The Discovery Program - An intervention for students with Learning Disabilities
The DISCOVERY PROGRAM at The King’s Academy, a member of the National Institute of Learning Development, Norfolk, VA, is a program of preventive, corrective, and supportive intervention for students who struggle to learn.
- Preventive: Search & Teach scans all children in kindergarten and first grade to identify those who need extra work in perceptual skills (auditory, visual, motor) to become skilled readers. The emphasis is on strengthening pre-requisite skills before failure occurs.
- Corrective: Educational Therapy is offered to those who have been diagnosed with a learning disability. Intervention is aimed at stimulating deficit cognitive and perceptual skill areas and developing students who are able to be independent learners.
- Supportive: Remedial Instruction is offered through tutors who are trained to assist students to be successful with classroom content while the educational therapy process is taking place. In addition, Academic Accountability is available for those who need help with the organizational aspects of their school endeavors. An after-school Homework Clinic, staffed by a trained tutor is available three afternoons per week.
The DISCOVERY PROGRAM features
- One-to-one intervention;
- Trained personnel;
- Team orientation (parent, teachers, therapist);
- All-age inclusiveness;
- Integrative techniques, including perceptual and academic skills;
- Individual and intense;
- Aims for long-term change;
- Improved social relationships;
- Improved self image;
- Development of responsibility;
- Research validated.
Optional Avenues to Graduation:
For students participating in the Discovery Program for educational therapy, the option is available to select a graduation tract which best meets the student's learning needs. In addition to the regular College Preparatory Diploma offered by TKA, there is also the opportunity for either a General Diploma or a Certificate of Graduation.
1 unit of Social Science
2. Certificate of Graduation
Student who require a different academic program (i.e., remedial math or English), restructuring of yearly requirements (i.e., one year of courses completed in two years, or repetition of a course, not due to failure but to solidifying foundational concepts) must meet basic requirements agreed upon by TKA administration. Discovery Program Director, and parents. If a student is unable to meet the requirements for a General Diploma, a Certificate of Graduation (indicating that s/he has completed four years of academic study) may be awarded.