LIFE CENTERED EDUCATION (LCE) PROGRAM

ISB’s Life Centered Education program celebrates and serves students with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities who require a highly individualized education that focuses on developing independence and life skills. ISB believes that learning in a diverse environment benefits everyone in our school community and we celebrate neurodiversity.

ISB’S DEFINITION OF INCLUSION

In our evolution of becoming an inclusive school community, we have shifted from seeing inclusion as a special place where services are delivered towards seeing inclusion as a belief of belonging. A strong belief that all students are valued for who they are and what they can do. As a result, we are a strong learning community that continues to evolve in our knowledge, understanding, and practices. Being an inclusive school allows all our students to experience a more diverse community that is more reflective of the “real world” as stated in our guiding principle that “Students will have greater opportunities to learn in authentic, real world situations.”

Inclusion Beliefs

1. Families who are willing to participate in a strong home-school partnership should have access to an education that meets the needs of all of their children.

2. Children from one family should not (as much as possible) be split between schools.

3. We believe that ISB can meet the learning needs of more children with great success.

4. Schools should reflect society and not pick and choose students.

5. The ISB community benefits from a greater understanding and acceptance of individuals with more diverse learning differences.

6. Serving students with a wide range of learning support needs results in learning and growth for ISB educators that benefits all students.

ISB is a member of Next Frontier Inclusion, a growing network of international schools committed to serving a more diverse range of student learning needs than has historically been the case in international schools.

LCE SERVICE DELIVERY & APPROACHES

ISB’s Life Centered Education is a part of ISB Student Services. ISB offers a multi-tiered system of support for all students including our LCE program. In a multi-tiered system of support services and needs are aligned to best support students.

Students receiving services from the LCE are placed in content/subject area classes with same aged peers to the maximum extent appropriate. The amount of time spent in the content/subject areas classes and the LCE class varies from student to student based on their individual learning profiles. The goal of LCE services is to provide functional academic, social-emotional development, and occupational skills. A focus on these areas empowers students by promoting independence, self-advocacy, and academics in an inclusive and caring community. This approach ensures that students receive highly individualized instruction from highly trained professionals to address their unique learning and developmental needs while being valued members of our community.

Target Population

This program serves students who:

• have a diagnosed intellectual or developmental disorder or disability

• have cognitive functioning in the Intellectual Disability range

• have limited adaptive skills

• require a highly individualized curriculum focusing on functional academics and life skills

The LCE program does not serve students who have severe emotional or behavioral support needs that put the safety of themselves or others at risk, or require frequent one to one support and/or the use of safety holds. The ability to address significant health needs are assessed on a case by case basis.