ACCESS Academy offers the most comprehensive special education program in Arkansas. We serve students ages 5 to 21 with a curriculum that focuses on essential academic subjects including: oral expression, comprehension, spelling, reading instruction, written expression and math. We also offer instruction in literature, science, social studies, technology and fine arts.
ACCESS Academy serves students with a variety of language and learning disbilities, as well as developmental disbilities including:
Meet the highly-qualified education team at ACCESS Academy.
ACCESS Academy is more than just academics. At our Academy, our small group focus offers each student individualized instruction tailored to meet their unique needs. A low student to teacher ratio, combined with a team approach, allows each student to receive the attention needed to find success. Students who may require additional one-on-one intervention also have access to on-site professionals offering speech, occupational, physical, feeding, mental health, and academic therapies, all integrated within a student's school day.
The ACCESS Academy offers a robust curriculum of academics along with pragmatics and life skills to develop a well-rounded, independent individual. With an early focus on proficiency in communications and math, students are able to develop the important skills required to learn related subjects in later years. Students also engage in multi-sensory learning, as well as hands-on life skills development in the state-of-the-art ACCESS Life Lab.
ACCESS places special emphasis on reading and spelling development, comprehension, and written expression by using a multi-sensory reading method, The Dubard Association Method®. This nationally-recognized phonetic method teaches structured progression from sounds to words, moving incrementally to sentences and paragraphs. Spelling, decoding (sounding outwords), comprehension, and written expression are core components of this method.
Some children struggle with math because of an inability to grasp spatial relationships, an inability to estimate quantity, poor memory skills, poor cognitive abilities, or even as a manifestation of a language-based disability. At ACCESS, we know mathematics is more than just computations. Our curriculum emphasizes math through problem-solving and age-appropriate, real-life application that can prepare for needed vocational and indepence skills in the future. Our various teaching methods are directed to encourage each student's individual academic level.
Literature, social studies, history, science, and physical education are taught using hands-on multi-sensory methods depending on age, ability, and reading level. These methods incorporate sound, sight, touch and experience to assist learning.
Classrooms are equipped with an array of educational technology including interactive smart boards, iPads, laptops, speakers, document cameras and projectors providing teaching staff with tools necessary for classroom demonstration and student engagement.
Vocational or career education is more comprehensive than job training; it teaches people to be a part of a community. These community skills are integrated with academic course work and focus on teaching responsibility, how to care for others, self-awareness, habits of cleanliness, following directions, behavior management, independence, disability awareness, and effective communication and problem-solving skills.
Students at the ACCESS Academy are also offered the opportunity to participate in the Vocation Innovation Project (VIP), a unique pre-employment transition service for high school students 16-21 years of age with a developmental disability.
In conjunction with academic work, the school horticulture, art, and music programs are hands-on laboratories where students learn and practice specific vocational skills including inventory, following directions, customer service, time management and productivity.
See our ACCESS Academy facilities.
The ACCESS Academy school-aged program has earned its accreditation through Cognia™. Cognia offers accreditation and certification, assessment, professional learning, and improvement solutions to institutions and other education providers. As a global nonprofit working in 90+ countries, Cognia serves 36,000 institutions, nearly 25 million students, and five million educators every day. For more information on Cognia, visit www.cognia.org.
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