Overview
SCALE stands for Social, Communication, Academic and Life skills Education. It is an eleven-month substantially separate program for scholars who require intensive specially designed instruction in any or all of these areas in a specialized classroom setting. A majority of our scholars are on the Autism Spectrum, however we provide services to students with a range of disabilities. We serve students throughout elementary, middle and high school and also have a Post Graduate Program for young adults aged 18-22 who continue to qualify for special education services.
Program Components
- Based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is a scientific and evidence based approach to learning new skills and reducing undesired behaviors; other research-based practices and methodologies are also incorporated as appropriate
- Curriculum is aligned to each scholar’s instructional profile. The specially designed instruction includes but is not limited to: adapted general education curriculum, direct instruction using SRA Math and SRA Reading, Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia (ACE), and Teachtown
- Regular consultation occurs between the Special Educators, Related Service Providers (Speech, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy), Behavior Specialists, Autism Specialists, and/or Assistive Technology Specialists, as well as other team members as needed
- Twenty day summer component during which scholars continue to work on individual IEP objectives and also participate in a variety of additional community based activities
- Focus on academics and/or functional academics, behavior regulation skills, activities of daily living, language and communication skills, social pragmatics, safety and motor skills; additional areas of need are incorporated for older scholars, including vocational and pre-vocational skills, community access, and independent living skills
- Low scholar to teacher ratio; each classroom has a Special Educator as well as Instructional Aides/Paraprofessionals, with ratios determined by the level of need within the classroom
- Variety of instructional formats including 1:1, dyadic, small group and large group instruction
- Opportunities for inclusion in the general education setting and/or reverse inclusion
Program Locations:
The same programming is offered in SCALE at each site and we are located in several of our district schools. Current locations include Fletcher-Maynard Academy, King Open School, Tobin Montessori, Cambridge Street Upper School, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School