Michelle DeAngelis
Jacquie Crescenzo
Sydney White
Child Find Annual Notice:
School districts throughout Ohio are participating in an effort to identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities, birth through 21 years of age. For children up to age 2, a disability means that a child has an established condition known to result in delay or documented developmental delay in one or more of the following areas: adaptive behavior, cognition, communication, physical development, sensory development and/or social and emotional development.
For children ages 3-21, a disability means a person being identified as having one or more of the following conditions such as autism, developmental delay, intellectual disability, hearing impairment; multiple disability, orthopedic, emotional disturbance, other health impairment, specific learning disability, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, deaf-blindness, and/or speech or language impairment.
If a need is identified, the child can begin receiving the appropriate special education and related services. Free assessments are available to families to determine whether a disability exists. Please contact the Office of Special Services, 330-927-7413 for further information.
What is Special Education?
Students, ages three through their twenty-second birthday, having been identified as a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, most recently re-authorized July, 2014 may qualify for specially designed instruction, services, and/or supports to meet their unique educational needs. Most student needs can be met in the general education classroom with the collaboration and support of special education and related service providers.
How Are Special Education and Related Services Determined?
The Response to Intervention (RTI) model is used to develop intensive, empirically-based research intervention in an effort to close the achievement gap among students. If a student fails to respond positively, based upon the data gathered through the RTI intervention over an extended period of time, they may be suspected of having a disability. A team meeting with parents is scheduled to determine if the student is suspected of having a disability. If the team suspects the student has a disability, a referral for a multi-factored evaluation may be recommended. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine if the student meets the criteria of one of the thirteen federally defined disability categories for special education and if so, what specially designed instruction, services and/or supports are needed to access the general education curriculum. The initial evaluation process must be completed within sixty days of the parent signed consent. If the student is found eligible requiring specially designed instruction, services and/or supports, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed with the parent within the next 30 days.