, parental concerns, individual evaluation outcomes, results of state or district wide tests or assessments, and any unique needs related to the student’s disability.

Self-Contained Courses 
The self-contained program employs a modified curriculum that adheres to the NY State learning standards. Instructors utilize flexible instructional methods to deliver curriculum at a slower pace with increased scaffolding of material. Self-contained courses run in conjunction with general education courses of the same name. We currently offer self-contained courses in the following areas: 

• English 7 / 8
• Social Studies 7 / 8
• Science 7 / 8
• Math 7/8
• Living Environment 1 / 2
• Algebra I part 1
• Algebra I part 2
• Global History 1 / 2
• US History 
• English 9 / 10
• English 11 / 12
• Government/Economics

ICT Courses 
Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) Courses provide specialized instructional support for students during their course curriculum. These classes are considered general education classes that follow the same scope and sequence as the non-ICT counterparts. These courses are designed to provide an added level of support to all students in the classroom by capitalizing on the support of two teachers in the room. ICT courses allow for the opportunity to modify instructional approaches to address the different needs of the learners within their classroom. This may materialize in differentiated worksheets, supplemental instructional materials and/or scaffolded homework assignments. We currently offer ICT courses in the following areas: 

• English 7
• English 8
• Social Studies 7
• Social Studies 8
• Science 7
• Science 8
• Math 7 
• Math 8
• Living Environment 
• Earth Science
• Intro to Algebra I
• Algebra I 
• Integrated Geometry 
• Integrated Algebra II
• Geometry Regents I
• Global History I
• Global History II
• English 9 
• English 10 
• English 11 
• Senior English 
• US History 

Resource Room
Resource Room is for the purpose of providing explicit instruction to address skill deficits that negatively affect a student’s ability to access the curriculum. This program is designed for a student with a disability who is in need of specialized supplementary instruction. This supplementary instruction is delivered in a maximum of a 5:1 student to teacher ratio.

Life Skills
The Life Skills Program is a special class for students who the CSE has determined are not able to access the general education curriculum and are following alternate learning standards and assessments. It includes Humanities, STEM, Speech, Prevocational, and Vocational classes.

Life Skills Humanities provides students who are alternately assessed, an exposure to those core subjects which study the human experience. This includes an examination of reading, writing, speaking, listening, art, music, an history which are differentiated to address each students’ individual needs. Life Skills STEM provides students who are alternately assessed an exposure to math and science subject areas. This includes an examination of science, technology, engineering, and math as they pertain to each student’s ability and level of expertise. The course thrives due to its operation with flexibility, individuality, and modification where necessary.

The development of prevocational and vocational skills is addressed via a variety of means including participation in the PAES (Practical Assessment Exploration System) curriculum, school to work instruction and both on and off sitework-study experiences. PAES is a comprehensive curriculum that provides exploration, training, and assessment through hands-on experience, in a simulated work environment, while learning important career/vocational and life skills. Skills are taught in a systematic format that helps students become more independent. PAES determines students’ interest in specific work areas, competitiveness with peers, and assesses present barriers to future success, and then helps change them to positive work behaviors. The PAES curriculum works in five career areas: Business/Marketing, Construction/Industrial, Consumer/Service, Processing/Production, and Computer/Technology. Participation in over 250 activities provides data that is used for school-to-work transition plans. PAES lab experiences are often paired with both on and off-site vocational experiences including internships in retail, food service and office settings. Travel training is imbedded in the program and tied to off-site work experiences.

The Life Skills Speech course tasks itself with providing the students with the necessary speaking and listening skills to find success in the post-academic world. Some such skills are social pragmatic skills such as turn taking, working together in a group, appropriate use of body language. Others include group dynamics: working within a group to complete an activity. Students also practice improving receptive and expressive vocabulary as it relates to other aspects of their academic study.