Continuum of Placement Options and Related Services
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The districts of the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA provide a wide range of special education program options to meet the unique needs of individuals with disabilities. An Individualized Educational Planning (IEP) team determines a student's placement in a special education program. At the IEP meeting, the team first determines a student's eligibility for Special Education and Related Services.
Once a student's eligibility for services is established, learning goals and objectives are developed by the IEP team based on the student's present levels of performance. Based upon the goals and objectives, the IEP team will discuss the appropriate level/type of service and the most appropriate placement. Students of any disability may be served in any placement option along the continuum. Whenever appropriate, students attend their school of residence in the least restrictive environment. However, based upon the individualized needs of the student, the IEP team may recommend a specialized program along the continuum of placement options both inside and outside the district of residence.
Although not inclusive of all program placements and related service along the continuum, below are some examples that could be considered by the IEP team.
Related Services
Adapted Physical Education (APE): A physical education program designed and taught by a credentialed APE specialist to meet the individual developmental and physical needs of students with disabilities. Services may include assessment, direct instruction, and/or consultation/collaboration with special education personnel.
Audiological Services: Services provided by a certified audiologist, which may include an annual audiological evaluation, monitoring of hearing aids and assistive listening devices, consultation with parents, and consultation with regular and special education personnel.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Itinerant: Itinerant teacher services provided to students who exhibit mild to severe hearing loss. Services may include assessment, direct instruction, monitoring of specialized instructional materials and adaptive equipment, consultation with regular and special education personnel and parents.
Braille Transcriber: Transcription of regular education curriculum, individualized curriculum and instructional materials into Braille for students who are legally blind.
Interpretation: Individualized support for core curriculum areas provided to students who are severely hard of hearing to profoundly deaf, and who require oral language to be interpreted into sign language to facilitate and enhance their learning.
Nursing Services: May include assessment; consultation with parents, teachers and other staff members; training of support personnel (e.g., instructional aides) and certificated staff in specialized physical health care needs and procedures; monitoring medications and health status of individual students; consultation regarding adaptations/modifications to the regular or special education program; and/or direct services to students with disabilities; consultation with physicians.
Orientation and Mobility: Individualized instruction in basic travel techniques which may include pre-cane skills and use of the long cane for students who are visually impaired. These services are provided in a variety of environments, including the classroom, school site, residential and commercial areas.
Psychological Services: Include assessment; development and monitoring of positive behavioral intervention plans; individual and/or small group counseling; monitoring of students’ emotional and behavioral status; consultation with regular and special education teachers and/or mental health professionals.
Speech/Language Services: Part-time instruction and services provided to students with disabilities to enhance development of speech and/or language skills. Services may include assessment, direct individual and/or small group instruction, monitoring of, and instruction on the use of assistive communication devices, consultation and collaboration with special education personnel, and communication with parents.
Visually Impaired (VI) Itinerant: Itinerant teaching services which may include direct instruction to students who are visually impaired, adaptations to regular and/or individualized curriculum materials into large print or Braille, monitoring of low incidence materials and equipment, consultation and collaboration with regular and special education personnel.
Transition Partnership Program (TPP): The TPP provides transition services for students in district special education programs. These services include a team of professionals who offer whatever assistance is necessary toward this transition, from career counseling to transportation, finding employment, and locating a place to live. The students participate in a two-semester life skills course, which includes decision-making career assessment, job preparation, and life skills for living independently. A formal Individual Transition Plan is developed for each student to determine the appropriate vocational goal and action plan, assisting students to obtain training and employment upon completion of high school. This program provides follow-up for two years after completion of high school.
WorkAbility A project offered through some districts and is open to all students 18 years of age and older, in a county program, who meet the enrollment criteria as established by the WorkAbility staff and state-mandated guidelines. It is designed to prepare students with disabilities for competitive or supported employment at the completion of their school program. Students are placed at community-based employment training sites and earn wages based on their abilities.
Provider Programs (Regional Programs)
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): The ESGV SELPA sponsored Autism Spectrum Disorder Program is designed to benefit students with mild ASD whose cognitive developmental levels are in the low average and above range. Students enter into an academic course of study, which also includes an emphasis on developing independence, social, and communication skills. The SELPA ASD program utilizes Evidence-Based Practice that research has shown to be effective with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The classroom environment has small class sizes, stimulus controlled, and highly structured for independence. The SELPA ASD Program operates classes at the Preschool through High School levels on general education campuses with intensive support services.
Autism Spectrum Disorder – Intermediate (ASD-I): The ESGV SELPA sponsored Autism Spectrum Disorder Intermediate (ASDI) Program is designed for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder who benefit from a broader curriculum continuum to address their basic academic needs. The implementation of Evidence-Based Practices speaks to developing classroom and community behavior that can be generalized for independence. The classroom environment has small class sizes, stimulus controlled, and highly structured for independence. The SELPA ASDI Program operates classes at the Elementary to High School levels on general education campuses with intensive support services.
Cochlear Implant/Oral Language Program: An oral language development program where instruction focuses on the development of auditory, speech, and language skills for children with cochlear implants. The cognitively based curriculum and individualized speech and language therapy services are the foundation of the program.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH): Classes designed for students whose impairments range from hard of hearing to profoundly deaf. These students use total communication strategies and curriculum, which may include sign language. The instructional program is parallel to regular education diploma bound classes.
Orthopedically Impaired (OI): Program designed for students with Severe Orthopedic Impairments and/or Medically Fragile, with an emphasis on collaborative models for students from preschool to twelfth grade. Support services include such options as speech and language support, occupational therapy, adapted physical education, assistive technology, as well as specialized classes. All programs are provided on regular education campuses; the special education staff is incorporated into the total general education staff at all schools.
Severely Handicapped (SH): Classes designed for students whose intellectual functioning is in the moderate to severe range of abilities. Based on modifications of the Common Core Standards, daily instruction focuses on functional academics. Classes also emphasize functional skills curriculum in the domains of domestic, community, vocational and recreation/leisure. Independence in the areas of self-help, social awareness, and communication are additional priorities in the program.
Social-Emotional Academic Support (SEAS): The focus of this program is behavioral and emotional support. All students have access to a system of personal support services by way of a clinical school psychologist, school psychologist, and/or graduate interning in the area of Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT), Master of Social Work (MSW), or clinical psychology. Services provided include intensive mental health support on both an individual basis and group. SEAS provides students with counseling services that focus on learning new coping skills. Strong behavioral classroom consultation support is also provided through district behaviorists who develop individual positive behavior systems and comprehensive intensive classroom management. All students have access to computers within the classroom for word processing and remediating math or English skills to support academic language. The programs are located on a regular school campus, giving students access to mainstream opportunities as appropriate.
Visually Impaired (VI): Classes designed for students who are partially sighted or legally blind and require adapted instructional materials (e.g., large print) and services (e.g., Braille instruction). Typically the students’ needs cannot be met with VI Itinerant services alone.
