Community Based Instruction (CBI)

Community-based instruction (CBI) is an integral part of the Pulley Career Center curriculum that focuses on the development of occupational and functional living skills to increase student attainment of goals for independent living, and will enable them to live and work in the community environments in which they need to function. 

Through CBI experiences, students’ skills are developed in a wide variety of community environments, giving them exposure to and experiences with real world settings in the presence of non-disabled people using naturally occurring materials and situations.  They are taught functional, age-appropriate skills in the environment in which they occur naturally, thus minimizing the need for generalization of skills from an artificially structured environment to the natural environment.

Training within the community is a vital part of the transition of students to their communities.  Teachers provide students with direct instruction in school and community environments to assist them in successfully accessing goods and services in settings such as stores, banks, restaurants, job sites, businesses, recreational facilities, and in using public transportation.  Community integration and training occurs daily and includes structured classroom lessons, accessing school resources, supportive practice in neighborhood environments, and utilizing public transportation to independently access community services, recreation, and job opportunities.  Teachers provide on-going instruction in banking and travel training using naturally occurring materials and situations in real world settings.