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Stafford splits MD program into 'Rise One' and 'Rise Two,' emphasizes ABA and life-skills training
Summary
Director of special services Sean Riley said the district divided its MD classrooms into two tracks—Rise One and Rise Two—keeping the Edmark curriculum while changing classroom design and delivery to add ABA-based practices and life-skills instruction.
The Stafford Township School District on its parent program said it is reconfiguring its MD (multiple disabilities) instructional settings into two distinct tracks intended to better meet individual student needs.
"We split our MD programs into what we're now calling Rise One and Rise Two," Sean Riley, the district director of special services, said. "The program that we're using, the Edmark program, is going to be the same; the way it's delivered is going to be markedly different. One setting will remain the traditional MD configuration and the other will be heavily based in ABA-informed instruction to develop language and learner skills so students can move toward less-restrictive placements."
Riley said the redesign aims to prepare students for successful transitions to Southern Regional when they enter seventh grade. District staff described ongoing communication with Southern Regionalspecial-services personnel and joint visits to receiving programs as part of transition planning.
The district also described classroom-based life-skills and vocational experiences. Programs such as the intermediate school's "Iguana Café" let students practice order-taking, money handling and delivery tasks in an integrated setting. "Its really great it's applying everything that they learn in the classroom to real life experiences," Riley said.
District leaders said the changes reflect teacher input and the objective to move students toward their least-restrictive environment while maintaining a collegial approach to program design. Parents with questions about special-education placement or services were directed to teachers, case managers, the director of special services or the curriculum office depending on the concern.
