Special Education Services

All students with disabilities ages three to 21, as well as children with auditory or visual impairments ages birth to two, have access to a free, appropriate public education.  The following information provides the basis of eligibility.

Educational Placement Decisions For Students With Disabilities

Decisions concerning educational placement of students with disabilities are determined by the student’s Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) Committee.  The placement decision is based on the student’s Individual Educational Plan (IEP).  Parents are invited and encouraged to attend the ARD committee meetings and participate in planning for the educational needs of their child.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities be considered for an educational placement with children who are not disabled.  Removal from the general educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a student is such that education in general classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

Identified students with disabilities are served through placement in a variety of instructional arrangements.  These placements range from the least restrictive to the most restrictive environments.  A continuum of instructional and related services is available to students with disabilities on each campus.  Settings may include mainstream, inclusion classes, content mastery, resource classes, speech therapy, self-contained classrooms, off home campus, nonpublic day school, vocational adjustment class/program, homebound, hospital classes, residential care and treatment facility, and state schools for persons with disabilities. 

If you have questions about special education services, please contact your campus counselor or administrator.

Referral

Students may be referred for special education services through the overall referral system of the campus.  Prior to referral, a student experiencing difficulty in the general classroom should be considered for all support services available to all students on the campus, such as tutorial, remedial, compensatory and other services.  Referrals may be initiated by campus personnel, parents or other professionals.  Parent referrals should be initiated by contacting the child’s counselor or classroom teacher.  When the child is referred for consideration for special education services, the following will occur:

·         parent consent for testing is obtained,

·         a Full Individual Initial Evaluation (FIIE) is completed,

·         an Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee meeting is held to review the FIIE, determine the student’s eligibility for special educational services and develop an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) if the student is eligible.

Disabilities

Students may be served in special education programs through identification of the following disabilities.  Eligibility requirements are established by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), based on federal and state law.

                  ·         Other Health Impairment (OHI)
                  ·         Orthopedic Impairment (OI)
                  ·         Mental Retardation (MR)
                  ·         Emotional Disturbance (ED)
                  ·         Learning Disability (LD)
                  ·         Speech Impairment (SI)
                  ·         Multiple Disabilities (MD)
                  ·         Visual Impairment (VI)
                  ·         Auditory Impairment (AI)
                  ·         Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (AU/PDD)
                  ·         Deaf-Blind Impairment (DB)
                  ·         Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
                  ·         Non-Categorical Impairment, ages 3 and 4 (NC)

Educational Need

A student may have a disabling condition, yet be ineligible for special education services, due to the absence of a need for specially designed instruction.  Generally, if a student is achieving satisfactory progress in his/her educational program, there is not a need for special education.  Therefore, a child achieving satisfactory progress in the general education program would not be considered eligible for special education services.

If you have questions about special education services, please contact:

                    Wimberley ISD
                    Assistant Superintendent
                    (512) 847-2414
                   

Special Education

In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Students Act, known as Public Law 94-142.  This law guaranteed the educational right of individuals with disabilities to receive a free appropriate public education.  In 1990, Congress reauthorized the Act and renamed the federal law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  On June 4, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed the reauthorization of IDEA, which contains many changes to the federal law pertaining to the education of students with disabilities.  The reauthorized law is Public Law 105-17 and is referred to as IDEA ’97.

Six Principals of Public Law 105-17

                  ·         Free appropriate public education (FAPE)
                  ·         Appropriate evaluation
                  ·         Individualized education program (IEP)
                  ·         Least restrictive environment (LRE)
                  ·         Parent/student participation in making decisions
                  ·         Procedural safeguards

States receiving federal money to support the education of students with disabilities must address federal law and regulations by developing state law and rule.  Current state law addressing these federal regulations is found in Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapters 29, 30 and 42.  Current state rule can be found in Title 19 of the Texas Administrative Code (19 TAC), Chapter 89, Adaptations for Special Populations, Subchapter AA, Commissioner’s Rules Concerning Special Education Services.  A copy of state law and rule may be obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), 1701 North Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701-1494 or from the TEA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/.  Local school districts are required to develop policies and procedures to ensure compliance with all procedural and reporting requirements indicated in state and federal law.

Special education and related services are specifically designed instructional services developed to support students with disabilities within the general curriculum.  The intent of the support services is to enable all students with disabilities to make progress in the general curriculum, to participate in extracurricular and nonacademic activities, and to be educated and participate with disabled and nondisabled peers in the public school system.

(A Guide to the ARD Process; June, 2002; Texas Education Agency; Austin, Texas)

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