•   Autism
•     Deaf-Blindness
•     Emotional Disturbance
•     Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness
•     Intellectual Disabilities
•     Multiple Disabilities
•     Orthopedic Impairments

•     Other Health Impairments
•     Specific Learning Disability
•     Speech or Language Impairment
•     Traumatic Brain Injury
•     Visual Impairment Including Blindness
•     Developmentally Delayed

Evaluations and Eligibility

Before a child can be placed in a special education program, the student must first have received continuous quality instruction in the regular classroom environment coupled with scientific, research-based interventions for those students who continue to struggle in the regular classroom environment.  A psycho-educational and/or psychological evaluation may be completed by a qualified examiner if and when additional data is needed during the eligibility/placement process to determine eligibility for disability categories. Special education eligibility is determined by a multi-disciplinary team that follows very specific eligibility criteria for each of the disability categories.

IEP

Upon an eligibility determination an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) must be written jointly by the parents and school personnel in a team meeting. The purpose of the IEP is to:

•   Provide parental involvement in educational decisions
•   Protect the rights of parents and children
•   Assure that each child with a disability is provided special education and related services appropriate to his or her special learning needs.

The IEP is reviewed at a minimum of once a year.

Placement (Least Restrictive Environment)

To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, ages 3 through 21, will be educated with children who are non-disabled. Special classes, separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular education environment will occur only when the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in a regular classroom with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be satisfactorily achieved. The determination of the least restrictive environment (LRE) is a team decision and the child’s parent is a vital member of that team.