Special Education Handbook

When an educator has concerns about a general education student, the educator should employ pre-referral strategies:

• The educator may use informal consultation with grade-level/department level peers.
• Educators identify specific areas of need and implement specific targeted instruction/support over a period of time (3-6 weeks).
• The educator documents targeted instruction/support (duration, length, and description); the educator continually monitors progress and analyzes data to determine the effectiveness of targeted instruction/support, and continues with targeted instruction/support or implements a new approach.
• The educator contacts the parent/guardian and engages in a meaningful discussion regarding the concern and the plan going forward.

When the level of concern remains stable or has increased despite several attempts at targeted instruction/support and contacts with parents/guardians, the Educator:

• Submits a request for assistance and meets with a smaller subgroup of the MTSS, the Student Support Team (SST). The SST will recommend alternative targeted instructional/support or intervention to implement for another 3-6 weeks.
  • The SST reconvenes to review student data and progress and may refer to the building-level MTSS Team if concerns persist.
  • A pre-referral process is a preventative approach intended to support students experiencing academic, social/emotional, or behavioral challenges in the classroom. All students who need extra support should participate in interventions designed to meet their specific needs. Our District has a robust Multi-Tiered System of Support.

A referral to the larger, building MTSS Team will commence when a number of interventions/support services have been unsuccessful. The MTSS Chair will accept referrals.  The MTSS Chair will confer with building administration, SST, and referring educators.

• The MTSS Team determines what the intervention/support service should focus on the identified skill deficit.
  • Interventions with progress monitoring continue until the problem is resolved or until the team determines that a sufficient number of interventions/support services have been found unsuccessful.
  • An intervention/support service may be successful but require an adjustment or modification (e.g. group size, time allotment, location).
  • If the intensity of the intervention/support service is beyond the scope of the general education classroom and/or teachers, and the data indicates limited student progress, the MTSS team should consider a referral to the 504 Committee or CSE. 

All Williamsville schools have professionals for guidance and supporting including:

• Administrators
• Child Support Team Leader
• 504 Chairperson
• Committee on Special Education Chairperson
• School Psychologist(s)
• Social Worker
• Nurse
• School/Guidance Counselor
• Literacy Specialist(s)
• Speech Pathologist(s)
• Occupational Therapist(s)
• Physical Therapist (s)
• Assistive Technology Specialist

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability in any program or activity operated by recipients of federal funds. Section 504 is enforced by the U.S Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

A student can qualify for a 504-accommodation plan if a physical or mental impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities including but not limited to:

• Caring for oneself, communicating, eating, sleeping, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, working, and more.
  • Substantially limited means that the impairment has a permanent or long-term impact that prevents or severely restricts a person from performing a major life activity.

A student who qualifies for Section 504 may be able to receive accommodations through Section 504 Plan, even if they are not eligible for an IEP.

A request for referral for special education is a written statement to the Director of Special Education/Chairperson or the building administrator.  It indicates that the person submitting the referral believes a child may have a disability that adversely affects his/her educational performance, despite targeted interventions. A direct request for referral to the CSE can be made by a variety of stakeholders, including:

• MTSS Team
• Doctor/Specialist
• Parent or entity legally responsible for the child

Each referral must be in writing. The specific content of a written referral depends on the source of the referral.

Minimally, a referral should include the following considerations:

• Area(s) of deficit impacting a students classroom participation and performance.
• A description of the attempts to remediate the child’s performance prior to the referral
  • ie; rate of improvement, intervention strategies and reports, progress monitoring, inclusive of current and prior years.
• Student data, including test results, records, or reports upon which the referral is based;
• and, a description of the extent of parental contact or involvement prior to the referral.

The written referral is to be sent to the building administrator or to the Chairperson of the Committee on Special Education. The referral is reviewed to determine if it meets the criteria above (components of referral).

Once a referral is accepted/processed, the parents will receive a consent form for individual evaluations, a complete listing of their due process rights along with a copy of  A Parents Guide to Special Education.

After a parental consent form is signed and returned, the CSE has 60 calendar days from the receipt of a parental consent for evaluation to hold a meeting.  Within that time frame, the student is evaluated and reviewed and the CSE must complete a comprehensive evaluation.

In addition, written notification of the CSE meeting will be sent at least five (5) days prior to the meeting.

The Committee on Special Education must complete a comprehensive evaluation of a student that will assess a wide range of abilities.  Summaries of any evaluations may be found in the student’s confidential file.  These evaluations examine the following areas and must include:

• Physical Examination - Vision, hearing, physical development, medical needs and health/physical factors which affect school progress. This physical examination may be coordinated by a family physician, school physician, nurse, and/or physician’s assistant.
• Psychological Assessment – Overall cognitive ability, learning strengths and weaknesses, instructional needs, social interactions and relationships. This psychological assessment will be coordinated by a school psychologist based on needs presented.  A full psychological assessment (?) or portions of may be eliminated based on presenting data.
• Social History - Physical/social/emotional indicators, developmental milestones, current social interactions and factors within the home, school and community factors which may contribute to a student's difficulties. This social history may be coordinated by a social worker, school counselor, school psychologist, and/or school nurse.
• Classroom Observation - Performance in the current educational setting, relationship to teachers and other students, learning styles and attention span. This classroom observation may be completed by a school administrator, reading specialist, school counselor, CSE member and/or school psychologist.
• Appropriate Educational Evaluations - Educational achievement, learning strengths and weaknesses, vocational and academic needs. The educational evaluations may be completed by a teacher(s), reading specialist, school counselor, school psychologist, educational evaluator and/or vocational counselor.
• Assessment in all Areas Relating to the Suspected Disability: Specific assessments relating to health, vision, hearing, social-emotional development, general intelligence, communication skills, motor abilities, and academic performance. The assessment in all areas relating to the suspected disability may be completed by a school nurse, speech therapist, audiologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and/or specialist in the area of suspected disability.
• Vocational Assessment (For students 14+, when appropriate) - Possible areas of future employment; work-related skills, interests. This vocational assessment may be completed by:  school counselor, school psychologist, school social worker, and/or vocational counselor.

The CSE determines the classification by analyzing test results and observations in comparison to New York State definitions.  These classifications are used to determine eligibility in special education.  A student shall not be determined to be eligible for special education if the determinant factor for eligibility determination is 1) lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency (including oral reading skills) and reading comprehension strategies; 2) Lack of instruction in math; 3) Limited English proficiency; 4) Lack of Regular Attendance

The student must be found to have a disability that falls under one of the 13 classifications:

• Autism;
• Deafness;
• Deaf-Blindness;
• Emotional Disability;
• Hearing Impairment;
• Intellectual Disability;
• Learning Disability;
• Multiple Disabilities;
• Speech or Language Impairment;
• Traumatic Brain Injury;
• Visual Impairment;
• Preschool student with a disability (see definitions below)

The Committee on Special Education decides if a child has an educational disability that adversely affects his or her educational performance.  The following list describes, in general terms, the classifications used in specifying a student’s disability:

• Autism: A student with a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a student’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 student’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the student has an emotional disturbance.  A student who manifests the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the criteria in this paragraph are otherwise satisfied.
• Deafness: A student with a hearing impairment which is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, which adversely affects educational performance.
• Deaf-Blindness: A student with a hearing and visual impairment, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that the student cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for students who are deaf or blind.             
• Emotional Disability:  A student with an inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors and who exhibits one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree:
  • An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
  • Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
  • A generally pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
  • A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
  • The term does not include socially maladjusted students unless it is determined that they are emotionally disturbed.  It does, however, include schizophrenia.
• Hearing Impairment: A student with a hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, which adversely affects the child’s educational performance but which is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
• Intellectual Disability: A student with significantly sub average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
• Learning  Disability: A student with a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.  The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, neurological impairment, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.  The term does not include students who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage. 
• Multiple Disabilities: A student with two or more disabilities that result in multisensory or motor deficiencies and developmental lags in the cognitive, affective or psychomotor areas, the combination of which cause educational problems that cannot be accommodated in a special education program solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
• Orthopedic Impairment: A student who is physically disabled and who has a severe orthopedic impairment which adversely affects a student’s educational performance.  The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g. clubfoot, absence of some member), impairments caused by disease (e.g. poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis) and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputation and fractures or burns which cause contractures).
• Other Health Impaired: A student having limited strength, vitality or alertness including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment that is due to chronic or acute health problems, including but not limited to: a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, diabetes, ADD/ADHD or Tourette syndrome, which adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
• Speech or Language Impairment: A student with a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment or a voice impairment, which adversely affects a student’s educational performance.   
• Traumatic Brain Injury: Injury caused by an external physical force or by certain medical conditions such as stroke, encephalitis, aneurysm, anoxia or brain tumors with resulting impairments that adversely affect educational performance.  The term includes open or closed head injuries or brain injuries from certain medical conditions resulting in mild, moderate or severe impairments in one or more areas, including cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem solving, sensory, perceptual and motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, information processing and speech.  The term does not include injuries that are congenital or caused by birth trauma.
• Visual Impairment: Visual Impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
• Preschool student with a disability: is a preschool child as defined in section 4410(1)(i) of Education Law who is eligible to receive preschool programs and services, is not entitled to attend the public schools of the school district of residence pursuant to section 3202 of the Education Law and who, because of mental, physical, or emotional reasons, has been identified as having a disability and can receive appropriate educational opportunities from special programs and services approved by the department.   Eligibility as a preschool student with a disability shall be based on the results of an individual evaluation which is provided in the student’s native language, not dependent on a single procedure, and administered by a multidisciplinary team in accordance with all other requirements as described in section 200.4 (b) (1) through (5) of this Part.

The student must have a need for specially designed instruction in at least one area.

If so, the student is eligible for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).  The CSE discusses and recommends appropriate special education services, and develops written recommendations. It is critical that the student is always considered for support in the Least Restrictive Environment.

A student’s IEP is updated by the CSE to meet the student’s needs at least annually.

The State of New York requires that every student with a disability be re-evaluated at least every three years to assure that the IEP is an appropriate educational plan and that the student continues to require special education services.

The CSE reviews individual needs based on present performance in school and evaluation results.  Performance levels (PLEPS) and needs are indicated in the areas of academic achievement and learning characteristics, social development, physical development and management needs.  This information provides an overview of functioning, potential, preferences, strengths, and weaknesses of a student.  It also provides data which help in grouping children with other students who have similar needs.

The measurable annual goals must relate to meeting the student’s needs that result from the student’s disability to enable the student to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum. This critical component of the IEP prioritizes goals towards student improvement based on present levels discussed at CSE. The goals correspond to the child’s academic/social/physical development and management needs. Review of progress towards goals, help determine if a student is making adequate progress, and inform decisions at the CSE.

Environmental modifications are discussed when a student needs specialized equipment to remove barriers to gain access, participate in, and progress in the curriculum.

Testing accommodations are provided to students with disabilities to give equal opportunity for demonstrating acquired skills that may otherwise be impeded by the manner of testing.  The needed techniques are determined by the CSE and must be on the IEP.  The school administrator ensures that testing accommodations and alternative testing techniques, which are indicated on the IEP, are used consistently on local and statewide tests except where restricted by NYS mandates.

Each school district must provide a variety of services (including therapies) to meet the differing needs of students with disabilities.  This is often called providing a continuum of services.  Each child must be placed in the “least restrictive environment” in which he or she can be successful.

This section of the IEP includes the date that the recommended services are expected to begin and how often services will be provided.  It also indicates whether the student will require an extended school year.  The frequency and duration of services included in the IEP may only be changed by CSE review.

• Declassification Support Services: Discontinuation of all formal special education services based on CSE recommendations.  Declassification Support Services may be in place for up to one year.
• Related Services: Developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a student with a disability and include speech-language pathology, audiology services, interpreting services, counseling services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling services, orientation and mobility services, medical services, parent counseling and training, school health services, school nurse services, school social work, assistive technology services, appropriate access to recreation, including therapeutic recreation, other appropriate developmental or corrective support services, and other appropriate support services and includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in students.
• Consultant Teacher Services: Direct and/or indirect services, as defined below, provided to a student with a disability in the student's regular education classes and/or to such student's regular education teachers.
  • Direct consultant teacher services means specially designed individualized or group instruction provided by a certified special education teacher pursuant to subdivision of this section, to a student with a disability to aid such student to benefit from the student's regular education classes.
  • Indirect consultant teacher services means consultation provided by a certified special education teacher pursuant to the subdivision of this section to regular education teachers to assist them in adjusting the learning environment and/or modifying their instructional methods to meet the individual needs of a student with a disability who attends their classes.
• Resource Room: Resource room shall be for the purpose of supplementing the regular or special classroom instruction of students with disabilities who are in need of such supplemental programs. An instructional group that includes students with disabilities in a resource room shall not exceed five students per teacher.
• Integrated Co-Teaching: A school district may include integrated co-teaching services in its continuum of services. Integrated co-teaching services means the provision of specially designed instruction and academic instruction provided to a group of students with disabilities and nondisabled students. The general education teacher and the special education teacher share the responsibility for the delivery of primary instruction, planning, and evaluation for all students.  
• Special Class Instruction: Students must be grouped together for special class instruction based on similar individual needs.  They may have the same disability or different disabilities, but their individual instructional needs shall be similar.  Grouping by needs is based on levels of academic or educational achievement and learning rate, levels of physical and social development, and the management needs of the students in the classroom.
• The chronological age range within special classes of students with disabilities who are less than 16 years of age shall not exceed 36 months without a variance. The chronological age range within special classes of students with disabilities who are 16 years of age and older is not limited.
• Special Day School and Residential School:  Provides out-of-district public, private, and agency programs for those students with severe disabilities that cannot be serviced in public schools.  School districts may place such students in private schools or Children’s Residential Project programs, which have been approved by the State Education Department and meet the students’ specific needs.  These schools may be located in-state or out-of-state and may have day and/or residential components.
• Home/Hospital Instruction: Students with disabilities who are recommended for home and/or hospital instruction by the committee on special education shall be provided instruction and appropriate related services as determined and documented by the committee on special education in consideration of the student's unique needs. Home and hospital instruction shall only be recommended if such placement is in the least restrictive environment and must be provided for at least the number of days and length of time.  Students in grades K-6 are given 10 hours per week, and students in grades 7-12 get 15 hours per week of instruction. This is reviewed annually or as updates are required.
• Adaptive Physical Education (APE): Adaptive physical education means a specially designed program of developmental activities, games, sports, and rhythms suited to the interests, capabilities, and limitations of students with disabilities who may not safely or successfully engage in unrestricted participation in the activities of the regular physical education program. The extent to which students with IEPs will participate in physical education, including Adapted Physical Education if needed, must be indicated on each student’s IEP.

The least restrictive environment means that placement of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.  This may include special classes, separate schools or other removal from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved. The placement of an individual student with a disability in the least restrictive environment shall:

1. Provide the special education needed by the student;
2. Provide for education of the student to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student with other students who do not have disabilities; and
3. Be as close as possible to the student's home.

Exceptional Education Informational Page

Case Manager
Primary point of contact for questions or concerns related to a student's IEP, services, accommodations, goals, progress, or day-to-day special education programming.  Whenever possible, begin by discussing the concern directly with the case manager.

If not resolved

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Contact the School Pyschologist
May be included when the concern involves evaluation, behavior, social-emotional needs, CSE related questions or other areas within the psychologist's expertise.  May be part of the problem-solving process, but is not necessarily the next step for every concern.

If not resolved

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Contact the Building Administrator
If a concern cannot be resolved at the case-manager level, the building administrator should be contacted.
Can help facilitate communication, problem-solving, and building-level decisions.

If not resolved

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Contact the Director of Special Education
Should be contacted when additional district-level support, clarification, resources, or special education expertise is needed.
Can assist with more complex concerns and coordinate next steps.

If not resolved

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Contact the Senior Director of Special Education
Provides departmental oversight and support for complex, ongoing, or unresolved matters.  Issues should generally reach this level after the appropriate building and director-level processes have been followed.

If not resolved

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Contact the Superintendent of Schools

Elizabeth Hager
716-626-8064
E-mail
 

• Williamsville Special Education Parent Teacher Student Association (SEPTSA)
   
• Adult Career and Continuing Education Services – Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR)
  • LOCAL OFFICE
    • Buffalo District Office
      508 Main Street, Buffalo, NY  14202
    • Phone: 716-848-8001
    • Toll-Free: 1-888-652-7062
• Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD)
  • Eligibility Navigator for OPWDD
  • Michelle Davis
    • Phone: 716-332-4170
    • Email Address
• Parent Network of WNY
  • 1021 Broadway, Buffalo, NY 14212
  • (716) 332-4170
• Special Education Acronym List
• New York State Education Department, Office of Special Education
  • Parent Resources Page
    • Parent Resources
    • NYSED Definitions

New York State Education Department: Questions and Answers on Individualized Education Program (IEP), the State’s IEP Form and Related Requirements

• Link to SED FAQ