1. MASHPEE SPECIAL EDUCATION UPDATE
Presented by: Michele Brady, Special Education Administrator
School committee meeting:
SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

2. WHAT IS SPECIAL EDUCATION?
-Specialized instruction, accommodations, and related services for students ages 3 – 21 who have disabilities and need these services to make progress in the general curriculum.
-“Special Education is a highly complex and regulated area of education law. The detail in the law is intended to protect your students and to ensure that he or she receives appropriate educational services.” (DESE Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards 8/2013)

3. WHAT IS SPECIAL EDUCATION?
FAPE IEP LRE
ADA IDEA
TPF DCF DMH DDS
CMR EEC DESE BSEA

4. What type of services can be provided?
Academic Support / Specialized instruction Individual or small group teaching -Teacher and parent consultation Accommodations and modifications to the curriculum Testing accommodations (separate environment, read aloud, small group…) Home services Related services, such as: -School adjustment counseling, -Speech and language therapy -Physical therapy and occupational therapy -Special Transportation Specialized equipment/ assistive technology

5. BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE…
Life skills training, including vocational and travel training. Behavioral Support, including Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)--

6. Types of Disabilities
Intellectual Autism Sensory: Hearing, Vision, Deaf-Blind Neurological Health Emotional Communication Physical Specific Learning Disability Developmental Delay

7. Disability Category Definitions
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…shall include students with mental retardation” (Full IQ typically>70)
Autism: “A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction”
Massachusetts Special Education Regulations 603 CMR 28.02
MR must have adaptive functioning problems.

8. SCHOOL-BASED INTERVENTIONS FOR AUTISM
-Occupational Therapy Sensory Diet
ABA/
Discrete Trials
-Small group
-Speech and
Language Therapy
-Social Stories
Picture Exchange Communication System
(PECS)

9. Sensory Disability Definitions
Hearing Impairment: “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 understanding auditorally presented information.” Vision Impairment: “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.” Deafblind: “Concomitant hearing and visual impairments the combination of which causes severe communication and other developmental and educational needs.” Massachusetts Regulations 603 CMR 28.02

10. Neurological and Health Disability Definitions
Neurological: “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… includes traumatic brain injury. Health: “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 alertness with respect to the educational environment.” (MA 603 CMR 28.02)
Ex: ADHD, diabetes, epilepsy, heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia

11. Emotional Impairment
“one or more of the following… over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance:
Inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
Inability to build or maintain relationships with peers or teachers
Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances
General pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression, or tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.”
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”
Includes congenital anomaly, cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures IF such impairment adversely affects… educational performance.”
(MA 603 CMR 28.02)

12. Specific Learning Disability
“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.”
In Massachusetts, an SLD observation and a separate flow chart are required which rules out the following factors:
-Environmental, economic, or cultural
-English as a second language
-Emotional or health factors (e.g., ADHD)
COMMUNICATION Disability
“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 or voice
Conveying (expressive)
Understanding (receptive)
Or using spoken, written, or symbolic language.”
Such impairment MUST adversely affect student’s educational performance.
(MA 603 CMR 28.02)
Dys: Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula

13. Developmental Delay “Learning capacity of a young child (3-9)
Is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed in one or more of the following:
Receptive and/or expressive language
Cognitive abilities
Physical functioning
Social, emotional, or adaptive functioning or self-help skills” (MA 603 CMR 28.02)
What does a delay mean? Graduate by age 9 years old. 12 months below age level or standard scores are 2 SD below the mean/ 20th percentile or lower

14. Educational status of OUR 1,691 studentS
Mashpee demographics
Educational status of OUR 1,691 studentS
19.6% in sped; 2.5% on 504 plan; 77.8% HAVE NO documented disabilities; State Average is 16.1%

15. SPECIAL ED Students by disability categories
Autism = 13.6% ; Intellectual=4.2% (14 kids); Sensory=.9% (3 kids); Neurological =3.9% (13 kids); Health = 19.5% (65 kids; Physical =.9% (3 kids); SLD = 24.4% (81 kids); Developmental delays = 12.6% (42 kids); Multiple disabilities = 13 (3.9%)

16. SPECIAL Education Students by disability categories
Autism = 13.6% ; Intellectual=4.2% (14 kids); Sensory=.9% (3 kids); Neurological =3.9% (13 kids); Health = 19.5% (65 kids; communication =17.2% (57 kids); Physical =.9% (3 kids); SLD = 24.4% (81 kids); Developmental delays = 12.6% (42 kids); Multiple disabilities = 13 (3.9%)
Emotional =52 (15.5%)

17. Placement Numbers of Special Education Students
Age 3-5: (61%) 17 out of 28 students inclusion (50% or more of the time); (21%) 6 out of 28 students partial inclusion (50% or less of the time); 4 (14%) in sub separate; 1 (3.5%) in service provider’s office. Ages 6-21: Inclusion= 195 (68%); Partial inclusion = 51 (18%) sub separate = 6%; public day = 14 students (5%); private day and residential= 4 students each (1.4%)

18. Other services provided to all students through special education
Lexia Club (Reading software/ group for students before school) Special Transportation Tutoring for students unable to attend school Behavioral consultation to teachers and administrators Professional Development such as Crisis Prevention and De-escalation training Academic consultation to teachers (TAT, Child Study Teams) Behavioral plans and support Preschool classes Pre-K and Kindergarten Screening Response to Intervention/ Targeted instruction for small groups

19. SUBSIDIZED PRESCHOOL FOR ALL STUDENTS including those without disabilities
5 integrated preschool classes available to students in our community
5 integrated preschool classes available to students ages 3 to 5 in our community

20. RTI: Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success
Academic Systems
Behavioral Systems
Intensive, Individual Interventions
Individual Students
Assessment-based
High Intensity
Intensive, Individual Interventions
Individual Students
Assessment-based
Intense, durable procedures
1-5%
1-5%
Targeted Group Interventions
Some students (at-risk)
High efficiency
Rapid response
5-10%
5-10%
Targeted Group Interventions
Some students (at-risk)
High efficiency
Rapid response
(2) 30 minute blocks of reading intervention at KCC
Universal Interventions
All students
Preventive, proactive
80-90%
Universal Interventions
All settings, all students
Preventive, proactive
80-90%

21. WHAT IS SPECIAL EDUCATION?
“Minimizing the impact of disability and maximizing the opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in schooling and the community. “
Hehir, T. (2006). New directions in special education: Eliminating ableism in policy and practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.