6425 Willow Springs Road
LaGrange, IL 60525
708.579.9040
6880 North Frontage Road
Suite 100
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
708.639.4222
Admission open
The goal of Acacia Academy’s Transition Program is to maximize a student’s opportunity for independence. The Transition Program (ages 18-22) is designed for students who have completed their high school requirements and wish to further develop skills in academics, on-the- job training, independent living, and life skills while obtaining therapeutic services such as social work counseling, speech therapy and occupational therapy if needed. The instruction is individualized based on each student’s needs, goals, employment and postsecondary aspirations. Students have the opportunity to customize their schedule designed to address personal needs and goals.
Located at Burr Ridge Campus, the Transition Program is home to a 6,400 square foot facility providing large, spacious classrooms, related service areas, athletic room, offices, and open floor plan for appropriate social distancing. The Burr Ridge Campus is conveniently located within a five minute drive to the La Grange Campus and provides easy access to student work sites, community outings, postsecondary programs, and other community related opportunities. After completion of the Transition Program, students obtain full time or part time employment, enroll in additional postsecondary programs such as community colleges, universities, career and technical schools, vocational programs, or day programs for further enrichment.
The Transition Program focuses on three specific areas of development:
Working at offsite locations, students participate in on-the-job training and skill development in:
Students work one-on-one with a job coach developing strategies to help them succeed at their job sites.
The job coach:
Participants in Acacia Academy’s Transition Program include:
Students are instructed in all areas of independent living including but certainly not limited to:
Self-Advocacy / Self Care / Daily Living Skills
Employment / Career & Education Planning / Job Interviewing
Relationship & Communication Skills
Money Management and Budgeting
Housing
The food & nutrition component of the Transition Program is designed to assist students in making critical decisions about food that contributes to health and well-being. Practical problems addressed related to attitudes toward food, nutrition facts, special health concerns and diets, management of food resources, preparation skills, and careers in nutrition and food service.
Food, Nutrition & You
Workplace, Tools and Techniques
Consumer Decisions
Foods for Meals and Snacks
Careers in Food & Nutrition
An individualized program of instruction is written for each student based upon his/her specific learning needs.
Word recognition, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency and rate, reading enrichment, study skills, metacognition and metacomprehension techniques, critical and creative reading skills, and divergent thinking strategies.
The Wilson Reading Program is a structured literacy program based on phonological-coding research and Orton-Gillingham principals. The program directly and systematically teaches the structure of the English language. Through the program, students learn fluent decoding and encoding skills to the level of mastery. Acacia Academy students receive individualized instruction from our Certified Wilson Reading Specialists.
Students learn to apply mathematic knowledge to everyday consumer experiences. Students learn life skills math, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, time and measurement. Students develop money management and budgeting skills by actively managing personal bank accounts at Countryside Bank. Participation in student run businesses creates daily income for program use (community outing days, public transportation, consumer spending, etc.).
The occupational therapist will work with the student in a number of areas to promote functional independence in the classroom and employment setting. The goal is to improve the student’s ability to perform tasks requiring visual perception skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, sensory processing skills, organization, and self-care. The occupational therapist aim to give the student the tools needed to successfully participate in a school and community setting.