Hello and Welcome,

Thank you for your inquiry and interest with Beyond Classroom Walls. We offer a variety of 8-week, quarterly groups that has been created and developed by Liz Peterson, a speech-language pathologist and Sommer Bowdre, a special education teacher. Our inspiration for Beyond Classroom Walls came from the realization that there is a significant need for functional instruction that reinforces and applies academics and every day critical social skills, going “beyond” the classroom and enriching the knowledge of students with special needs.

We currently offer 5 types of group instruction:

• Community Relations and Adaptations (middle school - young adults)
  Social, behavioral, academic and life skills are reinforced through community training
  
• “ Fun ” ctional Academics (middle school-young adults)
  Academics and social skills are generalized and reinforced through real-life themes such as cooking, household safety, building/assembly and art
  
• Successful Social Skills (middle school-young adults)
  Social skills are reinforced through hands-on direct coaching for friendships, classroom, vocational and community success
  
• Social Bunch & Academic Crunch (younger and older elementary)
  Social skills for friendships and classroom interaction are taught through fun everyday activities such as cooking and art to generalize and reinforce academic skills
  
• Relating Together (elementary-high school)
  Developmental social skill training for identifying and learning emotions, referencing people, cope with change, improving mental flexibility and regulating behavior through coached activities and group interaction using techniques from Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)

Please review our website for information on each program. Each program has a summary, list of goals and objectives, “snap shots” of 4 quarters of program activities and an example of a detailed lesson for one group lesson.
If you have determined that our programming is a good fit for your child, we will be pleased to take you to our “Next Step” and begin the process for enrollment.

We look forward and thank you for the opportunity to support your family and child's needs in Beyond Classroom Walls group instruction.

Sincerely,
Liz, speech therapist and Sommer, severe needs teacher