Willet Avenue School

The Willet Avenue School specializes in serving 8- to 11-year-old students with significant developmental delays/disorders, including autism and multiple disabilities, who need a highly structured learning environment. Some of the program’s highlights include:

• The program's classes are small, allowing for an intensive learning environment
• The staff utilize the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to address academic, language, social/emotional, and ADL (activities of daily living) skills
• New skills and the shaping of behaviors are taught through repetition and reinforcement
• A progressive total communication system is utilized, including spoken words, photographs, pictures, symbols, and/or sign language, to increase communication skills
• The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is utilized program-wide to engage students in a social exchange for requesting, communicating their needs, and responding to their environment
• Many schoolwide activities are presented each year, including musical activities, class trips, and celebrations for holidays and special events
• Students benefit from physical education, music, and art programs. Specially trained staff are available to address any mealtime management concerns that may arise

The Willet Avenue staff participate in a collaborative team approach for monitoring students’ progress toward meeting their IEP goals. The collaborative teams include classroom teachers, psychologists, curriculum teachers, social workers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, teacher aides, teacher assistants, and administrative personnel from the Willet Avenue School.