High Road School of Boone County
At the High Road School of Boone County, we serve students in two different program areas. Our Academic Rotational Model focuses on students with Emotional Disabilities and teaching them how to cope with the daily stressors that school provides. Our Broad-Based Educational Services & Therapies (B.E.S.T.) Model works with students who have deficits in the area of language development. The goal of our school is to provide students a safe and consistent place to learn.
Our Students
Students are referred by their school district to attend High Road School and are generally in grades K–12 (aged 5 to 21). They face disabilities in a variety of areas, including Autism, Intellectual Disability, Emotional Disability, Other Health Impairments, and more.
Our Staff
We are proud to employ certified special education teachers, staff trained in crisis intervention, school social workers, in-home and/or family therapy, a school psychiatrist, speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, access physical therapy
With the support of our BCBA and Social Worker we are able to provide programming that is trauma-informed and focused on the function of behaviors. Our staff are trained in crisis management and allows students that previously were not able to complete a full school day to complete a full day at school.
Our classrooms access the community by taking field trips to local grocery stores, parks and other businesses. Our students have created lemonade stands near our building to provide community involvement to our students.
Utilizing four specific instructional rotations, students are assessed academically, gain self-regulation skills, learn with district-aligned academic curriculums, and utilize integrated technology.
Each student enrolled in the model has individualized behavior programming which is driven by Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA). We aim to identify the behaviors that continue to disrupt our student’s ability to access their environment and learning. We then use the data collected from the FBA and classroom data to device strategies that get to the root function of the students disrupted behaviors.
We take an individualized approach to educating students with specific eligibilities, which starts with building strong foundational skills in the areas of language, visual performance, and fine and gross motor skills. Our approach is informed by the belief that it is common to find defined splinter skills in children and adolescents with autism and SLD, as well as a large “gap” between receptive and expressive language skills—a gap that hinders social abilities and can lead to maladaptive behaviors. Consequently, the High Road School consistently works to bridge this gap by expediting acquisition of skills and increasing our students’ awareness of their surroundings. To accomplish this, we employ a rotational model of instruction whereby students move about their educational space, alternating among specific learning modalities and diversifying their settings, all of which supports faster generalization of skills.
Our rotational system consists of DTT (Discrete Trial Training) sessions, life skills training, social skills lab and motor lab work, NET (Natural Environment Teaching), instruction in designated academic blocks, activity schedules, and independent play and leisure time. Each rotation is designed to progressively build on the last level of skills and inform the next level. For example, what is taught in DTT serves as a building block for the social skills lab, which in turn is generalized into the NET room, which itself is generalized into routine components of the day (e.g., recess, lunch, transitional times) and eventually to real-world encounters. Ultimately, this progression of skills leads to two long-term goals: (1) the ability to participate, function, and demonstrate independence in the general public; and (2) the ability to transition students to a more general academic setting.
Services for Students with Emotional Disabilities
The route to success for our students with emotional disabilities begins with individualized education that focuses on a high level of structure and consistency. These characteristics create a productive and positive learning environment that properly addresses internalizing and externalizing behavior issues and teaches self-regulation.
Our rotational system of instruction for ED students is centered on 1:1, small-group, and independent instruction—all with integrated technology throughout—incorporating a wide variety of comprehensive multi-sensory curriculums. Our students learn to manage their emotional triggers and to enjoy learning.
Student Spotlight
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Toni Tanck
High Road School of Boone County
2023-2024 Campus Winner