For students with Individual Education Plans, instruction is based on the core curriculum. The IEP team documents modifications and/or adaptations, teaching strategies, as well as other support systems that may help the student succeed in his educational program. Some classes have support systems that address certain disabilities, including staff with specialized training.
Types Of Placements
- Community Access/Transition (CA/T)
- This program is typically for students who are 19 years of age and older. Instruction is based on those skills required once a student leaves the school system. While the IEP team may develop reading, writing and math goals, these skills are usually taught in context of real of life situations, e.g. shopping, using a library, cashing a pay check, applying for a job.
- Emotional Disturbance
- This program offers a highly structured self-contained program with a strong behavioral support component. These classes have a mental health partnership program and work on academic and social skills training.
- Hearing Impaired/Deaf
- Services include staff who sign and/or use amplification systems.
- Learning Disabled
- Provide instruction in core curriculum modified to meet the students' needs. Students may be "mainstreamed" into the general education program when the IEP team determines it to be appropriate/beneficial.
- Learning Disabled/Limited English Proficient
- Same as above with an emphasis on strategies for supporting students who are English Language Learners.
- Severely Impaired
- Offers instruction in core curriculum with an emphasis on functional academics, daily living skills, appropriate social behavior and vocational readiness. Instruction is provided directly in the special education classroom, in selected mainstreamed general education classrooms and/or in community locations. The IEP team designs a program and determines where instruction should occur and details how curriculum may need to be modified in order to meet individual student goals.
- Speech Language Impaired
- Provide instruction in core curriculum through a language-based program. Students who qualify are those identified as having significant difficulty in developing adequate language or who have sustained a loss of acquired language skills.
- Early Start
- SFUSD coordinates referrals, assessment, identification and early intervention services for children with solely low incidence disabilities from birth to age 3. For eligible children, early intervention services are determined by the Individualized Family Service Plan and based on the family's concerns, priorities and resources. Early Intervention services are provided in natural environments for example the family's home or child care setting. The continuum of options for families includes a parent/toddler class at McLaren Child Devleopment Center, a fully integrated toddler class at Presidio Child Development Center, as well as other settings.
- Children 3 to 5 years
- SFUSD coordinates referrals, assessment and identification of children from age 3 to 5 years of age who may be in need of special education services. For eligible children, the continuum of options includes Language Centers, Preschool Early Intervention, Special Day classes, and Autism Resource Teachers. Special Education services for preschool age children are a combination of the recommended practices of Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education with the emphasis on high quality curriculum with systematic individual interventions to meet the child's IEP goals and objectives.
- Designated Instruction and Services (DIS)
- The purpose of these services is to allow students with disabilities eligible for Special Education to participate in their educational program to the highest extent possible. Services may be provided through:
- Consultation including training to guardian(s)/school staff
- Collaboration i.e. team teaching
- Direct service to the student including individually and in a group
- Adapted physical education
- Audiological services
- Nursing services
- Instruction in the home or hospital
- Speech/Language services
- Occupational therapy
- Orientation and mobility instruction
- Physical therapy
- Specialized services for low-incidence disabilities, such as readers, transcribers, and vision and hearing services
- Transportation
- Vision services
- Adaptive Physical Education
- Adapted physical education teachers create a program geared to the assessed needs, goals and objectives, functional levels and motivational levels of the student. Students are instructed in the development of skills and knowledge that enables them to participate independently to the highest degree possible, based on assessment needs.
- Nursing Services
- Services may include direct or indirect services from a nurse, LVN or paraprofessional/other school staff when it is determined appropriate by the student's physician and monitored by the Special Health Service Coordinator.
- Occupation Therapy
- Occupational therapists evaluate, plan, and implement treatment with special education students on an individual basis or in small group settings. Therapy frequently addresses the following areas: bilateral coordination, fine motor skills, visual motor/visual perceptual skills, motor planning, tactile system functioning, activities of daily living related to sensory motor deficits and age appropriate play activities.
- Orientation and Mobility
- Instructs students in developing skills and knowledge that will enable him/her to travel independently to the highest degree possible; assists with environmental modifications; and prepares and uses equipment for development of orientation and mobility i.e. tactile maps, models and canes.
- Physical Therapy
- Physical therapists use their areas of expertise to assist teachers in identification, assessment, program planning, and intervention for school-age students with special needs. Physical therapists specialize in gross motor control, sensory motor coordination, posture, balance, functional mobility, assistive devices, and accessibility to the school environment. Physical therapists work with teachers, school staff, and parents to ensure that educational programs appropriately address all areas of suspected disability.
- Speech and Language Services
- A Speech/Language Specialist and/or Speech Paraprofessional depending on the needs of the student and recommendations from the IEP team may provide services. Services range from integrated speech and language classes to articulation groups. While
- Vision
- Vision teacher works with the teacher/classroom staff providing them with information on the student's vision condition, vision needs, techniques and methods that will facilitate the student's learning process. The vision teacher or Para may provide adaptive materials or work directly with the student teaching him/her specialized skills i.e. Braille, tracking, visual organization.
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