Students with Special Needs

Special Education Department Philosophy
- Learning First Charter Public School offers a multitude of services for students with special needs. We are committed to providing all children a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. We are proud to serve our children in a highly engaging, inclusive environment. Classrooms are staffed with highly qualified teachers and assistants who are dedicated to supporting all learners. In addition, we have a talented Team of special educators and clinicians who provide specialized instruction and work collaboratively with classroom teachers to better serve all students. Our occupational therapist, physical therapist, school psychologist, behavior specialist and speech and language pathologists provide excellent services to students and serve as resources to our staff and families.
Special Education Eligibility Determination
- Does your child need services? – First Steps
  - If a child does not seem to be progressing as well as other children or if a parent/teacher is concerned about a child’s development it is important to find out why. Prior to referral to Special Education the following steps may be taken:
  - Parent/Teacher Conference

At any time during the school year, a parent or a teacher can request a conference to discuss issues related to a child’s progress.

District Curriculum Accommodation Plan (Tiered System of Support)

Teachers have a resource to assist them in accommodating different learning styles in the classroom called a District Curriculum Accommodation Plan. It is designed to ensure that all efforts have been made to meet students’ needs in general education and avoid unnecessary referrals to Special Education.

The District Curriculum Accommodation Plan assists the general education teacher in accommodating the diverse learning styles of children in the classroom through access to general education support services provided by extra support staff in the school. The plan also calls for direct and systematic instruction in reading for all students and the provision of services to address the needs of children whose behavior may interfere with learning. We constantly assess student learning and refine our programs to enhance opportunities for success.

Our three-tiered curriculum model allows all students to access the skills and concepts outlined in the Common Core Curriculum Frameworks. Our core curriculum (Tier 1) consists of solid programming in all of the content areas. In addition, all students access supplemental programs (Tier 2) that are designed to target individual areas of strength and weaknesses. Students needing more intensive interventions may access a full range of services and other individualized programming (Tier 3).

A 504 Accommodation Plan may be appropriate if a student needs accommodations to access the curriculum. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. This law protects a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include learning. The Team can make a referral to the 504 Coordinator if they feel that the student requires such a plan to be developed.

Initial Evaluations/Assessments

Evaluations of the student must be made in all areas of suspected disability in order to determine eligibility for special education. Eligibility must not be based on lack of reading or math instruction or on Limited English Proficient (LEP). Evaluation activities should be tailored to the specific referral questions for the individual student and need to address whether or not there is a disability, and if the disability affects the student’s learning. The school will work with the parent(s) and educational staff, to decide which assessments are needed to evaluate the student.

Evaluations must provide information to determine present levels of academic achievement and related developmental needs. No single test should be used as the sole criterion for determining eligibility. Rather, a variety of techniques (both formal and informal assessments), including information provided by parents, observation of the student in the classroom, work samples/portfolios, interviews, and review of the student’s record should be used. The school will send a notice to the parent(s) and ask for consent to conduct an evaluation within 5 days of receiving the referral or parent request for evaluation. The Evaluation Consent Form outlines assessments the school recommends.

An observation of the student must be made by at least one Team member other than the student’s teacher to determine a specific learning disability. Consent for an initial evaluation for wards of the state is not required if the LEA cannot, after reasonable efforts, locate the parent or the parent’s rights have been terminated under state law or a judge has subrogated the parent’s rights to make educational decisions. The District is obligated to seek a surrogate parent, through the DESE, for wards of the state. A ward of the state includes foster children (except if the information is to determine what the child knows and can do academically and developmentally, and the child has a foster parent) and a child in the custody of a public child welfare agency.

Evaluation must be provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate functionality, unless it is not feasible to provide and administer.

Eligibility Determination

To be eligible for Special Education services, the Team will consider the following three questions:

1. Does the student have one or more of the following types of disability?

2. Is the student making effective progress in school?

3. Does the student require specially designed instruction in order to make effective progress in school or does the student require related services in order to access the general curriculum?

Disability Categories:

Autism – A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction. The term shall have the meaning given it in federal law at 34 CFR 300.7: (i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affect a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section.

(ii) A child who manifests the characteristics of “autism” after age 3 could be diagnosed as having “autism” if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section are satisfied.

Developmental Delay – The learning capacity of a young child (3-9 year old) is significantly limited, impaired or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: receptive and/or expressive language; cognitive abilities; physical functioning; social, emotional, or adaptive functioning; and/or self-help skills.

Intellectual Impairment – The permanent capacity for performing cognitive tasks, functions, or problem solving is significantly limited or impaired and is exhibited by more than one of the following: a slower rate of learning; disorganized patterns of learning; difficulty with adaptive behavior; and/or difficulty understanding abstract concepts. Such term shall include students with mental retardation.

Sensory Impairment – The term shall include the following:

1. Hearing – The capacity to hear, with amplification, is limited, impaired, or absent and results in one or more of the following: reduced performance in hearing acuity tasks; difficulty with oral communication; and/or difficulty in understanding auditorily-presented information in the education environment. The term includes students who are deaf and students who are hard-of-hearing.

2. Vision – The capacity to see, after correction, is limited, impaired, or absent and results in one or more of the following: reduced performance in visual acuity tasks; difficulty with written communication; and/or difficulty with understanding information presented visually in the education environment. The term includes students who are blind and students with limited vision.

3. Deaf-Blind – Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes severe communication and other developmental and educational needs.

Neurological Impairment – The capacity of the nervous system is limited or impaired with difficulties exhibited in one or more of the following areas: the use of memory, the control, and use of cognitive functioning, sensory and motor skills, speech, language, organizational skills information processing, affect, social skills, or basic life functions. The term includes students who have received a traumatic brain injury.

Emotional Impairment – As defined under federal law at 34 CFR §300.7, the student exhibits one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance: an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The determination of disability shall not be made solely because the student’s behavior violates the school’s discipline code, because the student is involved with a state court or social service agency, or because the student is socially maladjusted, unless the Team determines that the student has a serious emotional disturbance.

Emotional disturbance is defined as follows:

(i) The term means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

a) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

b) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

c) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

d) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

e) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

(ii) The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Communication Impairment – The capacity to use expressive and/or receptive language is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: speech, such as articulation and/or voice; conveying understanding, or using spoken, written, or symbolic language. The term may include a student with impaired articulation, stuttering, language impairment, or voice impairment if such impairment adversely affects the student’s educational performance.

Physical Impairment – The physical capacity to move, coordinate actions, or perform physical activities is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: physical and motor tasks; independent movement; performing basic life functions. The term shall include severe orthopedic impairments or impairments caused by congenital anomaly, cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures if such impairment adversely affects a student’s educational performance.

Health Impairment – A chronic or acute health problem such that the physiological capacity to function is significantly limited or impaired and results in one or more of the following: limited strength, vitality or alertness including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli resulting in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment. The term shall include health impairments due to asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia, if such health impairment adversely affects a student’s educational performance.

Specific Learning Disability – The term shall have the meaning given in federal law at 34 CFR §300.7 and §300.541. Specific learning disability is defined as follows:

(i) General. The term means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.

(ii) The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Sec.300.541 Criteria for determining the existence of a specific learning disability: A Team may determine that a child has a specific learning disability if the child does not achieve commensurate with his or her age and ability levels in one or more key areas if provided with learning experiences appropriate for the child’s age and ability levels. If the Team finds that a child has a severe discrepancy between his/her intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the following areas, the Team may determine that the child has a specific learning disability.

Oral expression.

Listening comprehension.

Written expression.

Basic reading skill.

Reading comprehension.

Mathematics calculation.

Mathematics reasoning.

The District has authority to use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as part of the evaluation procedures (See NCLB for definition of “scientific, research-based intervention”). The Response to Intervention Model (RTI) is endorsed and utilized by LFCPS in conjunction with the tiered system of supports. Extra steps are required when a specific learning disability is suspected. The Team must fill out all of the SLD paperwork required by DESE to determine if SLD is an appropriate category.

Special Education Programs/Personnel

LFCPS provides or arranges for provision of each of the elements of the IEPs of students in need of special education ensuring that the continuum of services and placements are available to meet the needs of all students with disabilities. LFCPS special education teachers and assistants provide a range of services including but not limited to: consultation, check-ins with students or teachers, inclusion support, tutorials, small group or 1:1 interventions, alternative curriculum, technology integrated instruction, or other services as deemed necessary.

LFCPS provides related services that impact students’ ability to function in the school environment and access their education.

Behavior Support services

BCBA – The Board Certified Behavior Analyst works with school staff to define problem behaviors, identify the factors that maintain those behaviors, and develop behavior intervention plans. The BCBA monitors student progress on those plans and works with staff to adjust the plans when appropriate.

Counseling Services

Counseling services may be provided through a guidance counselor, guidance assistant, or a school psychologist. Counseling services may include crisis intervention, lunch buddies, small group counseling to address a specific issue (recent trauma, children with chronic illness, rehabilitation counseling) or individual counseling sessions.

Health Services

Health services include all of the services provided by the school nurse including: the administration of required medications, assessing students with possible health impairments or those who report to the nurse’s office complaining of various ailments, and consulting with parents and staff about the impact of conditions that may affect learning.

Occupational Therapy (OT)

Registered occupational therapists (OTR) are allied health professionals who are part of the educational team. The OT supports a student’s ability to complete daily school activities. The therapist supports academics (reading and writing), non- academics (social skills, regulation and daily living activities) and extra-curricular activities (recess and school groups). OT services can occur out of class, in class, and via consultation with teachers, students and caregivers. Home plans will also be provided as needed.

Orientation and Mobility Services (O & M)

A Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist provides direct and consultative services for students with visual impairments to support the students in using sensory information to learn how to move safely and travel in any environment as independently as possible.

Physical Therapy (PT)

Physical therapy is a related service provided to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education. School physical therapy focuses on a child’s ability to move as independently as possible in the school environment. The school physical therapist evaluates the child’s ability to move throughout the school and to participate in classroom activities.

The decision of whether a child with a disability qualifies for school physical therapy is made by a team. This team determines whether the child has a disability, has a need for special education, and requires related services such as physical therapy.

Physical therapy interventions are designed to enable the student to travel throughout the school environment; participate in classroom activities; maintain and change positions in the classroom; as well as manage stairs, restrooms, and the cafeteria.

Physical therapy can be done by working with the student in their classroom, hallways, PE class, recess, or in the physical therapist’s room.

School Psychology

The school psychologist supports children academically, socially, behaviorally and emotionally. They collaborate with educators, parents and professionals to create a safe and supportive learning environment that strengthens connections between home, school and the community. The school psychologist provides a range of services, including conducting student evaluations, serving as a member of the student support and guidance teams, and assisting teachers with strategies and plans regarding behavioral and social emotional needs. Additional services include school based counseling, that may include plans and interventions to support students to demonstrate growth and success within the classroom setting. The school psychologist is also a member of the emergency response team and is an integral part of crisis intervention.

Speech/Language Therapy

What Is Speech?

“Speech is how we say sounds and words. Speech includes:

Articulation: How we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the “r” sound to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit.”

Voice: How we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Our voice can be loud or soft or high- or low-pitched. We can hurt our voice by talking too much, yelling, or coughing a lot.

Fluency: This is the rhythm of our speech. We sometimes repeat sounds or pause while talking. People who do this a lot may stutter.

What Is Language?

Language refers to the words we use and how we use them to share ideas and get what we want. Language includes:

What words mean. Some words have more than one meaning. For example, “star” can be a bright object in the sky or someone famous.
How to make new words. For example, we can say “friend,” “friendly,” or “unfriendly” and mean something different.
How to put words together. For example, in English we say, “Peg walked to the new store” instead of “Peg walk store new.”
What we should say at different times. For example, we might be polite and say, “Would you mind moving your foot?” But, if the person does not move, we may say, “Get off my foot!”

Language and Speech Disorders

We can have trouble with speech, language, or both. Having trouble understanding what others say is a receptive language disorder. Having problems sharing our thoughts, ideas, and feelings is an expressive language disorder. It is possible to have both a receptive and an expressive language problem.

When we have trouble saying sounds, stutter when we speak, or have voice problems, we have a speech disorder”.

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Speech-and-Language/

When English isn’t a child’s first or only language…

“There are different timelines for learning social and academic language. Under ideal conditions, it takes the average second-language learner two years to acquire Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS). BICS involves the context-embedded, everyday language that occurs between conversational partners.

…Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) , or the context-reduced language of academics, takes five to seven years under ideal conditions to develop to a level commensurate with that of native speakers.

Many ELL students …may develop conversational English that appears fluent and adequate for everyday communication. However, they still struggle with CALP and have difficulty in areas such as reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies, and other subject areas where there is little context to support the language being heard or read. This ‘BICS-CALP gap’ leads professionals to falsely assume that the children have language-learning disabilities.” https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/easl/

Speech-Sound Acquisition

https://www.dpcdsb.org/Documents/speechsounddevelopmentchart.pdf

Pragmatics and Social Communication

Pragmatics: “There are rules about when and how you should talk to people. We use facial expressions or gestures to share how we feel. We learn how to let someone know when we change the topic. Knowing and using these rules makes it easier to communicate….

Social communication includes three major skills:

Using language for different reasons, such as:

Greeting, Informing, Demanding, Promising, Requesting.

Changing language for the listener or situation, such as:

Talking differently to a baby than to an adult.
Giving more information to someone who does not know the topic. Knowing to skip some details when someone already knows the topic.
Talking differently in a classroom than on a playground.

Following rules for conversations and storytelling, such as:

Taking turns when you talk.
Letting others know the topic when you start talking.
Staying on topic.
Trying another way of saying what you mean when someone did not understand you.
Using gestures and body language, like pointing or shrugging.
Knowing how close to stand to someone when talking.
Using facial expressions and eye contact.
These rules may be different if you come from another culture.

A person with social communication problems may:

Say the wrong thing or act the wrong way when talking. Or may laugh at the wrong time or start talking about something else.
Tell stories that do not make sense.
Use language in limited ways. She may not say hello, goodbye, or thank you. She may yell instead of asking for what she wants.”

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Social-Communication/#problems

Suggestions for parents for supporting Communication development

“In Early Grades K–2

Talk with your child a lot.
Read different types of books. Read every day, and talk with your child about the story.
Help your child learn sound patterns of words. You can play rhyming games and point out letters as you read.
Have your child retell stories and talk about his day.
Talk with your child about what you do during the day. Give her directions to follow.
Talk about how things are the same and different.
Give your child chances to write.

In Later Grades 3-8

Keep your child reading. Find books and magazines that interest your child.
Ask your child what he thinks about what he hears or reads. Connect what he reads to events in his life.
Help your child connect what she reads and hears at school, home, and other events.
Talk out loud as you help your child read about and solve problems.
Help your child recognize spelling patterns. For example, point out the beginnings and endings of words, like “pre-” or “–ed.”
Get your child to write letters, keep a diary, and write stories”.

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/suggestions/

Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)

Massachusetts state law requires each school district to create a district-wide Parent Advisory Council (PAC) which offers memberships to all parents of students with disabilities and other interested parties.

The PAC’s duties include advising the district on matters that pertain to the education and safety of children with disabilities. The PAC shall also meet regularly with school officials to participate in the planning, development and evaluation of the school district’s Special Education programs.

The PAC encourages an atmosphere of open communication, understanding and mutual respect among all students, parents, teachers and administrative staff.

SPED PAC Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a network in which parents of children with special needs have access to relevant information, training and emotional support; and to encourage an atmosphere of effective communication, understanding and mutual respect among all students, parents, educators and the community-at-large.

Member Benefits

Network with other parents at PAC meetings and get answers to your questions
Attend PAC workshops such as Basic Rights
Stay current on issues of interest for Special Education students
Resource referral
An avenue to voice your concerns and suggestions to the school.
Make a difference in the experiences of special needs students and their families at Learning First
Act as advisory council to the Board of Trustees to address concerns of parents/guardians of students with special needs

Additional Resources
- Key Terms in Special Education

Accommodations

Accommodations are adaptations to the presentation of material or setting that typically occurs in the general education classroom. Accommodations support the student’s ability to access the curriculum but do not alter the content or nature of the lesson.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)

A plan to address problem behavior that includes, as appropriate, positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports; program modifications; and supplementary aids and services that may be required to address the problem behavior.

Common Core Curriculum Frameworks

The common core curriculum frameworks contain the academic content, concepts and skills in specific academic subject as defined by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts/Board of Education. The instructional content delivered to children must be aligned with the curriculum frameworks established for each content area.

District Curriculum Accommodation Plan (DCAP)

The curriculum accommodation plan is intended to assist Heads of School in ensuring that all efforts have been made to meet student’s needs in general education. It identifies the process and resources for teachers to address learning and behavioral issues. There is a heavy focus on teacher collaboration and mentoring. Response to Intervention, is a key component of the DCAP.

Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

Under Special Education regulations, a school district must provide a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities. The program is at no cost to parents and is provided directly or indirectly by the public schools (as in a specialized day program).

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

FBA is a problem-solving process for addressing student problem behavior. FBA relies on a variety of techniques and strategies to identify the reasons for a specific behavior and to help IEP Teams select interventions that directly address the problem behavior.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

An individualized education program is a written statement, developed and approved in accordance with Special Education laws/regulations that identify a student’s Special Education needs and describes the services a school district will provide to meet those needs.

Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES)

IAES is a setting other than the student’s current placement that enables the student to continue to receive educational services according to his or her IEP. The IAES must enable the student to continue to participate in the general education curriculum, although in another setting, and progress toward meeting the goals in the IEP. Students in an IAES should also receive, as appropriate, a functional behavioral assessment, behavioral intervention services and modifications that are designed to address the behavior violation so that it does not happen again. The particular IAES is determined by the student’s IEP Team.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

The Least Restrictive Environment is the classroom setting that can provide a student with disabilities those services or aides that are needed to access the curriculum and most closely approximates the general education classroom.

Modifications

Modifications change the curriculum content in some way to enable the student to be successful in the general education environment. When a lesson is modified, the goals of the lesson may stay the same, but the content may change. A student may participate in the general education lesson but with modified materials and/or expectations.

SECTION 5O4 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 504 is a civil rights statute. A person is considered to have a disability under Section 504 if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities (i.e. learning). A student eligible for section 504 has a plan that provides necessary accommodations and/or modifications that enable the student to access the curriculum within the classroom.

Specialized Instruction

Specialized instruction is provided by a certified Special Education teacher and is designed to meet the unique needs of the eligible student or related services necessary to access the general curriculum and shall include the programs and services set forth in Special Education regulations.

Web Resources

Massachusetts Department of Education

www.doe.mass.edu

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/index.html

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY)

www.nichcy.org

Federation for Children with Special Needs

www.fcsn.org

Council for Exceptional Children

www.ideapractices.org

National Center for Learning Disabilities

www.ncld.org