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Life Skills

The Life Skills Program is designed to provide highly individualized instruction and support for students who demonstrate significant needs in the areas of cognition, communication, and adaptive behavior. This program serves students with profound cognitive disabilities and/or complex physical, behavioral, and social challenges by offering a structured, supportive environment that emphasizes both academic and functional skill development.

Students in the Life Skills Program are educated in a self-contained setting using an alternative curriculum, with opportunities for inclusion in general education activities as appropriate. Instruction is intentionally adapted to align with each student’s strengths, needs, and individualized education plan (IEP), with a dual focus on academic growth and the acquisition of essential life skills that promote independence and community participation. The Life Skills Program equips students with the tools necessary to navigate daily life, enhance personal independence, and participate as valued members of their schools and communities.

Life Skills aims to provide the following outcomes: 

  • Increased Functional Independence: Students develop essential daily living skills such as personal care, hygiene, feeding, mobility, and basic household tasks to promote greater independence across school, home, and community settings.
     
  • Enhanced Communication Skills: Through individualized communication systems (verbal language, AAC, PECS, and assistive technology), students increase their ability to express needs, make choices, and engage in social interactions.
     
  • Improved Adaptive and Social Behaviors: Students build self-regulation, coping strategies, and appropriate social behaviors that support participation in structured routines and collaborative environments.
     
  • Academic Skill Development: Using an alternative, standards-aligned curriculum, students make individualized progress in foundational academic areas such as literacy, numeracy, and functional academics tied to real-world application.
     
  • Greater Community and School Participation: With intentional inclusion opportunities, students increase their engagement in general education activities, school events, vocational tasks, and community-based instruction as appropriate.
     
  • Transition Readiness: As students progress through the program, they develop age-appropriate vocational, self-advocacy, and functional life skills that support future transitions to post-secondary environments, supported employment, and adult services when applicable.

Location: 

  • Elementary: Lake Pointe Elementary School and Rough Hollow Elementary School
  • Middle: Lake Travis Middle School 
  • High School: Lake Travis High School