Our program
A school built around one student at a time.
Every student here has their own programming, their own data, and their own person. What follows is how that works in practice.
The approach
The science is the instruction.
Applied behavior analysis isn't a therapy running alongside the school day. It's the foundation of how we teach, and it shows up in every classroom decision we make.
Individually designed
Programming is built for one student, starting from that student's present skills — not a curriculum applied uniformly across a group and adjusted at the edges.
Directly measured
We take data on what a student actually does. A program that isn't working gets changed on evidence rather than on impression, and we can show a district exactly what changed and why.
Built to transfer
Skills that only work at a table with a familiar adult aren't much use. We teach toward home, the community, and whatever setting comes next.
Behavior as communication
For most of our students, difficult behavior is doing a job — requesting, escaping, or communicating something they have no other way to say. We teach the skill that makes the behavior unnecessary.
The team
Who works with each student.
Minimum one-to-one
Every student is supported at a minimum one-to-one staffing ratio, and some students are staffed above that based on need. A certificated special education teacher and a behavior analyst work as a pair across a caseload of roughly fifteen students, each with their own assigned technician.
Technicians work in pods led by a lead technician, so every student has a designated supervisor for their programming and every staff member has someone responsible for supporting their day.
Included in every placement
- Certificated special education teacher
- Board certified behavior analyst
- Behavior technician support at a minimum one-to-one ratio
- Speech-language pathology, where the student needs it
- Occupational therapy, where the student needs it
- Educational psychology evaluation for every placed student
These are covered by a single contract rate rather than billed separately as they're used. More on contracting for districts.
The day and the year
205 to 220 days.
We run a longer year than a typical district calendar, closing for five weeks spread across the year rather than taking a long summer.
- Students attend Monday to Thursday, 8:30 to 3:00
- Friday mornings, 8:30 to 12:00
- Closed to students one day each month, so staff have a full day of professional development
For students who lose ground over an extended break, continuous programming is the difference between building on progress in September and rebuilding it. Extended-year programming is part of the placement rather than a separate negotiation.
Learning outside the building
Community outings are part of the educational program — not a reward or an add-on. Skills that transfer are skills practised where the student will actually need them. Spokane and Tacoma run their own vans, and Longview will shortly.
Add: what a typical outing looks like, how often they happen, and what skills they target.
What we're working toward
The least restrictive support that works.
Every student's plan is written toward independence and the least restrictive setting in which they can succeed. How long that takes is a question we answer with the student, not in advance.
A planned return
Some students spend a year or two with us and then begin a structured transition back to their district school, with support that steps down as they take on more.
A longer stay
Others remain at Lilac for a significant part of their education, and we support the transition into adult services when that time comes.
Both are successful outcomes. Neither is decided on the first day.
Add: how progress is reported to districts and families, and how often.
Beyond the day school
Consultation in district buildings.
Not every student who is struggling needs a change of placement. Our consultation service is designed to keep a student where they are and build the capacity of the team around them — the same model, applied in your building rather than ours.