CURRICULUM

Our Special Education teachers and support staff provide educational programming designed to meet the needs of our students with disabilities. Services are provided to students who range in age 5 (kindergarten) through age 14(middle school). Midway Star Academy offers these services to ensure that students with disabilities receive a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE). Highly trained Special Education teachers and paraprofessionals give students specialized instruction designed for each individual student in an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Identification and Referral
The Special Education process begins with identifying learners who are eligible for special services and in need of specialized instruction.

Evaluation
We use formal and informal measures to determine the learner’s strengths and areas of need. Parent permission is required to start the Initial assessment and evaluation process. The parent is invited to participate in a Child Study Team at the building site to determine the areas of assessment.

Placement
During this phase, the learner’s needs are determined and, together with the family, a plan is written to meet those needs. The underlining principle is where the services are delivered; we use the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) as a guiding principle for determining whether this is in the mainstream classroom, in the resource learning center, in a self-contained special education classroom. These decisions are discussed in a collaborative planning meeting entitled Individual Education Plan conference.

Communicating with Parents and Guardians
Each case manager will be in contact with each student’s family to determine the best way to connect with them on a regular, on-going basis. Case managers will be the “service coordinator” for special education students. Related service providers will contact the case manager to schedule and determine how services will be provided.

What are "Related Services"?
A related service is intended to assist the student to benefit from special education. Under Section 300.34 of IDEA, related services include transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpretation services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also include school health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.  Examples of Related Services include, but are not limited to:

- Speech-Language Therapy
- Counseling
- Adaptive Physical Education
- Occupational Therapy
- Assistive Technology Services
- Vision Services
- Deaf/Hard of Hearing Services

If you any questions about special education, please contact to one of the following staff members:
Saido Abdirashid at sabdirashid@midwaystar.org
Eucabeth Kimaiga at ekimaiga@midwaystar.org