Sunnyvale School District has developed and is implementing a pathway to provide support to students with special needs from preschool through elementary school to middle school. The programs are aligned with the Fremont Union High School District, so when the students complete their time in SSD this pathway continues seamlessly.Â
Starting in preschool, the District offers its students with special needs foundations in play, social skills, and communication. We were very proud that at the end of the 2023-24 school year, nine of our special education students in our special day class preschool program transitioned to general education transitional kindergarten (TK) or kindergarten for the 2024-25 school year. Early intervention works!
Elementary students learn functional life skills and start working on job skills through activities such as having classroom jobs and participating in field trips out in the community. Students in the program also learn job skills by running a coffee cart for teachers at their schools, with the support of teaching staff, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists. Students take coffee orders from teachers, prepare the drinks, and may deliver them to the classrooms.
In middle school, students continue working on life skills, participate in community-based instruction, and focus more on job skills. Examples of career-focused projects include holding a bake sale and creating and selling leis for middle school promotion. These projects include planning, budgeting, shopping, advertising, creating, and interaction with the customers. We have close alignment with the Fremont Union High School District, which continues developing students’ lifelong learning skills.
