It is our goal to prepare students to function more independently, responsibly, and age-appropriately in all aspects of their daily lives. We urge students to participate in activities, including but not limited to: role-playing, community trips, and classroom approximations in order to practice these skills, and hopefully incorporate them into their daily lives. The classroom/related services staff has been given opportunities to plan cooperatively in order to provide an enriched and cohesive program focused on the development of these skills.

The Life Skills program, Speech Department, Counseling Services, P. E. teacher, and school nurse have been working on new ideas and framework possibilities to ensure the incorporation of existing related services into the daily classroom routine. With the Life Skills program as the hub of the related services it will enable our students to grow up healthy in a program structured to address students’ needs as individuals and in a social setting at home, at school, and in the community. The content areas for the program are: Mental and Emotional Health, Family Life and Health, Growth and Development, Nutrition, Personal Health, Safety and First Aid, and Community and Environmental Health Management. The physical education teacher is closely linked to the areas of family life and health, growth and development, nutrition, and personal health. The nurse plays a large part in the areas of growth and development, nutrition, personal health, and safety and first aid.

We are all working towards our students learning the skills necessary to guide them along once they leave the walls of Clare Woods Academy and continue on with the rest of their lives. Some of these skills include: goal setting, decision making, coping with stress, coping with emotions, problem solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, empathy, interpersonal relationship skills, self-awareness, and effective communication.