Special Education SPOTLIGHT Issue 2
Quarter 4
Quarter 4 Update
Spotlight on Staff
Katie Cornick, Special Education Administrative Assistant
Hello! And welcome to our second issue of the Special Education SPOTLIGHT. I'm Katie, Administrative Assistant to the Special Education Department. I've only been with the school district for one year, but already feel right at home. I started this journey just days after graduating from Rochester Community and Technical College last spring with my diploma as an Administrative Office Professional as well as a certificate in photography. Prior to that, I was a stay at home parent to my three children that attend Byron Schools as well. I feel especially suited for this role, because I have also experienced the Special Education world as a parent. My son and I have gone through the SPED process from start to finish, or from evaluation to dismissal, with a change of school districts in-between.
Breaking Down an IEP
Whether you are new to the world of Special Education, or a veteran parent, the ins and outs of an IEP can be overwhelming. So lets break it down for you, one portion at a time.
Accommodations and Modifications
While the two words sound similar, they mean different things in an IEP. A modification changes what a student is taught or expected to learn and an accommodation is a change in how the student learns the material. An example of a modification would be a simplified vocabulary list. Accommodations range from preferential seating in the classroom, to the use of a calculator, or frequent breaks to extended time to complete assignments or tests.
Acronyms
Commonly used Acronyms in Special Education
S/LI - Speech/Language Impaired
Specialized instruction and services for pupils with a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment or voice impairment that adversely affects the individuals’ educational performance. Includes speech impaired, speech disabled and communicatively impaired (field usage).
DCD -Developmental Cognitive Disabilities
Students with developmental cognitive disabilities (DCD) have intellectual disabilities and associated behavior and adaptive challenges. In Byron, we know that our students with intellectual disabilities are always learning, growing, and gaining new skills to overcome adversity.
PI - Physically Impaired
Specialized instruction and services for pupils with a severe physical impairment that adversely affects educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by:
• Congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.).
• Disease or injury (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, fractures or burns which cause contractures).
Includes the terms physically handicapped, orthopedically handicapped and orthopedically impaired.
D/HH - Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Hearing loss ranging from so severe that the individuals are impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification; to hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects educational performance but is not included under the definition of deafness.
B/VI - Blind/Visually Impaired
Specialized instruction and services for partially sighted individuals having a visual condition with a best correction in the better eye of 20/60 or less that adversely affects educational performance. Includes:
• Blind individuals.
• Individuals who exhibit a limited visual field of twenty degrees or less.
Includes the terms blind, visually impaired, visually disabled and partially sighted.
SLP - Specific Learning Disabilities
Specialized instruction and services to individuals with disorders in the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language which may impair the ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations. Includes such conditions as:
• Perceptual disabilities.
• Dyslexia.
• Brain injuries.
• Developmental aphasia.
• Minimal brain dysfunction.
Includes the terms special learning disabilities, learning disabled, exceptional learning disabilities and specific learning disabilities.
Does not include individuals with learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, or due to environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
EBD - Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
Specialized instruction and services for a condition exhibiting the following characteristics over a period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance:
• Inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors.
• Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.
• General pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
• Tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
D/B - Deaf/Blind
Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that the individuals cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.
OHD - Other Health Disabilities
Specialized instruction and services that address limited strength, vitality or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems, which adversely affects educational performance. Such conditions include:
• Heart conditions
• Tuberculosis
• Rheumatic fever
• Nephritis
• Asthma
• Epilepsy
• Leukemia
• Lead poisoning
• Sickle cell anemia
• Diabetes
• Hemophilia
ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorders
Specialized instruction and services to individuals diagnosed with the disorder of autism.
DD - Developmentally Delayed
Includes children from birth through age six who have a medically diagnosed syndrome or condition that has a high probability of resulting in delay or disorder; or children who are significantly below the norm in growth and development.
TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury
Special learning experiences for children with brain injuries caused by external physical force, or by internal occurrence such as stroke or aneurysm, resulting in impairments that adversely affect educational performance.
Does not include children with brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or caused by birth trauma.
SMI - Severely Multiply Impaired
The student has been evaluated, assessed and the IEP/IFSP team has determined that the student has severe learning and/or developmental problems resulting from two or more disability conditions. Refer to Minnesota Rule 3525.1339, subpart 1 and 2.
The criteria for severely multiply impaired is defined in Minnesota Rule 3525.1339, subpart 2 as follows:
The team shall determine that a pupil is eligible as being severely multiply impaired if the pupil meets the entrance criteria for two or more of the following disabilities:
• Deaf or hard of hearing, part 3525.1331.
• Physically impaired, part 3525.1337.
• Developmental cognitive disability: severe-profound range, part 3525.1333.
• Visually impaired, part 3525.1345.
• Emotional or behavioral disorders, part 3525.1329.
• Autism spectrum disorders, part 3525.1325.
Help Me Grow!
An early intervention for children birth to kindergarten entrance is Help Me Grow. Follow the QR code or the link below to refer a child.
Come see us shine!
Rochester Raiders
The Rochester Raiders Adaptive Softball Team Will play against the Alumni team at Dakota Middle School in Rochester at 5pm on Wednesday, May 24. Go Raiders!
ZED Activity Day
ZED Activity Day
Unified Club
Bowling at Wildwood
Unified Club
Bowling at Wildwood!