What happens to students with significant cognitive disabilities after they graduate? For too many, the answer has been a quiet life on the sidelines. Veronica Zeppa Pacheco, a teacher at Eagles Landing Middle School in Boca Raton, decided that was not good enough for her students.
After hearing a speaker at a conference note how few pathways exist for students with cognitive disabilities after high school, Ms. Pacheco applied for a GoTeach! Classroom Grant through the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County. The result was a set of 16 task boxes, each one carefully designed to teach real-world skills, from folding clothes to sorting shapes and colors and assembling hygiene kits, the kinds of tasks that build a path toward independence.
What makes the task boxes especially powerful is how they are built. Each includes materials with step by step visual and written instructions, broken into small, manageable steps that meet the needs of both verbal and non-verbal learners. Teachers also share the instructions through Google Classroom so students can practice at home. Parents have embraced the connection, grateful to see their children gaining confidence and capability beyond the school day.
This year, Ms. Pacheco returned with a second GoTeach! Classroom Grant, this time to create Calming Corners in
each of the five self-contained ESE classrooms. These spaces give students a place to self-regulate, stocked with books, games, and sensory tools, along with visual aids that help students identify and communicate their emotions.
In one memorable moment, a student who always reached for the Play-Doh in the Calming Corner, identified his emotion as “sad” while using it. His teacher recognized that the activity was calming him and, through the visual aids, worked with him to explore the difference between happy and sad. The conversation helped the student better understand and communicate his true emotions, helping him with self-expression.
Ms. Pacheco is now building partnerships with the high school ESE teachers and the Best Buddies program to create a bridge with the task boxes to help students continue to grow as they transition to high school.
The School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program helps local education foundations invest in creative, high-impact projects that respond to specific student and community needs. Administered by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, the program allowed the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County to support Ms. Pacheco’s innovative classroom project, helping students with disabilities build practical skills for greater independence after high school.
