Overbrook School For The Blind

Programs: The school serves blind and visually impaired students, many of whom have additional disabilities, on a day and residential basis. Programs include an expanded core curriculum are organized into elementary, middle, and high school groupings. The elementary program offers small class sizes of five to seven students per teacher and two paraeducators. Programming occurs in a learning media appropriate to each student, be it braille, large print, or speech output. The curriculum follows monthly themes with hands-on experiences. Academic achievement, functional and developmental skills, assistive technology, leisure/recreation skills as well as orientation and mobility are all emphasized. The middle school is organized into four areas of instructional focus. Academic students follow a similar curriculum to others in their age group. Functional academic students work on reading for information, money management, and writing to share information. Life skills students work on things like pouring drinks, brushing their teeth, and communication skills. Experiential focus students work on environmental controls such as working with household devices, sensory stimulation activities and communication skills. All middle school students have art, music, gym, orientation and mobility. Mixed ensemble, choir, and sports are also offered. The high school program groups students according to individual needs. Students with an academic focus are provided a traditional high school experience to prepare them for entering college, technical school, or competitive employment. Functional academic students focus on learning skills to make them as independent as possible. These students use a curriculum that focuses on real life situations. Both the life skills students and experiential focus students work on increasing communication skills and their personal independence. The high school offers wrestling, cheerleading, goal ball, swimming and track and compete nationally against other schools for the blind. Choir, bell choir, mixed ensemble, student council, clubs, dances, and work experience round out the program.

operation of early intervention, pre-vocational and habilitation, and work experience programs for students who are visually impaired. The early intervention program provides services to children from birth to age five and their families. The programs occur in the child's home, day care center or on location at the school for children who require additional services. The goals of the program are to empower families with the knowledge and resources needed to be advocates for their children, to help the children learn to explore their environments through play and functional activities and to help the children learn to be as independent as possible. The school-to-work program provides intensive instruction for 19-21 year olds. Students receive instruction in communication skills, social skills, daily living, vocational or work experience skills, leisure skills and assistive technology. The work experience program prepares students through classroom lessons and vocational experiences at the school and at area businesses for the adult work world they will enter after graduation. The emphasis is on t. E. C. H. , training, employment, careers and habilitation. The mission of the program is "to create a comprehensive and dynamic vocational atmosphere which prepares each student to capably handle present and future work assignments plus develop the social behaviours required for the adult world vocational program and employment environments. " the whitehall independent living program is also a component of services provided for high school and school to work aged students that entails dormitory/apartment living with menu planning, food preparation, self-care skills, and laundry skills as part of the curriculum.