S.L.I.C.E. (Serving Less Involved Children's Environment) of P.I.E.

• Federal law requires school districts to educate students with disabilities (3-21) in the least restrictive environment. Region III established the LittleTots and S.L.I.C.E. Programs to begin to address this mandate.

• Little Tots consists of placing non-classified students (typically developing) into a classroom shared with students who have an IEP (SLICE students).

• The curriculum/instructional focus of Little Tots/SLICE is on pre-kindergarten/kindergarten readiness skills. The Region offers S.L.I.C.E. as an option for students/parents and child study teams that permits consideration of the placement of a student—upon classification as preschool handicapped, in a typical preschool itself.

• Together with the parent, the child study team asks “given the needs of the student, where can we provide ‘a program’ as close as possible to typical peers?” S.L.I.C.E. also provides an option for students who no longer need the full services of a preschool disabled classroom.

• S.L.I.C.E. students typically require related services only and can be educated appropriately in a regular preschool classroom setting.

PIE 2.0

• PIE 2.0 is for students with IEPs who need a longer, more comprehensive day and/or more intensive pre-school instruction while still maintaining the curriculum rigor of the Little Tots and S.L.I.C.E. program.

• PIE 2.0 maintains all of the components of S.L.I.C.E. with a high level of intervention.

Little Tots

Little Tots is a half day/full day preschool program for typically developing students held at Northern Valley Central in Norwood. The class can consist of up to 21 students. Students from the Valley Program will also be included as appropriate. In addition, our class is also made up of students from the SLICE Program who may need “related services” (speech, occupational therapy and/or physical therapy). Theme-based preschool curriculum will meet the guidelines for early childhood education. Concrete, hands-on activities and experiences are planned according the calendar and units that have relevance for the children and provide meaningful learning. We encourage parents and family to play a supportive role and reinforce learning at home. There are currently two Little Tots classes for ages 3-4 and ages 4-5.

Little Tots students are screened prior to admission to assess their ability to be appropriate models.

Summer Program options for Little Tots are also available.