Hope Elementary School hosts the district-wide Special Day Class for Students with Autism (TK-5)

The Hope Special Day Class (SDC) for students with Autism program provides a highly structured, visual, and language enriched educational environment to support the academic, social, behavioral, functional, and language growth needs of students educationally classified with Autism as well as other students identified with related needs determined to benefit from the program.  The Hope Autism classrooms incorporate, as appropriate to each student, research-based methodologies, including ABA, Discrete Trial Training (DTT), Pivotal Response Training (PRT), visual supports, communication strategies and behavioral techniques which have proven to be effective for teaching students with Autism. The program offers a highly individualized, modified, functional and academic-skill based curriculum delivered primarily in the special education setting, with mainstreaming into the general education setting to the maximum extent appropriate. These students necessitate an increased amount of individualized or very small group supports in order to benefit from their education. The ultimate goal for the program is to provide support that maximizes a student’s independence in their Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).