Lakeland Copper Beech School provides consultant teacher, resource room, co-teach, and special class programs, as well as all required related services (counseling, speech/language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, vision and hearing services) recommended by a student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). Special class reading services are also provided as recommended by the IEP.  Please see the special education continuum page for further information.

The Basic Skills program is a unique special class program at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School in which recommended special education students are educated in a separate 12:1:2 special education environment. Basic Skills students receive instruction using a prioritized curriculum. With the prioritized curriculum the majority of instruction targets only the essential elements of the corresponding grade level curriculum; this provides additional instructional time and practice of these essential elements. Additionally, the Basic Skills program provides double the typically allotted instructional time for English/language arts and math--this means that there is more instructional time for students to progress through the same prioritized curriculum. Students in a special class program are expected to participate in the same state and local assessments as their grade level peers with the appropriately recommended testing accommodations.

The OASIS program is a specially designed 12:1:2 therapeutic support program at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School in which recommended special education students are educated in a separate special education environment. Each classroom contains no more than 12 students, a teacher, and two classroom aides. Students in the OASIS program are students who require a greater level of social/emotional support, and as such, the program also employs a full-time school psychologist to meet ongoing counseling needs. As the needs of the students in this program are largely social/emotional, the academic expectations and curriculum are commensurate with each grade level. Students in the OASIS program are expected to participate in the same state and local assessments as their grade level peers with the appropriately recommended testing accommodations. The Oasis program is run collaboratively with Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES.

The Aspire program is also housed at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School.  Aspire at Copper Beech is a self-contained 12:1:3 program.  Aspire services students with various classifications including, but not limited to: Autism, Speech/Language Impairment, Multiple Disabilities, and Down syndrome.

Instruction in the Aspire program is based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis.  Student IEP goals are progress monitored and driven by daily data collection.  Students in the program are assessed using either the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) or the ELA, Math, and Science state assessments.  

It is through the Committee on Special Education (CSE) that specific programs are recommended.  Special education teachers provide differentiated instruction based on a student's strengths, challenges and individual learning style.