What is Special Education?

Special education is the provision of a continuum of child-centered educational and support services, as well as those provided in the general school program, to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities.

Who are the students who need special education services?

In general, students who need special education services have learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, physical disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, traumatic brain injury, autism, multiple handicapping conditions, visual impairments or auditory impairments. A student with a disability may be eligible for special education services from birth through the age of 21 prior to September 1st of a given school year.

What is the goal of the special education program?

All students, regardless of special need or condition, are provided a well-balanced curriculum that includes those essential elements that represent core knowledge, skills, and competencies that all students should learn to be productive members of society.

Students with special education needs are instructed in those same essential elements in a manner determined on an individual basis to be appropriate to their needs.

Instructional arrangements can include mainstream instruction, resource classes (grades 1-12), homebound services, pre-school program for children with disabilities, Itinerant teachers for visually impaired students, self-contained special education classes (learning in functional environments and for severely emotionally disturbed children), speech/language therapy, vocational programming, hospital classes, and community classes.

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