Functional Skills (FS)

  • The Functional Skills (FS) program is a self-contained instructional setting that provides services to students ages 5 to 21 years of age who have been identified with a disability and demonstrate a need for Special Education supports and services to access the general curriculum.

    The FS program is designed to serve students with mild to moderate intellectual disability with concurrent significant academic, social, and functional deficits. Deficits must be prevalent in all afore -mentioned areas and students must require training in self management skills to achieve the levels of performance necessary for functional or supported independent living. In addition to demonstrating cognitive, academic, social, and functional deficits, students who receive supports or services from the FS program may have physical disabilities of varying degrees, may use assistive devices or augmentative systems to communicate, and/or need considerable adult supervision and assistance to navigate a structured daily classroom routine.

    The curriculum in the FS program is aligned with grade level TEKS but it is significantly modified based on student need as indicated in his/her IEP. In addition to components designed to increase the academic rigor in the classroom, the FS program also focuses on developing students’ functional, social, and vocational skills.

    Functional Skills Brochure - English (PDF) | Functional Skills Brochure - Spanish (PDF)

Special Education YMLA

  • At the Young Men's Leadership Academy, we are committed to ensure that students with disabilities are fully involved in all areas of campus life and make progress in the general curriculum successfully and appropriately as a result of teachers, parents, and administrative staff effectively implementing modifications, adaptations, and/or accommodations.

    WE BELIEVE...
    Special Education should meet the individual needs of each student and that it should…

    • Be based on assessment results 
    • Consider…

     - Learning rate
     - Learning style
     - Cultural/Ethnic/Linguistic Differences 

    • Be outcome-oriented 
    • Be linked to the strategies and curriculum of the general education classroom 
    • Be monitored regularly and modified when necessary 
    • Create a level playing field for all students