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[quote=Anonymous]
I note that you mention that you know about St. Coletta School, which is a DCPS funded charter school.  I know well an educated staff member who worked there a few years ago who loved the beautiful, fully accessible school.  However, it frustrated her to no end that there was not even a basic academic curriculum followed, especially for the younger students to use the different modalities there in the building to teach them basic reading skills.  I note that one positive aspect of St Coletta is that there is a focus on behaviors which is not punitive in terms of the student.

As the parent of a young adult with an Intellectual Disability, I can well understand the need for balance in that for some students over emphasis on an academic curriculum and not paying attention to developing as you mentioned basic communication skills can be a real limiting factor for a lifetime. However,  to have a schools setting with wonderful physical, occupational, speech and adaptive physical education therapies for the youngsters and teens, but little academics is also a real shame.   There is no reason why a Functional Skills Curriculum does not foster a focus on language with learning to read, communicate and do writing and math as appropriate even within a strictly functional focus.  For me literacy has always been the key life skill as it is opens worlds in terms of personal enjoyment - reading, computer use, piano or other musical instrument learning.  At the same time, it also enables one to live more independently in the real world in terms of navigating safely, using transportation, shopping, cooking etc.  It also is the key skill for opening doors to employment.   Our daughter's IQ never tested higher than 55, but her strength was always in language, and she now reads well at 4th grade level and has held the same job for over ten years.  It is sometimes hard to find the right balance, but this school has the potential to be so much stronger if it would develop a stronger, sequential curriculum.  In many ways it fosters the independence and growth of its students with physical, behavioral and communication challenges, BUT also hampers them by ignoring their right and potential to explore at least core basic skills.  With the high support staff to student ration, this is a wonderful academic setting to offer different modalities to learning to read which ought to be explored.

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