Our Teachers
Our teachers are the best in the field. They are Board Certified Behavior Analysts and certified teachers with years of experience treating and teaching children with autism spectrum disorders. Each teacher receives hundreds of hours of training each year and is exposed to the latest in researched-based autism treatment and educational practices. CARD teachers value their partnerships with parents and families because the best way to teach and care for a child is to have consistency across all settings, as well as an open, honest dialogue.
The CARD Teaching Model
Students are assigned a curriculum based on their performance on multiple assessments. Using this initial assessment, teachers and administrators work to create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which provides a roadmap for teachers to follow. Teachers are trained in the principles and procedures of applied behavior analysis, a scientifically proven method for teaching skills to children with ASD. The programs are results oriented to help children develop new skills at a challenging and appropriate pace. Lessons include one-to-one and small-group instruction.
CARD teachers are determined to help students achieve their full potential. To ensure each child’s continued progress, the CARD Academy is committed to:
-
Precise, ongoing assessment;
-
Individualized lesson plans linked to the assessment outcomes;
-
Implementation of lesson plans by highly-trained expert teachers; and
-
Diligent data tracking and reporting.
Our Curriculum
Our curriculum is based on the Virginia Department of Education standards and is enhanced by the CARD Skills program. Based on over 40 years of research on the use of ABA-based treatment for autism spectrum disorders, CARD Skills is an online program that incorporates comprehensive assessment, curriculum design, progress tracking and treatment evaluation all in one place. Skills is currently being employed with great success across the nation and around the globe by families, treatment providers, and schools, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the United States.
The CARD Academy uses a variety of research based curriculum for teaching different aspects of the curriculum. By combining different curriculum with the extensive curriculum from SKILLS and CARD an optimum environment can be created. Examples of the curriculum used:
Saxon Math Curriculum: “Saxon Math is one of the nation's most thoroughly researched core mathematics programs for grades K–12. Saxon's unique pedagogical approach-based on instruction, practice, and assessment distributed across grade levels-incorporates more than 25 years of research and classroom experience…Saxon's innovative, instructional approach breaks complex concepts into simpler increments, recognizing that smaller pieces of information are easier to teach and easier to learn. The instruction, practice, and assessment of those increments are systematically distributed across a grade level. The distributed approach ensures that students gain and retain critical thinking concepts and use them in real-world situations.”
Edmark Reading: “is balanced early reading instruction that builds basic skills through short instructional sets—keeping students with autism and Asperger’s on task. Level 1 includes 227 lessons and 30 stories that contain 150 words from the Dolch word list. Level 2 goes on to teach 200 more words (and multiple suffixes) through 345 additional lessons and 50 stories!” Widely regarded as the "one that works," the Edmark Reading Program has long helped students who need an alternative to phonics. The key to this success is the program’s use of a carefully sequenced, highly repetitive word recognition method combined with errorless learning. This approach eliminates incorrect responses and helps students view themselves as readers. The Edmark Reading Program ensures success to students of all ages who have not yet mastered beginning reading.
Horizons Reading: “is an innovative program for teaching reading that provides solid, systematic instruction using proven Direct Instruction techniques, updated with current research on beginning reading. A unique instructional sequence incorporates word attack, story reading, comprehension exercises, spelling and independent work on a daily basis to ensure success. Levels A, B, and Fast Track A-B build a solid foundation for fluency and comprehension by systematically teaching phonemic awareness and phonics. Fast Track C-D expands key decoding and vocabulary skills while developing higher order thinking and comprehension strategies.”
Handwriting without Tears: This program helps students with producing legible and fluent handwriting and makes the process an easy and automatic skill for students.
Our curriculum uses hands-on, educationally sound instructional methods to teach handwriting. Lessons require minimal preparation time. As a result, thousands of administrators, teachers, therapists, and parents across the country have successfully implemented HWT using our Simply Smart Student Materials.
The result truly is handwriting without tears!
Here's why the program works...
