Overview
Gateway provides an individualized, comprehensive education to our students with communication and language-related disorders and/or autism guiding them to independence in the areas of communication, academics, social, and life skills. Students are provided with a learning environment to meet their individualized learning style, ABA track, small group/classroom track, or the combination track.
ABA track provides students with:
- maximum 1:1 support
- Special educators and instructors implement the principles of applied behavior analysis
- research-based strategies
- intensive 1:1 instructional setting
- participate in small groups in shorter duration
- Instruction in English/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
Classroom track provides students with:
- Small group instruction (3:1); flexible grouping
- Differentiated group instruction
- Research-based strategies
- 25 minute instructional blocks with 5 minute breaks
- Least to most prompting hierarchy
- Guiding to independence
- Instruction in English/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science
Classroom track prepares students for success in a typical classroom setting. Students are expected to demonstrate independent skills and classroom behavior with the support of a special educator and an instructional assistant.
Combination of ABA and Classroom Track provides students with:
- Half day of small group instruction
- Half day of 1:1 instruction
- Scheduled breaks
- Research-based strategies
- Prompting Hierarchy
- Instruction in English/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science
In the combination track, students spend a portion of the school day in the ABA track for skill acquisition and the remainder of the day in the small group/classroom track to foster pragmatic language, generalization of skills, and independence.
All Gateway instruction activates multiple modalities and engages learners through active learning strategies. Each class participates in Language Group lead by a Speech Language Pathologist, focusing on enhancing communication and language skills,expressive, receptive, and pragmatic, within a group setting. All students engage in recreation, art, music, library, and social skills instruction weekly.