 SPECIAL
EDUCATION DEFINED:
Special education is specially designed instruction, provided at no
cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities,
supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child to benefit
from an educational program. The related services include transportation,
speech therapy, occupational therapy, assistive technology, etc.
Decisions regarding the provision of special education and related services
can not be made with respect to cost or availability.
 PROGRAMS
ARE DESIGNED TO SERVE ALL DISABILITIES:
The Special Education Department of the Apache Junction Unified School
District provides programs for virtually all students with disabilities
that adversely affect their ability to learn. Most programs
are available within each of the home schools, including programs for specific
learning disabilities, speech/language impairments, mild emotional disabilities,
other health impairment, and mild mental retardation.
District-wide programs are open to students regardless of their home
school, to provide specialized instruction for students with some of the
low incident disabilities such as orthopedic impairment, moderate/severe
mental retardation, autism, moderate to severe emotional disabilities,
and multiple disabilities. Students requiring programming in a school
other than his or her home school, will be offered transportation to facilitate
the placement.
For student who require extensive and intensive services for a vision
or hearing impairment, the district utilizes programs in neighboring districts
with transportation provided by the Apache Junction Unified School District.
For students with disabilities aged three through five, the district
has a special education preschool program located on the campus of Superstition
Mountain Elementary School.
 A
CONTINUUM OF SERVICES:
Based upon the federally mandated concept of Least Restricted Environment
(LRE), the Apache Junction Unified School District expects that a student
with a special education disability will remain within the general education
setting for as much as is appropriate, leaving the general education room
to receive special education only according to the specific needs of the
individual student.
The least restricted environment is a general education class placement
with Ancillary or Supplemental Aids and Services. This service includes
consultation, classroom modifications, adaptive, and assistive technology,
within the general education classroom.
The next level of service is Itinerant Services in which the student
is outside of the general education class for 20% or less of the school
day. In other words, the student would be in the general education
setting for at least 80% of the school day, and would leave the general
education setting only for the time necessary to receive specialized instruction.
The third level of services is referred to as Resource Services in which
the student is out of the class between 21 and 60% of the day.
In Self-Contained Services the student is out of the class for more
than 60% of the day. Some students in self-contained settings will
be in the general education setting for close to 39% of their day, while
others may be in the general education setting for only a few minutes each
day depending upon their individual needs as indicated within their IEP.
 THE
EXTENT OF SERVICES AND LOCATION OF SERVICES IS A TEAM DECISION:
All placement decisions are driven by the Individual Education Plan
(IEP) which lays out the student's strengths/weaknesses and the educational
goals that are developed accordingly. The foundation for the IEP is a section
called “Present Level of Performance.” The general education teacher
and parents are usually the most qualified team members to provide the
information necessary for this section. The information provided
by the teacher would include the level at which that student has mastered
academic standards, while information from the parents would include how
the child performs outside of school, information from outside evaluations,
and specific areas of concern noticed by the parents. Whenever a placement
is made that requires the student to be removed from the general educational
setting the team will have determined that specialized instruction is required
that goes beyond what can be provided in the general education setting.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT "INCLUSION:"
In the past few years, many schools nationwide
have replaced the traditional continuum of special education services in
favor of a concept referred to as “inclusion.” For many school districts
the definition of inclusion is narrow and prevents students with disabilities
from leaving the general education setting for any special education service,
regardless of their individual need. For other school districts,
inclusion resulted in increased collaboration between special education
and general education with results ranging from total “inclusion” to classroom
modifications and instructional adaptations. The Special Education Department
of the Apache Junction Unified School District strongly supports of the
concepts of "least restrictive environment" and “free appropriate public
education” in meeting the individual needs of the students.
The term “inclusion,” which does not appear in
special education laws or regulations, implies that students with disabilities
“get to be included” in general education activities, as if this inclusion
is something to that is granted to students with disabilities. In
reality, all IEPs are written with the understanding that the students
will be in a general education setting unless their unique needs require
specialized instruction which cannot be provided within the general education
setting.
In the Apache Junction Unified School District,
each IEP team will consider each IEP to determine what kind of program
is appropriate for each eligible student; the program the team designs
will be offered in the least restrictive environment. Therefore,
the Apache Junction Unified School District will continue to offer a continuum
of services for students with disabilities. |
 ELIGIBILITY
CATEGORIES DEFINED:based
upon Arizona Education Code 1994, Article 4, 15-761
1. Autism
(A): a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal
and nonverbal communication and social interaction, that is generally evident
before the age of three and that adversely affects educational performance.
Characteristics include irregularities and impairments in communication,
engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance
to environmental change or change in daily routines and unusual responses
to sensory experiences. Autism does not include children with characteristics
of emotional disability as defined in this section.
2. Emotional Disability
(ED): (a) a condition whereby a child exhibits one or more of the
following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree
that adversely affects the child’s performance in the educational environment:
(i) An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual,
sensory or health factors.
(ii) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships
with peers and teachers.
(iii) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal
circumstances.
(iv) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
(v) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with
personal or school problems.
(b) Includes children who are schizophrenic but does not include children
who are socially maladjusted unless they are also determined to have an
emotional disability as determined by evaluation.
3. Hearing Impairment (HI): a hearing
impairment as determined by evaluation, which interferes with the child’s
performance in the educational environment and requires the provision of
special education and related services.
4. Other Health Impairment (OHI):
limited strength, vitality or alertness due to chronic or acute health
problems that adversely affect a pupil’s educational performance.
5. Specific Learning Disability
(SLD): a specific learning disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language,
spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to
listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations.
The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, minimal brain
dysfunction, dyslexia and aphasia. The term does not include learning
problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, motor, or emotional
disabilities, of mental retardation, or of environmental, cultural or economic
disadvantage.
Mental Retardation: a significant impairment of general intellectual
functioning that exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior
that adversely affects the child’s performance in the educational environment.
6. Mild Mental Retardation (MIMR):
performance on standard measures of intellectual and adaptive behavior
between two and three standard deviations below the mean for children of
the same age.
7. Moderate Mental Retardation (MOMR):
performance on standard measures of intellectual and adaptive behavior
between three and four standard deviations below the mean for children
of the same age.
8. Severe Mental Retardation (SMR):
performance on standard measures of intellectual and adaptive behavior
at least four standard deviations below the mean for children of the same
age.
9. Multiple Disabilities
(MD): learning and developmental problems resulting from multiple
disabilities as determined by evaluation that cannot be provided adequately
in a program designed to meet the needs of children with less complex disabilities.
Multiple disabilities include any of the following conditions that require
the provision of special education and related services:
(a) Two or more of the following conditions:
(i) Hearing Impairment
(ii) Orthopedic Impairment
(iii) Moderate Mental Retardation
(iv) Visual Impairment
(b) A child with a disability listed in subdivision (a) of this
paragraph existing concurrently with a condition of mild mental retardation,
emotional disability or specific learning disability.
10. Multiple Disabilities with Severe Sensory
Impairment (MDSSI): multiple disabilities that include at least
one of the following: (a) severe visual impairment or severe hearing impairment
in combination with another severe disability (Autism, Orthopedic Impairment,
Severe Mental Retardation, Moderate Mental Retardation), (b) Severe visual
impairment and severe hearing impairment.
11. Orthopedic Impairment (OI):
one or more severe orthopedic impairments and includes those that are caused
by congenital anomaly, disease and other causes, such as amputation or
cerebral palsy, and that adversely affects a child’s performance in the
educational setting.
12. Preschool Moderate Delay (PMD):
performance by a preschool child (a child who is at least three years of
age but who has not reached the required age for kindergarten) on a norm
referenced test that measures at least one and one-half, but not more than
three standard deviations below the mean for children of the same chronological
age in two or more of the following areas: cognitive development, physical
development, communication development, social or emotional development,
adaptive development. The results of the norm-referenced measure
must be corroborated by information from a comprehensive developmental
assessment and from parental input, if available, as measured by a judgment
based assessment or survey. If there is a discrepancy between measures,
the evaluation team shall determine eligibility based upon a preponderance
of information presented.
13. Preschool Severe Delay (PSD):
performance by a preschool child (a child who is at least three years of
age but who has not reached the required age for kindergarten) on a norm
referenced test that measures more than three standard deviations below
the mean for children of the same chronological age in two or more of the
following areas: cognitive development, physical development, communication
development, social or emotional development, adaptive development.
The results of the norm-referenced measure must be corroborated by information
from a comprehensive developmental assessment and from parental input,
if available, as measured by a judgment based assessment or survey.
If there is a discrepancy between measures, the evaluation team shall determine
eligibility based upon a preponderance of information presented.
14. Preschool Speech/Language Delay (PSL):
performance by a preschool child (a child who is at least three years of
age but who has not reached the required age for kindergarten) on a norm
referenced language test that measures at least one and one-half standard
deviations below the mean for children of the same chronological age or
whose speech, out of context, is unintelligible to a listener who is unfamiliar
with the child. Eligibility under this paragraph is appropriate only
if a comprehensive developmental assessment or norm-referenced assessment
and parental input indicate that the child is not eligible for services
under another preschool category. The evaluation team shall determine
eligibility based upon a preponderance of the information presented.
15. Speech/Language Impairment (SLI):
a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, severe
disorders of syntax or vocabulary, or functional language skills, or a
voice impairment, as determined by evaluation, to the extent that it calls
attention to itself, interferes with communication or causes the child
to be maladjusted.
16. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
an acquired injury to the brain that is caused by an external physical
force that results in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial
impairment, or both, that adversely affects educational performance.
The term applies to open or closed head injuries 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 brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or brain
injuries induced by birth trauma.
17. Visual Impairment (VI): a visual
impairment, as determined by evaluation, that interferes with the child’s
performance in the educational environment and that requires the provision
of special education and related services.
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