Success Story
Shawn’s Story
Shawn is a student at HILA who currently spends most of his day in the highly supported classroom. When Shawn started at HILA, he did not have any functional communication to allow him to express his wants and needs or participate socially in the classroom. Within the first few weeks of school, he learned to imitate sign language to request items, ask for help, request bathroom, request more, and say thank you. Currently, he is even able to use many of the signs independently, without a model or prompts. Establishing a functional communication system for Shawn paved the way for further success at school. His expanded repertoire of communication skills subsequently lead to a decrease in problem behavior, an increase in mastered learning targets, and an overall increase in independence both in the classroom and in the school environment as a whole. Shawn’s Learning Team is excited to see continued improvement in all skill areas throughout the year!