Autism/Adapted Skills Program

In 1978 the School Board approved a proposal to integrate students with special needs into a regular school setting. In the fall of that year fifteen students with special needs from the Ellen Douglass School joined the students at Lord Roberts. Two teachers accompanied these students to act as support staff. The following year the transition was completed and the total Ellen Douglass staff was relocated so there was no reduction in support services for these students. The two schools had become one.

Currently, Lord Roberts School is committed to promoting true inclusion for our students in both the Autism and Adaptive Skills Programs. We provide programming for each individual student based on their unique needs and target their individual learning styles and goals.  In collaboration with families, we establish learning goals ranging from academic to essential life skills such as communication and how to socialize with peers. All students are seen as valuable members of the school community and the goal is for all students to participate in all school activities with appropriate support put in place to help them do so to the best of their abilities.

Lord Roberts School currently supports 2 Autism Programs and 1 Adapted Skills Program, 24 students in total.  Three Inclusive Education Resource Teachers and several EAs support these students.

Lord Roberts School has many spaces that students can access for sensory regulation such as therapy rooms, low arousal sensory spaces and higher arousal sensory spaces.  Students also work with occupational, physical, and speech and language therapists as well as our school psychologist.  Music and dog therapy is also offered periodically throughout the school year, as is a swimming program.

At Lord Roberts, we are eager and excited to have the opportunity to support, and honor students to meet their full potential. “An equitable, inclusive, and diverse education system fosters a sense of belonging in all learners so that they can succeed, take responsibility, find their purpose in life, and achieve The Good Life/Mino-pimatisiwin…” (Mamahtawisiwin, 2022, p.8).

Inclusion

Winnipeg School Division provides appropriate educational programming to students through a continuum of programming support and services. This approach is consistent with Manitoba Education's Appropriate Educational Programming: Standards for Student Services (2006) (pdf), http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/aep/

Manitoba Education is committed to foster inclusion for all people. Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that allows every individual to feel accepted, valued, and safe. An inclusive community consciously evolves to meet the changing needs of its members. Through recognition and support, an inclusive community provides meaningful involvement and equal access to the benefits of citizenship. In Manitoba, we embrace inclusion as a means of enhancing the well-being of every member of the community. By working together, we strengthen our capacity to provide the foundation for a richer future for all of us.

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/aep/inclusion.html
 
Inclusion is not a place; it is a two-part process that requires:

• understanding what a student needs to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally; and
• developing a student-specific plan to address those needs.

This planning involves the parents/guardians, the school support team, and other school division staff and community agencies as required.

The continuum of support begins with the provincial curriculum taught in the regular classroom of students' neighbourhood school; additional supports from the continuum are determined by student need as determined by the team. These additional supports and services may include:

• Differentiated instruction
• Adaptations to classroom environment
• Adaptations to curriculum and instruction
• Additional supports through Inclusion Support Services
• Decreasing adult to student ratios in order to provide direct instruction and/or supervision to student in a small group or one-to-one for periods of time, as required.
• Resource / school counsellor
• Clinical support (from Clinical Support Services)
• Modifications to curriculum and instruction to match student's development and current level of functioning.
• Specialized alternative placement in WSD
• Specialized placement in a community setting