Taking a Team Approach
Aaron’s collaborative educational team consists of a head teacher, assistant teacher, school psychologist/counselor, speech therapist, occupational therapist and specialists who meet regularly to discuss each student’s progress and review classroom dynamics. Strong communication is a key element to Aaron’s philosophy and ensures a consistent educational plan for each student.
Social Skills Curriculum
Children with learning differences often struggle with the non-academic agenda—making friends, participating in group activities, expressing feelings and appropriately advocating for themselves. Developing social skills is an integral part of everyday life at Aaron School. To cultivate social competency, a formal intervention program has been developed. For K-2nd grades, a speech and language therapist conducts weekly classes. Through modeling, role-playing, problem-solving and discussion, students learn the verbal and nonverbal behaviors to interact effectively and appropriately with the people around them. For 3rd-5th grades, a social worker and/or psychologist conduct weekly classes to address more advanced social dynamics of friendships, interpersonal relationships, decision-making and self-reflection.
Encouraging Self-Understanding and Self-Advocacy
An important goal of Aaron’s program is to help even the youngest students recognize their own learning styles and communicate their needs in a productive manner to peers, teachers and family. Students experience a great sense of relief when their learning problems are made clear to them, and they have the opportunity to work in partnership with their teachers and other professionals to develop a plan of action for success. By building critical thinking skills and encouraging experiential learning, students are practicing to become reflective and effective self-advocates.
Mentor/Mentee Program
In preparation for middle school, the 12-week Mentor/Mentee Program was developed to further enhance student maturity and responsibility. Students learn an interview skill set including completing applications, interviewing, wearing appropriate attire, demonstrating professional courtesy as well as writing follow up thank you notes. Job placement is based on student interest.