Special Education

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Curriculum :: Special Education

Georgetown ISD provides special education services to children with disabilities to meet their unique needs. These educational programs are provided in a variety of settings, including a typical classroom, a content mastery classroom, a special campus placement, the student's home, or a hospital setting. Students must be identified as in need of special education through a referral and evaluation process. In to academic programs, the district also provides related services including transportation, speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy, adaptive physical education, individual or group counseling, and a work-study program.

To qualify for special education, students must have been evaluated in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, and have a disability such as the following:

speech or language impairment
hearing impairment including deafness
visual impairment including blindness
orthopedic impairment
autism
traumatic head injury
serious emotional disturbance
mental retardation
another health impairment
a specific learning disability
deaf-blindness
multiple disabilities

Special education is offered at no cost to parents to meet the needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings, and instruction in physical education.

The instruction offered through special education has been changed in content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of a child that will result from that child's disability and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that he or she can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.

Child Find

Special Education services are available to eligible children within the Georgetown Independent School District. The student must be between the ages of 3 and 21 with a documented handicap and an educational need that requires special education. Children with visual and/or auditory impairments may be eligible at birth. A variety of placement options are available if found eligible after a full and individual evaluation. For children ages 3-5 or placed in a private or home school, please contact the Childfind Coordinator, Ina Glenn, at 943-6812. For school-aged students attending a GISD school, contact the campus Counselor.

Continuum of Placements

Special education services are provided in a variety of instructional settings. Instructional settings are based on the percentage of time or number of periods that the student receives direct, regularly scheduled special education services as required by the Individual Educational Plan (IEP), and not on the student's disability. Instructional arrangements include the following options:

1. No Instructional Setting - When a special education setting is not appropriate, but special services are required, such as speech therapy or special transportation.

2. Mainstream - For students whose instruction and related services are provided in the regular education classroom with special education support.

3. Resource Room - For eligible students who need special education instruction and related services in a setting other than regular education for less than 50% of the student's day. This includes Content Mastery services that serve students with and without disabilities.

4. Self-Contained Classroom - For students who need special education instruction and related services for 50% or more of the student's school day on the regular school campus.

5. Vocational Adjustment Class - For students who are placed on a job with regularly scheduled supervision by special education teachers. This applies to full- or part-time job training/employment, as documented in a student's IEP.

6. Homebound - For eligible students who are served at home or hospital bedside. Students served on a homebound or hospital bedside basis are expected to be confined for a minimum of four consecutive weeks as documented by a physician.

Other possible instructional arrangements included in the IEP continuum of placements include:

7. Hospital Class - For students in a classroom in a hospital facility or an approved residential care and treatment facility not operated by the school district. This includes residential students at the Lott Detention Center and the Williamson County Academy.

8. State School for Persons with Mental Retardation - For students who currently reside at a state school.

9. Residential Care and Treatment Facility - For non-school district students who reside in approved care and treatment facilities within school district boundaries, but whose parents do not reside within the boundaries of the school district. This includes students living in licensed foster homes.

Specialized Classrooms

Georgetown ISD has established programs which provide structure and specialized curriculum to students with specific needs. These students must be identified as children eligible for special education and must require one of these settings as determined by the Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee.

Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD)
Campuses: Annie Purl Elementary/Village Elementary

The PPCD program serves pre-school-aged children with disabilities. PPCD services are geared to children 3-5 years of age that have a disability and need special education services. This program provides early intervention in the areas of language development, readiness skills, social interactions, and other developmental/therapy areas.

Student Originated Academic Responsibility (SOAR)
Campuses: Village, Benold, Tippit, Forbes, EVHS, GHS

SOAR is for special education students whose primary need is to gain control of their own behavior (which is not necessarily primarily driven by emotional disturbance.) Students who may benefit from the unit are: students who have mild, moderate, or severe emotional disturbance, but who are more behaviorally than emotionally disturbed; students who have neurological or neuropsychological deficits of a strong nature which makes it difficult for them to control their behavior; and other special education students with significant behavioral difficulties. The program is specifically designed to provide a comprehensive academic/therapeutic setting for those students unable to function successfully on a full time basis in regular or other special education programs. Goals for the program are development of school adaptability, behavioral control, social skills, and appropriate handling of crisis situations.

Community Based Vocational Instruction (CBVI)
Campus: GHS

Community Based programs provide academic and vocational skills to students that require specialized curriculum, small group and individual instruction, functional skills training, community-based instruction, and intensive transition services in order to achieve independence.

Regional Day School Program for the Deaf (RDSPD)

RDSPD is a program funded and supervised through the Educational Service Center. The program is considered a regional program and is within school in the region. The northern zone cluster sites are in Round Rock ISD for those who need direct services of a sign language interpreter or a lot of support from an AI teacher. The program is for students who have been identified as severely hearing impaired who warrant:

a very specialized program in total communication or signing exact English prior to placement in less restrictive special education and/or regular education settings

A primarily auditory program for the students who have some residual hearing

Goals for all students include building communication and language skills in order to return to the home district, home campus, or less restrictive settings with an interpreter.