The Education Program

Chapel Haven West is a certified special education school with the Arizona State Department of Education, an approved vendor with the Department of Developmental Disabilities and employs Certified Special Education Teachers and Certified Speech Pathologists.   Chapel Haven West Education Program offers a year-round functional academic program that incorporates the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and follows its own curriculum which is individualized. Our program follows recommended subject areas that include Arts, Career Education, Consumer Education, Health and Safety, Language Arts, Math, Physical Fitness, Science, Social Studies and Vocational Education. Particular emphasis is placed on Mobility Training, Self-Advocacy and Community Safety. All life skills related subject matter is taught in the apartments, where the real life experiences occur. The Education Program stresses the functional academics in the first year and a vocational curriculum, including job sampling in the second year. This second year program is designed to reinforce the pre-vocational skills which are taught in the classroom: proper workplace attire, hygiene, punctuality, how to talk to one’s supervisor, and staying on task. When a student in the program has successfully mastered the pre-vocational skills, usually at the 18-month mark of the two-year Residential Program, and the individual’s support team agrees, job developing may begin.