READ WRITE LAUGH PLAY LEARN TO SUCCEED Research based foundations for a lifetime of success.
OUR MISSION
The Curtis Blake Day School of American International College provides high quality services to language learning disabled and nonverbal learning disabled children. We operate as a private special education resource, approved by the Massachusetts Department of Education to provide a full-day program for children ages 6-14 who are of average or above average intelligence, but experience specific difficulties in written language skills, mathematics or non-verbal aspects of language. Our experienced staff continually engages in professional development opportunities offered through our school and its parent institution, American International College. And our student/teacher ratio is 3:1 with the full-time equivalent of three speech/language pathologists. The Day School is just one of several programs offered by the Curtis Blake Center of American International College to serve the needs of learning disabled individuals. Because of the unique link between the Day School and the college, our programs continue to benefit from scientifically based research in the areas of reading, oral and written language, cognitive growth and social-emotional development. Our strategies help students manage the vast quantities of data facing children every day in this digital age. Understanding and being able to effectively communicate are the goals, rather than rote memorization of facts. Using this strategic approach, we teach our students how to effectively learn. Which, in turn, enables them to learn to succeed.
Our son, for the first time, willingly reads and writes to us with pleasure and pride‌for the first time I have hope that he will make it and has a bright future ahead of him‌you have given me restful nights I have not experienced in 3 years‌thank you is too small to measure our gratitude. F I RTS N A M E L AST N A M E , M OT H E R O F JA M E S , G R A D E 6
OUR PERSPECTIVE
We describe our curriculum as being “driven” by the speech/language staff. Much of the National Institutes of Health research has provided powerful empirical results on “interventions that work”, and because of the integral role that language plays in the development of reading, the expertise of the speech/language pathologist is `sought both as consultant and teacher. Over the years this expertise, together with the Curtis Blake Day School and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks belief that “language is power”, has led us to develop a unique curriculum, combining multiple strategies that have proven highly successful.
O U R S T R AT E G I E S
Most students find the development of initial decoding skills difficult. At its core, our basic decoding strategy achieves phonological awareness through a unique combination of the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS) and Benchmark approaches. The LiPS program is designed to develop kinesthetic awareness of speech sounds and their association with individual letters to facilitate decoding and spelling. At the Day School, children learn to feel and see the differences between speech sounds in addition to hearing them. The Benchmark program, which deals primarily with the orthographic sequence, provides the two metacognitive strategies of compare/ contrast and context. Benchmark syllabication rules (“chunking”) are used for decoding and spelling, while symbol imagery instruction enhances rapid reading, spelling, and self-correction.
V i s u a l i z i n g a n d Ve r b a l i z i n g P r o g r a m Our Visualizing and Verbalizing Program supports the development of mental images for helping students understand both concrete and abstract information. Students are taught structure words (mood, color, perspective, movement, etc.) to develop comprehension and vocabulary skills. This process bolsters story comprehension and vocabulary since the students actively engage in visualizing and verbalizing a description of oral and/or written language. This concept of visualizing and verbalizing is woven throughout our curriculum. A growing body of research indicates that adopting these strategies better enables all aspects of language processing – decoding/spelling, working memory, comprehension, retrieval, organization and expression. These strategies are reinforced throughout our days, ingraining them into our students’ learning habits and helping them become more independent learners.
The Story Grammar Marker and T h e m e m a ke r & R e s e a r c h Wr i t e r One of our senior staff members, Professor Maryellen Moreau, has developed a unique educational approach for the explicit teaching of comprehension and oral/written expression. Her Story Grammar Marker® (SGM) and ThemeMaker™ have been used by our students since 1991, and today are utilized by a large number of school districts nationwide. Both provide language development at the Discourse Level – where the child learns to converse, comprehend, narrate, organize and write. A child’s ability to understand and express narratives is vital to academic and social success. The Story Grammar Marker allows students to better understand story components – retelling, focusing on details, making predictions, summarizing, taking a character’s perspective, mapping semantically, expressing their own and others’ points of view, and resolving conflicts. The ThemeMaker & Research Writer tool and maps emphasize basic on-fiction (expository) text structures: sequence, description, cause/ effect, list, problem/solution, compare/contrast and persuade. These graphic organizers assist students in comprehension, organization, retention and expression of information. In addition, the well-researched concept of reciprocal teaching is a vital component of the ThemeMaker methodology. Iconic-based maps help students transition from speaking to writing, as the ThemeMaker and Research Writer is used extensively throughout the content areas of language, arts, science and social studies. The SGM and ThemeMakeer & Research Writer are used by our students on a wide variety of oral and written language tasks as specified in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
CURRICULUM
Reading Students are provided with individualized reading instruction where they are cued to employ all the decoding and comprehension strategies they are taught in their special classes. Reading teachers provide one-on-one instruction utilizing high-quality children’s literature and motivating the students to read. Skill building in vocabulary, fluency, sentence structure, clarification, retelling and summarization receive special attention during this concentrated reading session. These specialized reading sessions allow for the sustained systematic intervention and careful monitoring of student progress necessary for optimal success.
Language and Literature The Language and Literature program fosters the development of language skills necessary for oral and written expression. The Story Grammar Marker and related maps and Thememaker (graphic organizer) facilitate the students’ comprehension and organization of stories and content area information. Lessons are created in accordance with the Massachusetts Frameworks for English/Language Arts and are integrated with other subject areas. Instruction also incorporates reinforcement of phonemic awareness and Benchmark strategies, grammar skills, vocabulary building, visualizing and verbalizing and word retrieval cueing necessary for precise language expression. Portfolios, containing narrative and expository writing samples, are maintained from year to year to aid in assessing student growth and proficiency.
Bus aut pa as ea vel enditi simolupta volupiendam rerferiae conseratur, cuptate mporerro tenderum autempos dem facium quas nis ut volorio. F I RTS N A M E L AST N A M E , M OT H E R O F JA M E S , G R A D E 6
CURRICULUM
Science and Social Studies Student proficiency in information gathering, concept development, and practical application of knowledge is the focus of this program. The primary strategies used are Reciprocal Teaching (prediction, reading, requests for clarification, test question formulation, and summarization), visualization and the use of graphic organizers (maps). These strategies work in concert with the techniques advocated by Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. These include: descriptive listing, cause/effect and problem/solution relationships, compare/ contrast questions and persuade/argue. The language of Visualizing & Verbalizing, the Story Grammar Marker, Thememaker and pragmatics are integrated in these content areas.
Math The Language and Literature program fosters the development of language skills necessary for oral and written expression. The Story Grammar Marker and related maps and Thememaker (graphic organizer) facilitate the students’ comprehension and organization of stories and content area information. Lessons are created in accordance with the Massachusetts Frameworks for English/Language Arts and are integrated with other subject areas. Instruction also incorporates reinforcement of phonemic awareness and Benchmark strategies, grammar skills, vocabulary building, visualizing and verbalizing and word retrieval cueing necessary for precise language expression. Portfolios, containing narrative and expository writing samples, are maintained from year to year to aid in assessing student growth and proficiency.
CURRICULUM
P r a g m a t i c s ( S o c i a l U s e s o f L a n g u a g e) The pragmatics program focuses on specific social/communication skills necessary for the successful development and maintenance of interpersonal and professional relationships. Students are taught to consider others and show respect for their points of view. Our formal program of instruction in pragmatics is integrated throughout the curriculum. It is provided to all students and is reinforced throughout the school day by all staff. On a basic level, students are explicitly taught the communicative aspects of language such as intonation, turn taking, eye contact, topic maintenance and conversational repair, all of which are aspects of the Health Frameworks. On a more advanced level, teachers use explicit instruction and role-play to help students identify positive and negative uses of pragmatics in various social situations. This instructional model is critical in the higher-level social/communication skills related to self-advocacy, conflict resolution and empathetic communication in all areas of life. Over the past 15 years, this Pragmatics program has enabled students to identify social/communication difficulties and work toward improvement in a safe, nurturing and research-based environment. Supplementary group lessons in the conversational uses of language are also provided to students whose needs in these areas are especially significant.
Mentor Program Both younger and older students benefit from the mentor program, whose purpose is twofold: Mentors help new students better acclimate to the school environment by demonstrating appropriate social behaviors as well as giving assistance in academic subjects. These older student mentors are in turn given the opportunity to practice and demonstrate social and academic leadership. The focus of this program is the application and instruction of pragmatic principles in a structured setting monitored by teaching staff.
CURRICULUM
D r a m a Wo r k s h o p The Pragmatics and Art programs are enhanced by our Drama Workshop. Through modeling and role-playing, students learn skills that strengthen interpersonal relationships while assertively avoiding negative interactions. Addressing social skills in this way gives students a valuable frame of reference when faced with similar situations outside of the school environment.
Art The art of self-expression is a valued component of our curriculum. The development of personal creativity not only enhances self-awareness, but also builds the appreciation of artistic and cultural diversity. Success through artistic exploration fosters self-esteem, as students experience personal satisfaction through exposure to a multitude of artistic media. School-wide projects encourage involvement in community programs, with the goal of affecting positive change in others and within themselves.
Bus aut pa as ea vel enditi simolupta volupiendam rerferiae conseratur, cuptate mporerro tenderum autempos dem facium quas nis ut volorio. F I RTS N A M E L AST N A M E , M OT H E R O F JA M E S , G R A D E 6
O U R S TA F F
At the Curtis Blake School, our teachers constantly reinforce skills learned through the specialized techniques of our regular curriculum, providing continuity while fostering generalization and internalization. All of our teachers are familiar with the strategies for decoding, spelling, reading in context, comprehension, and written and oral expression, and integrate these strategies throughout the day, using common terminology. We believe the integration of our specialized techniques into the regular curriculum promotes maximum comprehension. That’s why our entire teaching staff is thoroughly grounded in these techniques, employing them across every subject, every day. As a result, students are exposed to constant and consistent strategies. Beyond the effectiveness of our strategies is the profound impact that a caring staff can make on a troubled child. We are proud of our curriculum, but prouder still of the compassionate and dedicated professionals who implement it.
OUR COUNSELING PROGRAM
In order to address the multiple issues faced by our diverse population of students, we employ a full time School Psychologist and a part time Adjustment Counselor. The acquisition of social skills is important for any student’s success in school and beyond. Under the guidance of the School Psychologist, our students engage in interactive groups, focusing on skills for social development. The translation of these skills to other environments is emphasized in order to foster independent problem solving and welldeveloped social relationships. The School Psychologist also consults with teachers in the development of learning and reinforcement strategies tailored to individual student needs, and those of various groups. Cooperation between teacher and School Psychologist becomes especially important as our curriculum expands to accommodate specific needs – whether they are language based disabilities, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), or nonverbal learning disabilities. The counseling of individual students is also available when personal or family issues impact academic performance, or when group sessions are not the appropriate solution. And recommendations may be made to parents regarding external interventions if needed. Finally, as secondary school placement approaches, each graduating student and their family receives assistance in choosing the high school that will best build upon the skills acquired here at the Day School. Additionally, we help students prepare emotionally for the academic and physical changes this transition will bring.
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O U R E X T R AC U R R I C U L A R AC T I V I T E S
The ability to translate effective learned behaviors in interpersonal situations is critical to mature social development. This is a major focus of our student extracurricular activities. A good example is a weeklong program for graduating students that requires participating in natureoriented activities with students from other schools. Additionally, older students participate in after-school programs, planning school dances, fundraisers, and other activities that foster team participation, as well as social and/or athletic interaction. All students participate in a yearly project that focuses on community involvement, which blends care and concern for others with school spirit in a fun and engaging way.
O U R LO C AT I O N
The Curtis Blade Day School of American International College is located in the classroom wing of Temple Beth El.
979 Dickinson Street Springfield, Massachusetts 01108 PHONE: (413) 205-3960 FAX: (413) 205-3915 EMAIL: cbc7@aicstudent.com
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