Therapeutic Counseling and Social Skills Program - The curriculum includes anger management, conflict resolution, negotiation, peer relationships, personal responsibility, and more.

Related Therapeutic Services - Certified speech therapists and occupational therapists can work with your student.

Jump Start Vocational - In addition to regular academic classes, Jump Start students participate in prevocational programs emphasizing career development skills.

Rising Stars - The mission of the Rising Stars Program is to provide K-12 students with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Delays a learning environment that will develop independence and success in the classroom and the community.

Animal Therapy and Education - With approximately 150 animals available, students at The ACES can experience empathy and learn compassion through the human / animal bond.

Behavioral Intervention - The school environment at The ACES is designed to facilitate students making positive behavioral choices so that they receive recognition and support for their good decisions.

Academic Program

Head Slap

A professional team consisting of a highly qualified state certified special education teacher, an assistant teacher and a behavior coach instructs each class of students at THE ACES. This team of professionals implements the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) and builds an instructional and behavioral plan for each student based upon the goals and objectives of the IEP.

Students are educationally evaluated by the teacher when they enter The ACES and instruction is provided according to the needs of the students. Teachers identify any academic areas in need of remediation and utilize specific materials or programs to improve competence in those areas. The general curriculum is aligned with the State of Arizona educational standards, which dictate specific skills to be mastered at each grade level. Instruction is delivered individually, in small groups and in class groupings. Elementary classes are self-contained but regroup for reading and math instruction, middle school classes may have some departmentalization and both high school programs are departmentalized.

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"Best Choice" Therapeutic Behavior Management Program

If a student exhibits inappropriate behavior, he or she is provided assistance, redirected, warned, and finally asked to take a "time-out." The length of the time-out is contingent upon the severity of the infraction. If the behavior persists, he or she is escorted from the classroom and completes his or her time-out in another supervised area. Upon the successful completion of the time-out, staff members talk with the student about "Best Choice" alternatives to inappropriate behaviors.

The program emphasizes building the student's self-esteem by giving extensive positive feedback when students make the "Best Choice" and having staff build personal relationships of trust and care with each student. The exemplary quality of our staff and the consistency of the program have allowed many students the opportunity to overcome their handicaps and successfully return to their home schools.

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Therapeutic Counseling and Social Skills Program

Counseling

The ACES employs three school psychologists and five licensed counselors with training and experience in working with students who have special needs. Each counselor is assigned to a student population and is always a part of the integrated therapeutic team. Counselors are available to all students and families in times of emergency, crisis or for information. They participate in the Social Skills program for all students, provide evening informational meetings and group interactive sessions for all parents, and reserve portions of their schedules for counseling therapy with students who are referred through the IEP process.

The ACES provides different levels of counseling intervention for students depending upon their individual needs. All students participate in the Social Skills program developed by the counselors and implemented in the classrooms by trained staff in conjunction with the counselors. Topics such as anger management, conflict resolution, negotiation, peer relationships, and personal responsibility are part of the Social Skills program and integrated into the therapeutic program for each student. Counselors also see groups of students who have special issues and they provide career and post secondary guidance for students graduating from the high school program.

For students who need in-depth personal/educational counseling, the counselors are available to provide therapeutic counseling with students if it is deemed appropriate and included in the IEP. The counselors consult with teachers and parents to be sure that the skills learned in the counseling environment are transferring into the school and home environments.

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Certified speech therapists and occupational therapists are available to provide intensive services to students as recommend in the IEP.

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"Jump Start" Vocational Education Program

The ACES sponsors a prevocational instructional program in which students learn career related skills in addition to completing their academic requirements for graduation. The program emphasizes students obtaining the necessary skills to be successful in the work environment.

Many of those skills include mastery of the following areas: Business Operation, Business Math, Business Communication, Social Behaviors in the Workplace, Personal Management, Time Management, Independent Working Skills, Community Exploration and Vocational Skills in areas such as food handling, computer skills, business management, woodworking, auto mechanics, and small engines.

Students in the Jump Start Program are exposed to career opportunities through routine field trips to active work environments in the community where they are able to observe and participate.

The goals of the program include assisting the student in:

Improving comprehension of "on the job" expectations in areas such as appearance, interaction with employers, dependability, and timely completion of tasks.
Examining their personal attributes and how these characteristics affect their employability.
Improving communication skills necessary for successful job acquisition such as applications, resumes, and interviews.
Exploring personal talents and skills necessary for careers of interest.

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"Rising Stars"

The mission of the Rising Stars Program is to provide K-12 students with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Delays a learning environment that will develop independence and success in the classroom and the community. By addressing individual academic, behavioral, sensory and communication strengths and challenges students are able to change behaviors and increase academic performance to a level that will allow a return to their public school as soon as is beneficial to the student.

Multiple research based strategies are employed by the teachers to assist this unique group of students in developing the skills they need to be successful. Language based curriculum is utilized for academic instruction with a heavy emphasis on kinesthetic experiences. An Occupational Therapist provides group therapy as a part of the regular program and the Speech and Language Pathologist is an integral team member of the Rising Stars program to assure improvement in the language skills of students and enhancement of effective communication. To ensure that therapy techniques are thoroughly integrated into the child’s full academic and therapeutic program, therapists work primarily in the classrooms where they train and supervise assistant teachers and other support staff in implementing those techniques. All the therapists can provide individualized therapy if directed by the IEP team. Students also have access to the sensory room that is included into their daily routine.

Our teachers incorporate instructional principles from the structured teaching model, Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-Handicapped Children (TEACCH) and also use a variety of techniques from Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Floortime. Emphasis, however, is always placed on understanding the individual rather than focusing exclusively on a particular treatment approach.

Students enjoy all the benefits of the extracurricular activities that are available at The ACES, such as animal therapy, school spirit activities, field trips, sports, assemblies, Special Olympics, and participation in the Winter Festival and Fine Arts Festival. As students demonstrate improvement, they will be considered for mainstreaming into the regular ACES program for a partial or full day.

The goals for the Rising Stars Program include the following:

1. Improve social skills and behavior so that the student may be placed in a less restrictive program within the district.

2. Enhance communication and language skills necessary for social and academic improvement.

3. Improve academic skills to assist the student in maximizing his/her learning potential and enhance the probability that the student may ultimately be able to live and work independently.

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Animal Therapy

At the ACES we have a unique opportunity to provide human / animal interactions and first hand learning in our animal education programs. We have a collection of miniature farm animals, domestic fowl, and reptiles at our school. The students are able to observe pigmy goats and pot belly pigs raise their young and many animals have been nurtured in classrooms with the teacher as mom and the students playing the role of brother and sister!

The development of young geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigeons and other birds that hatch and grow up at the ACES are witnessed first hand, every year. We have a breeding pair of emus, the worlds' second largest bird, that also raise their own young here. This is not at all common and seldom seen at Zoos. Many of our younger students really enjoy the time they get to spend grooming and walking our miniature horses and donkey, and during the winter, two of our horses take our students for rides in a miniature horse cart... what fun!

All of our students learn about and have opportunities to care for our animals throughout the year. Some students in our "Jump Start" program are able to be a part of an "Animal Care Class" where they are directly involved in the care of the school's animals during the school week. Mr. Luke, who runs our animal program, brings different exotic animals into the classroom throughout the school year. Students may hold a giant anaconda or python, see a cockatoo or crow fly across the room or watch a monitor lizard consume a few eggs for breakfast. The natural history of about 20 species of animals found all over the world are brought into the classroom each year.

Students at The ACES can experience empathy and learn compassion through the human / animal bond.

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"FBI" Focused Behavioral Intervention Program

The ACES offers a program designed to provide interventions for students in the public schools and The ACES program who have been suspended because of severe behavioral infractions or other issues. The multi-disciplinary team as specified by the IEP determines the number of days that the student is assigned to the program and the specific criteria the student must meet to return to public school.

The FBI program provides a highly structured environment in which students have very limited privileges and must earn their way back to their public school classrooms based on their completion of academic work and their ability to exhibit appropriate classroom behaviors.

The students' day consists of bringing schoolwork from their home school teachers, quietly sitting at their desks, and completing their assignments. The emphasis of their time in FBI is to demonstrate the following behavioral expectations:

Follow staff directions.
Stay on task.
Take responsibility for actions and behaviors.
Use appropriate language and be respectful toward others.
Do not talk out or be disruptive to the class.

The tool used to determine the progress of each student is the "Daily Assessment Report." This data sheet serves to track the behaviors of the students while in the FBI program. Generally students must earn a total of 60 points per day and the school district will establish the criteria for the student's return to the district school. Daily reports on the student's progress and areas of challenge are then faxed to the home school teacher and a copy of the report is sent home to the parent indicating whether or not the student made his day and how many days of FBI are still remaining.

The goal of the program is to motivate the students to accept more responsibility for their behavior and have the students develop a greater appreciation for the home school environment.

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