Academic Life
Academic programs varies from class to class based on the needs of the children. Many factors go into adapting the academic program for our students. For this reason, the academic schedule may vary day to day.
The Keystone Academy’s academic curriculum follows the Florida Sunshine State Standards with accommodations through Brigance assessment which supports individualized instructional programming. Therapeutic curriculum includes social skills, speech and language, sensory, movement and the arts.
The Keystone Academy believes in the connection between movement and learning. We provide our students with daily movement including fitness activities for health. During our fitness for health classes, our fitness instructors emphasize skills such as visual motor coordination, motor planning, sensory activities and hand-eye coordination.
We integrate our therapeutic strategies within this curriculum. Our therapists meet with teachers regularly to discuss academic goals, themes and lessons. Therapists and behavior specialists provide support in each classroom daily by integrating sensory, language and motor exercises within each academic activity.
In addition, here at The Keystone Academy we follow a modified school calendar in order to provide a more continuous learning environment for our students. By doing so, we prevent the potential for learning loss that can often result from long interruptions throughout the school year. Please refer to the school calendar page for detailed information.
Lower Primary School
Pre-K through Primary 3
Students in the lower primary classes spend their days working in centers and small-group instruction consisting of math, reading, writing, play, social skills, movement, and self-help skills. Students have physical education, library, music, computer, and art weekly.
The Lower Primary classes use the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) developed by world renowned researcher Sally Rogers (MIND Institute) and Geraldine Dawson (Autism Speaks) as the primary model of instruction and intervention. The ESDM is a comprehensive model that addresses developmental skills in the areas of academics/cognition, language, play, social interaction, joint attention imitation, motor skills, self-help, and behavior.
The ESDM differs from many traditional ABA programs in that it uses a developmentally based curriculum and focuses heavily on relationship building, communication, and affect. Much of the teaching occurs through joint activity routines, in which both parent/therapist/teacher and child are focused on creating learning activities together.
ESDM incorporates aspects from 3 empircally supported models of intervention:
- Applied Behavior Analysis
- Denver Model
- Pivotal Response Training
For more information about ESDM efficacy, please visit the following website:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/about-us/press-releases/early-intervention-toddlers-autism-highly-effective-study-finds
For resources and manual, please visit the following website:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/d_200911_ESDM.pdf
Lower primary classrooms are further supported by staff training and implementation of Tools of the Mind curriculum. Tools curriculum integrates seamlessly into the ESDM model.
In a Tools classroom:
- Teachers systematically scaffold children's moving along the continuum of self-regulation from being regulated by others to engaging in "shared" regulation to eventually becoming "masters of their own behavior."
- Children gain control of their social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors by learning how to use a variety of "mental tools."
- Teaching of early literacy and mathematics emphasizes building underlying cognitive competencies such as reflective thinking and metacognition.
- Children practice self-regulated learning throughout the day by engaging in a variety of specifically designed developmentally appropriate self-regulation activities.
Children learn to regulate their own behaviors as well as the behaviors of their friends as they enact increasingly more complex scenarios in their imaginary play in preschool and in learning activities in kindergarten.
For more information on Tools of the Mind, please visit:
http://www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/curriculum/index.shtml
While each student receives a solid foundation in classroom instruction, it is highly recommended that parents also pursue the following additional services to provide comprehensive intervention and treatment:
- 1:1 Therapy
- Home-based intervention
- Parent training and coaching
- Occupational and Speech Therapy
The intensity and type of services a student should receive are based on the student and family’s needs and current assessments.
Middle Primary School
Primary 4 through Primary 6
Students in the middle primary school build on the lower primary school instructional foundations and are exposed to a diverse academic curriculum including:
- Language Arts
- Social Studies
- Science
- Mathematics
- Art/Music
- Physical Education
The curriculum follows typical elementary school concepts and skills that are in alignment with Florida’s Sunshine State Standards with accommodations, scaffolding, and differentiated instruction.
Upper School
The Keystone Academy’s upper school offers students that are middle to high school age a comprehensive educational experience with the extra support and guidance they need to become well rounded, competent young adults. They are able to build a strong academic foundation by receiving instruction in language arts, math, science, social studies, elective subjects, vocational training and transitional living skills.
In addition to regular academic programming, The Keystone Academy offers three different programs to students.
Small Group Tier
Classes in this program will be grouped by abilities and social/emotional development. Students will learn core content subjects within an integrated curriculum that emphasizes depth of understanding rather than rote memorization. Students also attend art and music classes as well as physical education. Students appreciate a small-group learning environment with a 5:2 teacher/student ratio.
Students must demonstrate levels of independence, pre-requisite skills, and baseline levels of compliance for group instruction to be maintained on this tier. This ensures both the success of your child as well as the success and learning opportunities for fellow classmates.
1:1 Tier
This program is specifically designed for children who exhibit self-injurious, aggressive and other destructive behaviors. The severity of these behaviors often poses a health risk to themselves and others. The behavior treatment and educational intervention designed and implemented at the school will modify these behaviors so that children may eventually re-enroll in traditional schools or step down to the small group tier. 1:1 tier students are assigned an individual teacher. Progress is carefully monitored by the treatment team and regular parent participation and cooperation is mandatory.