Programs for Kids with Learning Differences in Los Angeles, CA

Summit View School at The Help Group:
The Summit View School in Los Angeles, Southern California , offers comprehensive elementary, middle and secondary school programs for students with learning differences. An innovative and integrated curriculum, coupled with small class size and high teacher to student ratio, enables students to experience academic success. It is part of The Help Group which is a family of non-profit agencies dedicated to providing a broad range of educational and therapeutic services to children, adolescents, young adults with special needs and their families.

Education Programs:

The Summit View School offers the following programs for children with learning differences:

- Elementary School Program:
The Elementary School concentrates on the acquisition of knowledge in the language arts, reading, mathematics, perceptual, and motor domains. As the students progress, they begin to apply their basic skills in a variety of learning contexts and continue to develop the fundamental academic building blocks.

- Middle School Program:
In the Middle School, students build on their repertoire of basic skills. The strengthening of students' organization, time management, critical thinking skills and work habits are integral components of the program.

- High School Program:
In the High School, the curriculum focuses on the student's integration, synthesis and application of their individual learning styles and the knowledge they have acquired. Students can fulfill all high school diploma and college entrance requirements as they prepare for post-secondary education and success in the workplace.

Sample of courses offered at Summit View (High School Level):

* English 9:  This course builds on the student’s writing, reading and comprehension. Special attention will be paid to moving the student from a functional application of the rules of grammar to applying those rules to more advanced techniques of paragraph, essay and research writing. The course will review editing basics such as fragments, run-ons and recognizing parts of speech. Moreover, through the incorporation of masterpiece sentences and detailed revisions, attention will be paid to creating more complex and interesting written work. Students will begin to understand and develop their own writing style.

Complementing the emphasis on writing skills, the course will use fiction, biography, poetry, drama and non-fiction to develop an understanding of important language arts skills as well as identify how themes and ideas are conveyed through various types of writing. This class overlaps with Computer Literacy so that students can practice applying technology to their writing and researching processes. Literature includes, but is not limited to, Of Mice and Men by Ernest Hemingway, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

* Grade 11 Humanities:  The English 11/U.S. History double period allows students to explore the connections across the two subject areas. By teaching these courses as a block, students work with historical documents as literary documents. They explore literature as a reflection of history, reading speeches by the founders, autobiographies of major American figures and literary commentaries such as The Crucible. Then, students use writing to explain, interpret and analyze events.

Much of the learning is project based. For example, one project has students compare depression era media and satire with media and satire from the current recession. Students create presentations and write summaries to teach their peers about major events leading up to the Civil War. Another project allows the student to be reporters filing video and transcripts from the battles of WWII. Students end the year with a research paper about a major event or issue from modern American history. The course allows a more holistic approach to content and competencies.

* Grade 12 Government (1 semester):  This class surveys the institutions and fundamentals of American government. The course looks at the foundations of democratic systems, the evolution and practice of checks and balances, an in depth look at each of the three branches, an examination of the constitution, and the process of making and changing public policy. By investigating and evaluating current events, students will become participants in a democratic government. In addition, literature, film, and the arts will be incorporated into the class in order to bring alive the facts and circumstances, themes and issues of the class.

* Grade 12 Economics (1 semester):  Students concentrate on the principles of micro and macro economics. They examine the theories which underpin the US economic model including supply; demand; the effect of taxes on supply and demand; opportunity cost; market inequalities and externalities; budgeting and forecasting; entrepreneurship; labor markets; the stock market; international trade; the intersection of politics and economy; and most importantly, responsible money management and budgeting.