School Placement Options General Education Collaborative Classroom One-to-One Paraprofessional Mainstreaming Inclusion Resource Room Home School Boarding School Alternative Schools/Magnet Schools Related Services

General Education General education is the standard curriculum presented with standard teaching methods and without additional supports. Classrooms usually have between 20 to 30 students in them. Home

Collaborative Classroom Collaboration means providing special education in regular education classrooms. Today, more special education students are taught in regular classrooms, and collaboration is increasing. Collaboration helps to ensure children with learning disabilities get a free appropriate public education, including specialized instruction, in a regular classroom. Home

One-to-One Paraprofessional A paraprofessional, often referred to as an aide, is a special- education worker who is not licensed to teach, but performs many duties both individually with students and organizationally in the classroom. Your child may be assigned a one- on-one paraprofessional as part of his or her IEP, or interact with a paraprofessional assigned to the classroom. Home

Inclusion Inclusion is a term that refers to the practice of educating students with special needs in regular classes for all or nearly all of the day instead of in special education classes. Advocates of regular inclusion and full inclusion believe that students with special needs "belong" to the regular classroom. Consequently, special education services are delivered within the normal classroom Home

Mainstreaming Mainstreaming refers to the practice of educating students with special needs in regular classes during specific time periods based on their skills. Special education is delivered outside the regular classroom, where the student with the special need leaves the regular classroom to attend smaller, and more intensive instructional sessions. Schools that practice mainstreaming believe that special needs students "belong" to the special education environment. Home

Resource Room Resource Rooms are a separate location dedicated to the education of the student with special needs within a larger school that also provides general education. Resource Rooms may be specifically designed, staffed and resourced to provide the appropriate special education for children with additional needs. Home

Related Services Related services are transportation and any developmental, corrective and supported services that are necessary to allow the student to benefit from special education Related services include: audiology, counseling services, early identification, family training-counseling and home visits, health services, medical services, nursing services, nutrition services, occupational therapy, orientation and mobility services, parent counseling and training, physical therapy, psychological services, recreation and therapeutic recreation, rehabilitative counseling services, school health services, service coordination services, social work services in schools, speech pathology and speech-language pathology, transportation and related costs, and assistive technology and services. Home

Alternative Schools/Magnet Schools An alternative school (sometimes called a mini school), is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional, or sometimes ultra traditional. These schools have a special curriculum offering a more flexible program of study than a traditional school. Magnet schools are public alternative schools which offer innovative courses and specialized training in order to attract students from a broad urban area and thereby help to desegregate schools Home

Home School Homeschooling or home school (also called home education or home learning) is the education of children at their home Typically the parents, and sometimes tutors, are the educators rather than being in a formal setting such as public or private schools Home

Boarding School A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils not only study, but also live during term time, with their fellow students and possibly teachers There are over 600 boarding schools in the United States. Boarding schools are available for gifted children, average children, children with learning differences, children with other special needs, and children with emotional problems Home