Steen located a Twin Cities company that makes this type of display and it agreed to donate materials and labor to the project. Company officials said any image could be seen through the windows, whether a Paris street or an outdoor scene. Steen chose the downtown St. Paul skyline because it is an area familiar to most of his students. With the decorating and windows in place, the R.E.A.L. program began in January 1999. Steen and a team of teacher assistant specialists put the curriculum into place and the students took it from there.
Students spend several hours a day in the apartment.
In the morning, they practice basic grooming, such as brushing their teeth and hair. Throughout the day, they cook and do laundry and learn how to keep the apartment clean. The goal of the program is for the students to be prepared to go into semi-independent or group home living, or participate at home with more responsibility, Steen said. Each week, the students have a teen issues discussion, intended to help with social skills. The students pick a topic and talk back and forth, learning conversational skills and reasoning.