School Programs

Students receive funding from their LSS for enrollment until they can return to the less restrictive environment in their own community. A comprehensive intake process ensures a good match between Kennedy Krieger and the student. 

Staff members develop Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs) that outline the type and intensity of services students will receive while enrolled in special education. Speech and language services are an integral part of the educational program for most of the children at Kennedy Krieger. SLPs collaborate with educational and related services staff to offer a variety of communication services designed to meet students’ needs. 

Through this collaboration, educational and support staff make classroom adaptations to lessen the effect of students’ language difficulties, increasing their chance for success with schoolwork. 

Because communication support is an integral part of Kennedy Krieger’s interdisciplinary work, students learn to use communication and compensatory strategies throughout their school day. The following descriptions highlight the specific programs within the special education program.

Lower and Middle Grades—Fairmount Campus

Students in the 11-month Lower and Middle Grade programs may have one or more of the following diagnoses:  autism spectrum disorders, language-learning disabilities, emotional/ behavioral disorders, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological disorders. 

Classes range in size from 6-8 students and include one teacher, an assistant teacher, and classroom assistants if required by a student’s IEP. SLPs work closely with educational and clinical staff to determine students’ needs, set appropriate goals and provide training in meaningful learning environments.  SLPs also work collaboratively as a department sharing materials, ideas and engaging in school-wide initiatives and events.

Students receive speech and language services through a variety of modalities, according to their needs.  Services may be provided through a combination of classroom-based sessions, supplemented by “push in” sessions within the classroom to facilitate educational access, and “pull out” services. In addition, co-treatments with other disciplines may be conducted when deemed clinically necessary.

Life Skills and Education for Students with Autism and other Pervasive Behavioral Challenges (LEAP)

LEAP. a 12-month interdisciplinary program with smaller class size, meets the needs of students diagnosed with severe communication and behavior disorders. 

The program ranges from a functional academically based program for younger elementary aged students, to a functional life skills and/or work-based curriculum for older students. Professional staff offer educational and related services through structured protocols individualized according to student need. 

SLPs provide speech-language and communication services to all students in this program through several models, including individual and small group sessions, and classroom. 

In addition, some students participate in community outings (work-based learning for older students and purchasing with younger students) to generalize the skills they build in individual treatment sessions to less structured community settings.

High School 

Kennedy Krieger High School (KKHS) is a highly specialized setting offering a broad array of special education and related services.  Programming is tailored through small learning communities designed to recognize the strengths and special needs of our students.  KKHS operates two “schools within a school,” or academies. The academies are designed to allow students with a wide range of skills and abilities to achieve their academic goals in the least restrictive setting possible. The academy design incorporates specialized delivery of instruction, classroom structure, and behavioral interventions. Students may transition between KKHS programs as their developmental needs change. 

Academy I students are enrolled in courses within the general curriculum, leading to a Maryland high school diploma. Academy II students have disorders or disabilities that significantly impact academic or cognitive function and require a high level of special education or related support services in the classroom setting. They work to earn a Certificate of Completion.

In their first year at KKHS, students learn about career industries including Information Technology, Hospitality and Tourism, Manufacturing and Construction, Horticulture, and Retail and Consumer Services. Students develop skills in all these domains and pursue a “major” for which they are well suited. Students build skills through on-site learning at the High School’s student-run Café James, a retail boutique and bank, a garden, a construction workshop, and computer lab.

Speech and Language Pathologists work with students individually, in small groups, and/or a co-teaching model, per the student’s IEP. In addition, therapists work collaboratively in the academic classroom and facilitate instruction for individual students. Speech and Language therapists collaborate with teachers to identify teaching strategies that complement individual learning styles. Skills and strategies addressed in speech and language therapy include, but are not limited to, pre-reading skills, organization, following directions, problem solving, critical thinking, word retrieval, memory, pragmatic language, intelligibility, oral motor, and verbal expression. Speech and Language evaluations occur as ordered through the IEP process. 

Powder Mill Campus

Started in September 2007, Powder Mill Campus (formerly located at our Montgomery County Campus) serves students with autism spectrum disorders throughout Prince Georges County, Montgomery County, surrounding counties and Washington DC.  The program is designed to prepare students for completion of high school through a diploma track (2nd through 8th grades) or certificate track students ages 7-21). 

SLPs collaborate with special educators, OTs, behavior specialists, and social workers to meet student needs in a language-rich environment. SLPs offer treatment though classroom-based, small group, individual, community-based instruction, and work-based learning experiences.  The instructional program follows “best practice” teaching methods including, but not limited to, TEACCH, Applied Behavior Analysis, discrete trial, incidental learning, Pivotal Response Treatment, augmented communication, picture exchange communication, sensory diets, and vocational training. 

Southern Maryland Campus (SMC)

Nestled in St. Mary’s County, the Southern Maryland Campus serves students K – 21 with autism and developmental disabilities from St. Mary’s, Charles and Calvert Counties.  This 11-month program employs evidence-based practices, such as ABA, TEACCH, discrete trial, augmentative communication, picture exchange communication and sensory diets. SMC features an interdisciplinary approach to individualized programming. 

SLPs collaborate with special educators, OTs, behavior analysts and social workers to best meet the needs of their unique students. Providers rely on their clinical judgment to offer services in a variety of ways, including individual, whole group, small group, dyad, and supporting during classroom activities.