A Message from the Principal
Welcome to our website. Pendergrass Fairwold School serves students from ages 3-21, with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities, who require a structured educational environment which will help them maximize physical mobility, self-help skills, life skills, and consequently, facilitate their adjustment to community living. We also provide services for students ages 18 to 21 who require significant supportive programming to transition from school to work or from school to independent living. All students receive educational and related services according to their Individual Education Plan (IEP) and are monitored for progress according to the guidelines of their IEP.
During the 2016-2017 school year, literacy will be a major focus for Pendergrass-Fairwold School and Richland School District One. Staff will participate in staff developments that focus on strategies to facilitate communication and literacy school-wide. We are excited about creating a school atmosphere that fosters communication strategies (i.e., verbalizations, gestures, signs, augmentative devices) for students to convey functional wants, needs and ideas across settings.
As we strive to ensure all students function as independently as possible, we have developed a framework and are currently working on a formalized plan for our TAILS Academy (Teaching Adults Independent Life Skills). The TAILS Academy consists of two components: Community-Based Instruction (CBI) and Campus-Based Skills Training (CBST) with student-specific goals in careers, independent living and self-advocacy. In CBI, all objectives and activities selected for instruction in the community are coordinated with classroom instruction. This allows for skills to be taught simultaneously, both in the classroom and the community, thereby giving multiple opportunities for practicing and generalizing functional skills. CBST is for students who still require additional support to gain the skills necessary for appropriate functioning in environments outside of their school. We hope to gain new off-campus job training sites for our students this year.
We are very proud of our school and hope that you will come see us in action!
Faythe K Redenburg
