Specialized Schools
"There are 6.6 million students with disabilities being served through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the United States. Of these students, 3.4% are being served in private specialized day and/or residential programs. IDEA requires that a continuum of alternative placements and services exist in order to address the individual needs of students with disabilities. [These include] programs which provide educational therapeutic services to both publicly and privately placed individuals that are not able to be successfully educated in the regular education environment. These services also include infants and toddlers that are served by our early intervention service members and our postsecondary college experience and adult living programs that serve individuals who have graduated or who are over 21 and are no longer eligible for services under IDEA." - NAPSEC.
"With the right school and staff many children who had been written off can learn and even thrive." - Valle Dwight, a LD Contributing Writer and mother of a child with Down Syndrome
What is a Specialized School?
"Special needs schools specialize in teaching students with learning, behavior, mental health, medical, or intellectual disabilities. In most cases, one school will specialize in one type of disability; it is rare to find schools that are a catch-all for every disability. The programs (which can be day schools or residential) are designed to handle the needs of the particular population they are serving. The staff has additional training in supporting the students in and out of the classroom," Valle Dwight stated. "A school for children with dyslexia, for instance, may have an entire teaching staff trained in a research-based reading intervention such as Orton Gillingham, and that kind of teaching will carry over into every aspect of the curriculum (i.e., will not just be taught for one-half hour a day during reading as might happen in public school)."
An example of what a specialized school strives for:
An example of what a specialized school strives for:
"Our Mission at Churchill Center & School is to give high potential children with learning disabilities the finest individualized remedial education and the support they need to achieve and return to a traditional classroom and to foster greater understanding and support for all people with learning disabilities by training other educators, supporting our families and enlightening the community." |