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Overview |
Special Education | Social
Work | Guidance | Psychological
| Speech & Language |
Occupational Therapy & Services for the Hearing
Impaired | Health | Assistive
Technology
Special Education
Read below to find out more about each of the programs.
Program Description: The K-12 Adjusted Curriculum program primarily serves students with severe learning disabilities and language impairments. Students are served through significant accommodations in the regular classroom and intensive special instruction. A major goal is to provide services and social experiences in regular education classrooms to the extent possible.
Scope and Standards: At the elementary level, the adjusted curriculum and the regular instructional program are fully integrated. The result is a continuity of services to pupils in both regular and special education.
The Adjusted Curriculum program is offered at both middle schools. Students receive services both in resource settings and in the regular academic teams. Teaming of special education teachers with regular education teachers supports effective integration of regular and special education students.
At the high school level, Adjusted Curriculum teachers serve students in special classes in each of the four basic academic areas. Academic support is also available in regular academic classes in several academic areas.
Program Description: This program provides instruction and services for all Special Needs students, kindergarten through age 21. Students are integrated into mainstreamed classes based on their individual needs. Collaborative planning and instruction between general education and special education teachers have been essential to meaningful integration and effective programming.
The focus of the program is the development of independence for community living. Areas of major emphasis include academics, daily living skills, motor skills, communication skills, and the development of social skills. At the secondary level added emphasis is placed on vocational assessment and training, both within the school and in cooperation with local businesses and the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services. A post-graduate program, in collaboration with St. Joseph College, provides educational opportunities, vocational training and adult life skills in a college environment.
Scope and Standards: The program serves students with a wide range of functioning ability. The elementary program is located at Norfeldt and Whiting Lane Schools. Middle and high school students typically attend their neighborhood school.
Seriously Emotionally Disturbed
Program Description: This program serves students who need a small, structured environment with a strong behavioral component for a significant portion of the school day due to emotional, behavioral, and/or neurological impairments. As students progress, they spend increased amounts of time in the mainstream classes. Individual and group counseling and home contacts are emphasized as well as parent training and parent counseling. Consultative services and/or aide support may be available to teachers in regular education classrooms.
Scope and Standards: Currently, the elementary program services students at Braeburn School. The program is available at both Sedgwick and King Philip Middle Schools where students are supported in an integrated model. At the high schools approximately 42 students receive assistance. Thirty students participate in the Off-Campus alternative program at both the middle and high school levels.
Program Description: Special education resource teachers offer direct instruction to students, consultative services to regular classroom teachers, and diagnostic evaluative services to identify an program for students with mild to moderate disabilities. Individualized student programs provide specific skill remediation, compensatory training, and the development of independent learning skills. To the fullest extent possible, teachers work with students within regular classes and include students with similar needs in group activities.Scope and Standards: Special education resource teachers serve students in grades K-12.
Program Description: The Early Learning Center program, located at Whiting lane School, serves preschool children (ages 3 to 5) who exhibit a significant lag in language, intellectual, and/or behavioral development. An inclusion component brings typically developing youngsters into the program.
Referral to the program results in an assessment by a diagnostic team. If appropriate, assessment is followed by inclusion, in the program. Special education teachers, a psychologist, social worker, speech and language therapist, and an occupational and physical therapist work with the children to develop language skills, gross and fine motor skills, and social skills.
Another element of the program involves working with parents. These services are provided through parent workshops, home visits, conferences, and parent participation in the classroom.
Scope and Standards: Depending upon need, students are enrolled in a full-day or a half-day program. Currently, 53 preschoolers receive Special Education services and 52 inclusion youngsters participate in the program.
Program Description: This program is legally required for students who, for temporary physical and/or emotional reasons, cannot attend public school. Tutoring is also provided for some expelled students. Instruction is provided in the home and/or hospital, using itinerant teachers.
Scope and Standards: This program is available to students who have illnesses, documented by their physician, which will require an absence of three or more weeks. It is expected that about 49 students will receive homebound instruction this year.
Students residing at St. Agnes Home, a private West Hartford facility for pregnant teenagers, are eligible for homebound instruction. The Board is reimbursed by the school district responsible for non-West Hartford students. Tutors are employed to teach English, math, science and social studies.
The West Hartford Public Schools must also provide instruction for students in residence at Junction 1019. A tutor is employed for 5 hours per day to provide instruction for these students in basic academic areas. The Board is also reimbursed for tutoring to non-resident students.
Program Description: Some in-district students who have exceptional educational needs or unique non-educational needs cannot be accommodated by the West Hartford Public Schools on a cost effective basis, making out-of-district placement on a tuition basis necessary. Tuition costs are also incurred when DCF places West Hartford school-age children in homes in other Connecticut towns, whether such students are provided with regular education or special education programs.
Scope and Standards: As of January 15, 1999, there were 60 students in out-of-district facilities receiving special education programs for the profoundly mentally retarded, physically handicapped, seriously emotionally disturbed, and autistic. Seventeen of these students were placed by state agencies.
Overview |
Special Education | Social
Work | Guidance | Psychological
| Speech & Language |
Occupational Therapy & Services for the Hearing
Impaired | Health | Assistive
Technology