Please join us for the Marcia D. Smith School graduation on June 17, 2011 at 2 p.m.! For more info, click here.

The Marcia D. Smith School

The Marcia D. Smith School is committed to the provision of quality educational services to Montgomery County children ages 16 to 21 with autism and mental retardation. The program is a non-diploma, non-graded one with emphasis on life skills, vocational training, and functional academics. The school provides both day and residential special educational services. Students are supported in accordance with their needs as outlined in their Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. Each child receives instruction designed to enable the student to realize his or her potential to learn, communicate, develop social competency, and transition successfully into adult life in the community.

The Day Educational Facility
The facility in which the full-day educational program is based is handicap accessible and is designed to provide a variety of learning environments. While in the building, Smith School students participate in a number of innovative instructional activities in the classroom, recreational rooms, gymnasium, galley, art room, music room and media center.

Full-Day Educational Services
The Smith School provides comprehensive services, including special educational services from a certified special education teacher and instructional aides; behavior management from a licensed psychologist; and speech & language therapy from a licensed pathologist. Students are supported on an intensive staff-to-student ratio, which permits the implementation of each student's IEP.

Specifically, service delivery includes the implementation of an individualized behavior intervention plan, instruction in functional life skills, instruction in social and recreational skills, individualized instruction and supervision in vocational skills, job coaching, and individualized instruction in functional academic skills. Services also include other specific therapies and interventions as needed by each student.

Click this link to view the 2010-11 school calendar.


Materials in the classroom include age-appropriate pre-vocational materials, cross-content instructional resources, including computers and audio/visual technology, functional life skills materials and equipment, graded academic materials, and adapted manipulatives. Flora and an aquarium in the setting offer students an enriching, stimulating look at the natural world.

Learning occurs both in the classroom and in the community.

In addition to academic and vocational instruction, in the classroom students care for plants, work on art projects, gain exposure to musical instruments, and engage in a variety of fun cooking activities.

In the community, students develop vocational skills at several local government and non-profit volunteer work sites, including Washington, D.C.'s Food and Friends, a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Montgomery County's new Meadowside Nature Center, Great Strides Therapeutic Riding, Inc., in Damascus, and Friends of the Library bookstore. Students also access non-work venues, including grocery stores and recreational facilities, and attend a gymnastics class weekly.

The day educational program is coordinated with the residential educational program. Services are also coordinated with other educational and non-educational services a child may receive.

Residential Educational Services
The residential educational program emphasizes the development of life skills, including social and behavioral skills, recreation and leisure skills, communication skills, household and personal management skills, and the use of community resources, in accordance with each individual’s IEP. The program is located in a townhouse in a community neighborhood. The home provides a private bedroom for each student and is furnished and decorated to create a homelike environment. The home is equipped with materials and supplies to provide instruction on IEP goals and objectives. The program also utilizes community sites, such as libraries, stores and recreational facilities.

Residential services are provided by a residential supervisor and direct care associates. Transportation to community sites is provided by public transportation, including MetroAccess, or by a CSS-owned minivan.

Person-Centered Service Model
School staff members, the child's family and case manager, an MCPS placement specialist, CSS consultants and others who know the child well collaborate in designing his/her program. The program model is flexible in design to allow for individualization of staffing needs, related service needs, the interests/preferences of each child, the student's age, and his/her strengths/needs.

The Marcia D. Smith School is a division of CSS. CSS prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental handicap, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual preference, or political affiliation in admission to services, delivery of services, discharge from services, hiring and employment, provision of agency benefits, administration of educational policies, scholarship or loan programs, tuition fees, or any program or service offered or provided. The Smith School strives to achieve the highest standard in delivering an appropriate education for each child. The Smith School adheres to all applicable standards and regulations.