Welcome to our Special Education Team. The special education process can be a bit over whelming for parents. We would like to take this time to share a little bit about our process.

A child maybe referred by a parent or a teacher to our child study team for possible testing for (SPED) Special Education Services. As a team we review your child’s records and look at interventions that have been provided in the general education setting. If the team feels testing is necessary an evaluation plan is put together and shared with parents. Sometimes we put students on a watch and recommend other interventions. If a student continues to struggle academically or behaviorally, then the team may decide testing is needed to provide a better picture of the child.

Parents are required to give permission before testing can begin. The testing will look at the student’s “big picture”. The child will be tested in the areas of achievement (intellectual testing) and academic testing. Some students may be tested in the areas of behavior, communication, motor skills, functional skills, physical status, sensory status, or transitioning, to determine if the student qualifies for Special Education Services.   Once testing is completed a meeting will be setup with parents, classroom teacher and other team members whom were part of the testing process to share what we learned. As a team we will determine if your child meets Minnesota criteria for a disability. A list of disabilities is located below. This process can be overwhelming for parents. Our first priority is your child’s well-being and ability to learn in school. We feel this process is a “team effort,” and your input is very important.

Areas of Special Education

• Developmental/Cognitive Delayed (DCD)
• Severely Multiple Impaired (SMI)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Emotional/Behavioral Disorder (E/BD)
• Other Health Disabilities (OHD)
• Physically Impaired (PI)
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH)
• Visually Impaired (VI)
• Deaf/Blind (D/B)
• Developmentally Delayed (DD)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Speech Language (SLP)