Shining Stars Support Services incorporates a well sequenced and individualized curriculum designed to meet the specific academic needs of each child. For this reason, Shining Stars offer a school readiness program. The curriculum taught, focusing solely on the results of the child’s assessment, emphasizes teaching the child a set of critical skills necessary for a level of independence and learning.
The instructional time devoted to the development of critical skills are taught concurrently with other essential skills (e.g. self-help and motor skills). The skill areas taught in the school readiness program include:
Academic Skills: Reading, Writing, Spelling and Math are the focus areas.
Self-Help Skills: Self-help skills are a part of everyday activities and are essential skills to acquire. The self-help skills are often taught in conjunction with other school readiness skills. Dressing, toileting, grooming and eating are all crux to the development of a child’s self-care skills.
Receptive Skills: This domain focuses on teaching the child to follow simple directions or selecting named items from a display. Teaching these in the context of school readiness and daily activities is part of Shining Star’s School Readiness program.
Expressive Skills: This domain focuses on the child’s ability to label items, use language in appropriate contexts, use verbs, noun-verb combinations, prepositions, adjective-noun combinations, pronouns etc. For children who are using an alternative or augmentative form of communication, reinforcing the use of a device is necessary.
Imitation: The development of imitation skills can help a student develop the ability to attend to an instruction for a longer period of time and attend to changes in adult’s responses.
Social Interaction: This domain focuses on the child’s ability to return, share and initiate greetings, turn-take, approach others for interactions and giving up reinforcers and learn to talk about topics of interest to others.
Group Instruction: Group participation skills are recommended as part of the School Readiness program. Specific skill areas for group participation are based on the student’s receptive and labeling skills.
Following classroom routines: This domain plays a critical role in the development of basic receptive skills. Objectives in this area are particularly important to help prepare a student for transitioning into a regular school-based program.
Generalization of acquired skills: This domain is appropriate if a student learns responses in controlled situations. A standard part of the development of specific skills, generalization is part of school readiness.
