• Glossary of frequently used words/phrases:
     

    Special Education Programs and Services are provided to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities (IDEA).  Students are considered disabled under the law when the Committee on Special Education (CSE) determines that a student's educational difficulties are the result of a disability that significantly impacts educational performance.

    If your child is eligible for special education services and/or programs, the Committee must meet to develop a plan to meet your child's unique needs.  This plan is called an Individualized Education Program (IEP). 
     
    Services under Section 504: 
    Essentially a civil rights statute, does not link the child's disability to a need for special education services, but rather to the existence of limitations on a major life activity (e.g. speaking, seeing, hearing, walking, etc.)  Under Section 504 a student with a medical impairment as specified above, might be entitled to have a special type of service or modification's based upon the school district's responsibility to provide "equal access" to the learning process.
     
    Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) 
    A multi-disciplinary team established to determine eligibility for special education for a pre-school child, ages 3-4.
     
    Least Restrictive Environment (LRE):
    Placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate schools or other removal from the general education 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.
     
    Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is the application of the principles of learning theory to change behavior of social significance. 
     
    Special Education Itinerant Teachers (SEIT)  work with young children with disabilities participating in early childhood programs.