Students at PRHS prepare for the future through a program on campus

The Adaptive Learning Center program at PRHS, overseen by Christian Emmons for now 21 years, provides the opportunity for students to prepare for life after high school including trips to the downtown library where they practice crossing streets, taking public transportation, and ordering fast food. The program meets an individuals needs by evaluating their educational level and building from there.

“We go out into the community and we try to generalize the real world skills that we learn in the classroom into skills used in the community. We practice safety skills not only around traffic and streets, but also with strangers, stranger awareness instruction. We practice using our money. We go bowling and practice recreational leisure skills,” Emmons said.

Involved in the program are five paraeducators, one being teacher Lydia Mello, who gives instructions to students based off of their IEP (Individualized Educational Program) plan. Tests, assessments and the formulation of new IEP plans are organized by Adaptive Learning Center teacher, Emmons.

Special Education TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignments) , Tricia Lomino, has been working at PRHS for six years and helps to oversee the programs grades six through twelve.

“Special Education is a very unique program and it serves a large population of students from mild to severe disabilities. It is very important to me that we are creating a program that is helping all students accomplish what their particular goals are,” Lomino said.

As a result of academics being subordinate to specific  goals, the program implements key values such as independence, involving kids in a wider community, and life skills- teaching them practical skills to use in the real world.

“Working with these students has helped me realize that much of the value of life is not so much in what we do or how functional we are or how much we produce but our value in life is in who we are,” Emmons said.