Does My Child Need Special Education?
- Parents may refer their child at any time to the Pupil Evaluation
Team (PET) if they have reason to believe that their child may
require special education services and supportive services.
- Special education services are educational services that
are specially designed to meet the unique needs of a student
with a disability. These services are provided at no cost to
the parent by qualified individuals. Special education services
can vary a great deal based on the student and his or her needs.
- Supportive services are designed to assist a student with
a disability to benefit from special education services. If your
child is succeeding in the regular education program and only
needs supportive services, they may not be eligible for special
education services.
- Supportive services means special education transportation
and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services
as are required to assist a student with a disability to benefit
from their special education program. The term includes, but
is not limited to, speech pathology, audiology, counseling services,
psychological services, physical therapy and occupational therapy,
recreation, early identification of students with disabilities,
and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. The
term also includes school health services, social work services
in schools, and parent counseling and training. All supportive
services shall be provided by appropriately certified or licensed
professionals or appropriately supervised support staff.
- In the Maine Special Education Regulations, the Department
of Education defines "students with disabilities."
The state has a duty to provide a free appropriate public eduction
to those students. According to this definition, a student with
a disability is an individual who:
* has reached the age of 5 years on or before October 15;
* has neither graduated from a secondary school program with
a regular high school diploma nor reached 20 years of age at
the start of the school year;
* has a disability which adversely affects the student's educational
performance and requires the provision of special education services
in order that the student may benefit from an elementary or secondary
educational program.
- According to the State's definition, a student with a
disability will have one or more of the following disabilities:
- Autism
A student with autism has a developmental delay, generally evident
before age three and significantly affecting verbal and non-verbal
communication and social interaction, that
adversely affects educational performance.
- Characteristics of autism 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. The term does not
include students with characteristics of a behavioral impairment.
- Deaf/Blindness
A student who is deaf/blind exhibits concomitant hearing and
visual impairments which cause severe social, communication,
educational, and/or developmental deficits which adversely affect
the student's educational performance.
- Deafness
A student who is deaf has a hearing impairment that is so severe
that the student is
impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing,
with or without amplification, that adversely affects the student's
educational performance.
- Emotional Disability
A student with an emotional disability has a condition which
exhibits one or more of the following characteristics over a
long period of time and to a degree that adversely affects the
student's educational performance.
A. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual,
sensory, or health factors.
B. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers.
C. Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal
circumstances.
D. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
E. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated
with personal or school problems.
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to students
who are "socially maladjusted," unless it is determined
that they have an emotional disability.
- Hearing Impairment
A student who has a hearing impairment has an impairment in hearing
whether
permanent or fluctuating, and that adversely affects the student's
educational performance but who is not included under the definition
of deafness.
- Mental Retardation
A student with mental retardation exhibits significantly subaverage
intellectual functioning concurrent with deficits in adaptive
behaviors which adversely affect the student's educational performance.
- Multiple Disabilities
A student with multiple disabilities exhibits concomitant impairments
(such as mental retardation and behavioral impairments, orthopedic
impairment, etc.) resulting in severe social, communication,
educational, and/or developmental deficits which adversely affect
the student's educational performance. The term does not include
students who are deaf/blind.
- Orthopedic Impairment
A student with an orthopedic impairment exhibits a severe orthopedic
impairment that adversely affects the student's educational performance.
- Other Health Impairment
A student with a health impairment exhibits limited strength,
vitality or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems
which adversely affect the student's educational performance.
- Specific Learning Disability
A student with a learning disability exhibits a disorder in one
or more of the basic psychological processes (such as auditory,
visual, kinesthetic or other psychological process) involved
in understanding or using language, spoken or written, which
manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations and the disorder
adversely affects the student's educational performance.
- The Pupil Evaluation Team may determine that a student has
a specific learning disability if:
1. The student does not achieve commensurate with his
or her age and ability levels , if provided with learning experiences
appropriate for the student's age and ability levels and
2. The team finds that the student has a severe discrepancy
between achievement and intellectual ability as determined by
individualized assessment of intelligence and academic achievement
in one or more of the follwing areas:
- Oral expression;
Listening comprehension;
Written expression;
Basic reading skills;
Reading comprehension;
Mathematical calculation; or
Mathematical reasoning.
- The discrepancy cannot be primarily the result of visual,
hearing, or motor handicaps; mental retardation; emotional disturbance;
or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
- Speech and Language Impairment
A student with a speech and language impairment exhibits impairment
in speech and/or language such as impaired articulation, fluency,
voice impairment, or a receptive or expressive verbal language
handicap that adversely affects the student's educational performance.
- Traumatic Brain Injury
A student with a traumatic brain injury has received an injury
to the brain caused by an external physical force or by an internal
occurence such as stroke or aneurism, resulting in total or partial
functional disability or psychosocial maladjustment that adversely
affects education performance.
- The term includes 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 behaviors; 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.
- Visual Impairment Including Blindness
A student with a visual impairment has, after the best possible
correction, a limitation of vision which adversely affects the
student's educational performance. The term includes both partially
sighted and blind students.
Notes:
This information was adapted from Maine Special Education Regulations
Chapter 101, published November 1, 1999 by the Maine Department
of Education: Special Services Team.
To obtain a copy of these regulations, or for more information
on this or other topics related to the needs of children with
disabilities, call or write Maine Parent Federation, P.O. Box
2067, Augusta, Maine 04338, 1-800-870-7746 (In-State Only) 207-623-2144
or e-mail MPF at parentconnect@mpf.org
This fact sheet is paid for through grants from the Federal
Department of Education and the State of Maine Department of Education,
utilizing funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act.