Exceptional Children
Welcome!!! Southern Wake Academy has an excellent reputation for providing a quality education and inclusion for our students with special needs. Once a student with special needs is enrolled, the EC team reviews all documentation shared by the family and previous schools, to include historical documents and IEP documents. If needed, an IEP meeting is scheduled to develop an appropriate plan for each child in cooperation with the student’s parent(s) / guardian(s).
SWA’s Exceptional Children’s program provides services to ensure that all students acquire the cognition, readiness, and character to achieve their learning potential.
Our Program
• Provides a safe, stimulating, and nurturing learning environment.
• Provides a continuum of services based on individual needs.
• Encourages independence and good decision-making.
• Supports students in developing a foundation to build future success.
• Guides students in developing a sense of social and personal responsibility.
• Demonstrates commitment and dedication to ensure access to the academic curriculum within the least restrictive environment for each individual student.
• Develops individualized student plans as determined by data collection, along with teacher and parent input.
• Applies research-based interventions and teaching methodologies.
• Encourages parent participation in the team process of individual program development as well as involvement in school-related activities.
• Provides support to students and families throughout their time at SWA.
• Ensures an inclusive, nurturing, and positive environment for all students at SWA – academically, emotionally, and socially.
• Celebrates student successes and accomplishments – each and every day.
Our Life Skills program is a blended (MS/HS) learning environment for students who require more intense support. The Life Skills students utilize Unique Learning System®, an online standards-based program that provides students with meaningful access to the general education curriculum through leveled instruction and offers both high school and middle school application. www.n2y.com
Our staff/student ratio allows for ongoing support with educational, social, and emotional goal areas, and provides a caring and nurturing environment for all students to be successful. Students learn and develop skills through use of posted daily and academic schedules, support around learning, and daily interaction with parents and families.
Our Future Ready Core Occupational Course of Study (FRC-OCS) program is an alternative graduation path for those students who may need a higher level of support than may be available in a general education classroom, or who may need a smaller setting to be successful in school. Students in this program do academic work, as well as work to develop “real life” skills to prepare them for life after high school. Students are required to do a mandated number of paid and volunteer work hours, and need to document these hours as part of their graduation requirements. The teachers and teaching assistants in the OCS program work closely with each student to be sure that they are earning credits and are completing their hours as required by DPI policy.
The Future Ready Core Occupational Course of Study (FRC-OCS) is one of two courses of study a student with disabilities may complete to graduate with a high school diploma in North Carolina. The FRC-OCS is available for those students with disabilities who are specifically identified for this program. The requirements are listed in Section II of the current graduation policy, GRAD-004, for students entering grade 9 for the first time in 2021-2022. See Sections II, IV, VI, and VII for previous OCS graduation cohorts.
The FRC-OCS is intended to meet the educational and career development needs of a small group of students with disabilities who require a variety of substantive instructional supports and accommodations throughout the school day to access and make progress towards grade level standards. Most students with disabilities will participate in and complete the Future Ready Core Standard Course of Study (FRC-SCOS) with the use of accommodations and supplemental aids and services as identified in the student’s IEP. The FRC-OCS is intended for students whose primary goal is to go directly into employment or to attend a post-secondary education program resulting in a licensure or credential upon graduation from high school. The IEP Team should complete the OCS Considerations document, which is located in the OCS LiveBinder, to determine the appropriateness of this course of study.
For more information about the FRC-OCS parents and students should contact the Exceptional Children department and/or guidance department at their local high school.
SWA offers co-teaching in our reading and math classes. In these classes, a regular education teacher and a special education teacher work together to plan and deliver lessons in a format that makes learning accessible to all students. The teachers work as a team to support ALL students in the classroom – not just students on an IEP. Both teachers are fully aware of all needed learning accommodations and modifications, and provide these supports together.
Parent Resources
NC Parent Handbook Spanish Version
Individuals with Disabilities Act
Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
ECAC (Resource Center for Parents with Students w/ Disabilities)