The Willowbrook High School Learning Services Department is a learning community that welcomes, supports, and appropriately challenges our students to prepare each student on an individualized path for post secondary life.
Individualized Education Plan Information
Students with IEPs require at least one meeting annually.
Programming and Services for Students with IEPs at Willowbrook High School
The District offers different levels of programming. The IEP team will determine the least restrictive educational environment for your student at their annual review each year.
Bridge Program:
The Bridge Program adapts core/general education curriculum to meet the individual learning needs of students. The program offers a low student to teacher ratio to provide individualized instruction to no more than 13 students in each class period. Consistent research-based assessment is provided to monitor student growth and achievement frequently.
Courses offered in the Bridge Program:
Strive Program:
The Strive Program ensures lifelong learning is promoted in the areas of academics, careers, community, and most importantly, self through a focus on developing student self-awareness while fostering academic achievement. Strive offers a safe and structured environment to promote student learning and encourage student responsibility for their academic achievement and behavior. Parent/guardian support is important to the success of our students. Course offerings vary each year.
Perseverance and Resilience Education Program (PREP):
The goal of the Perseverance and Resilience Education Program is to provide support to students to strengthen their social emotional skills to find comfort and confidence with learned coping skills to be applied across educational environments. The PREP classroom includes in-classroom sensory regulation spaces to assist students to use coping strategies. Students are encouraged to enroll in courses in the general education environment that suit their needed graduation requirements and areas of interests connected to their post secondary pathway. Course offerings vary each year.
Link Program:
The Link program is designed to provide tiered life-skills and functional-academic instruction. The focus of the program is to provide students with skills necessary for independent living and competitive employment in the post-secondary environment. Students in the program benefit from vocational training/support integrated into their school day, as well as community outings to develop and practice independent living, communication skills, and self-determination skills, with support to find success in a real-world environment vocationally and socially.
Courses offered in the Link Program:
Students enrolled in the Link Program will participate in a variety of transition/life experiences that include but are not limited to:
Developmental Learning Program (DLP):
The Developmental Learning Program (DLP) is a highly individualized program designed to meet the needs of students with multiple disabilities (Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, etc.). The purpose of the program is to support the development of functional academic skills as well as everyday life skills such as: money management, social and emotional skills, community based skills, vocational skills, communication skills, self-care, self-advocacy, and functional life skills (cooking, cleaning, hygiene, etc.). The team determines the placement and Individualized Education Plan that best meets the needs of an individual student.
The students in the Developmental Learning Program receive instruction from various related services including speech, occupational therapy, social work, music therapy, and art therapy as determined by each student’s IEP. Related services are conducted in small group, whole group, or individual sessions. Students enrolled in the Developmental Learning Program go out into the community on a weekly basis to practice and apply skills which are being taught in the classroom setting.
Extended School Year (ESY)
Extended school year is a program for students who show severe regression of skills without schooling during the summer months. Eligibility for this program will be decided upon at your student’s Annual Review IEP meeting.
District 88 LIFE Transition Program
The LIFE program is located at our District 88 Office building. This program is designed for students ages 18-22 who need additional assistance preparing for their adult lives. The focus of this program is vocational and life skills. For more specifics, please please contact the Transition Department Chair, Stephanie Nitka (snitka@dupage88.net, 630-458-4512)
Related Services
Related services are provided on an as needed basis determined at your student’s IEP meeting. They are services to supplement their academic curriculum that support their overall success in school. Examples of these services are listed below.
Social Work (group or individual)
Speech-Language Therapy
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Assistive Technology
Transportation
Learning Services Department and Legal Compliance
In compliance with IDEA and the "Rules and Regulations to Govern the Administration and Operation of Special Education," mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education, DuPage High School District 88 offers special education classes and services designed to meet the unique needs of students with the following areas of eligibility:
Visual Impairment
Specific Learning Disability
Hearing Impairment
Emotional Disability
Physical Impairment
Intellectual Disability
Speech/language impairment
Autism
Other Health impairment
Deaf-Blindness
Multiple Disabilities
Orthopedic Impairment
Traumatic Brain Injury
As required by law, program placement is determined by the IEP team based on each student’s individual needs. Students can be placed full time or part time into any of the above programs following the IEP team decision.
Parent Preparation for an IEP Meeting
Input from all members of the IEP team is essential. Please review the IEP Draft materials sent home ahead of your student’s meeting along with the parent interview. We encourage all parents to use this time to develop questions or be able to share information with our team regarding your student.
Request for Special Education Case Study Evaluation
Illinois State law governs the process by which schools consider a student appropriate for an evaluation for special education services. If you would like to request an evaluation for special education services, please put your request in writing and send to Amy Peschke, Special Education Department Chair at apeschke@dupage88.net or send to Willowbrook at 1250 S. Ardmore Avenue, Villa Park, IL 60181 c/o Amy Peschke. Ms. Peschke will get back to you on the individualized process for your student. If you have questions about this process, please contact her directly at apeschke@dupage88.net, (630) 530-3682.
Request for Special Education Records
Parents can request their student’s IEP at any time. Special Education records are considered a “temporary” record for a student. Law requires that schools keep a student’s temporary record for five years after graduation and then shred the documents. Only previous students themselves or the legal guardian for a person over the age of 18 is able to request records. Please contact Marianne Greco Learning Services Administrative Assistant, at 630-530-3431 or mgreco@dupage88.net to request the information.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Please use the links below to explore extracurricular opportunities available to all students at Willowbrook High School.
Clubs and Activities: http://dupage88.libguides.com/WBClubsandActivities
Athletics: https://il.8to18.com/willowbrook
Important notice
Students with disabilities may receive related services as part of their individual education programs (IEPs). DuPage High School District 88 will maintain related service logs that record the type and number of minutes of the related service(s) administered to such students. Parents/guardians of students with disabilities may also request copies of their child’s related service logs at any time.