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Preparing Students for the Real World with LCE

Preparing Students for the Real World with LCE

As educators, one of your most important goals is to prepare students to become fully participating members of their communities. And for students with disabilities, the life skills education and training they acquire in school may be the only resources they receive to help them transition from being students to life as independent and productive adults.

More than one-third of people living in poverty in the U.S. are individuals with disabilities, and 72% of individuals with disabilities are unemployed.

According to research, the most successful secondary school transition programs are those that implement a comprehensive approach that includes planning, curriculum and assessments, and employment resources to help students with disabilities transition into the workforce. The most widely used transition curriculum in the United States is CEC’s Life Centered Education (LCE), which helps schools and their students do just that.

But don’t just take our word for it ⁠— check out how educators around the world are using LCE and illustrating the importance of high-quality transition instruction when it comes to helping students with exceptionalities truly succeed.

  • From my remote setting, I send an email to students asking them to login to the LCE online portal. Once they provide their secure username and password, they are provided with an assignment screen. Using my teacher credentials, I enter the online portal and assign students LCE tests, along with a note suggesting they complete a few of the multiple-choice items at a time during daily 20-minute home sessions. Students can ‘save’ their work at the end of one day and, later, re-enter the test wherever they left off. I encourage students to have their siblings and parents read the test questions aloud to them. The computer system can and will read each question aloud, but I like families to work on the questions together to debate and determine which answer is correct. The LCE system stores the completed versions of tests and worksheets, which can be printed out and used to frame subsequent instruction.

- Joanne Duford
Special Education Teacher
Addison, MI
 

  • LCE includes lesson plans and related tests along with on-demand resources such as Internet activities that motivate and engage students by allowing them to demonstrate appropriate reactions to real-life scenarios. It is a high-quality program that consistently produces large learning gains.

- Scott Miller
Director. LCE Postsecondary Program
Armenia, NY
 

  • We’ve been using CEC’s LCE curriculum for seven years within our transition program. LCE instruction reliably increases student independence and work readiness. Its alternative assessments and reporting features help instructors pinpoint skill deficiencies; target instruction; analyze student mastery of critical life skills in daily living, interpersonal relations, and employment; and update IEPs. 

- Jill Kulwicki
Transition Teacher
Flagler County, FL
 

  • I love that it aligns with standards in English, Math, Social Studies, and Employability and is recommended statewide to meet transition mandates.

- Lori Stepp
Transition Specialist
Columbia, SC
 

  • LCE instruction provides different real-life scenarios which break down the skills into steps that can be easily followed. The curriculum is valuable, thorough, and easily supplemented with YouTube videos and additional teacher resources. It is relevant to students needing support with life skills and provides teachers with instructional guidance for teaching life skills.

- Teacher
Chengdu, China
 

  • LCE is great because its 1,200 lesson plans are user-friendly, customizable, and consolidated on the Internet.  Lessons are available at three levels of complexity, allowing for differentiated instruction given individual student abilities and interests.

- Roni Caulfield
Learning Disabilities Specialist
Roxbury, MA
 

For a free preview of CEC’s online transition curriculum, please contact Nancy Fones, LCE Coordinator, at lce@exceptionalchildren.org

Posted:  7 May, 2020
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