Special Education Programs

Early Childhood Center

The public school program for children three or four years of age provides developmentally appropriate, specially designed instruction and related services in an inclusionary setting. Parent training is an essential component of educational programming for students in this program.

Primary Preventionist

The district’s two primary preventionists work with elementary school students who are at risk for developing specific learning disabilities in reading or math. Students are selected for participation in this intervention based upon the results of universal screening measures administered in elementary school. The intervention emphasizes pre-treatment/post-treatment assessment and ongoing curriculum-based measures to document the students’ response to intervention.

Inclusionary Supports in the General Education Classroom

The district employs about 100 paraprofessional staff to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Every preschool and kindergarten classroom has a full-time paraprofessional to ensure that students with disabilities have access to developmentally appropriate learning activities.

The district’s inclusion facilitator provides consultative services to teachers and support staff in grades K-12. The objective of this service delivery model is to help general education teachers design appropriate modifications and implement necessary accommodations to enable students with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled peers in the general education classroom.

A teacher of the visually impaired provides direct instruction to students, supervision and training of teaching assistants responsible for Braille production, and consultation to teachers and related service providers. The teacher of the visually impaired provides access to the general education classroom so students with low vision or blindness can be educated with non-disabled peers.

A teacher of the hearing impaired provides direct instruction to students, supervision and training of teaching assistants responsible for communication strategies, and consultation to teachers and related service providers. The teacher of the hearing impaired provides access to the general curriculum so that deaf or hard-of-hearing students can be educated with non-disabled peers.

A behavior interventionist works with school and classroom staff to conduct Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA’s) of students exhibiting maladaptive behaviors and develops or adjusts Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP’s) that provide positive behavioral supports for students whose behavior impedes their own learning or the learning of others. The behavior interventionist monitors the implementation of BIP’s and helps teachers working with emotionally or behaviorally involved students to effectively manage the behaviors of their students.

Related Services

Adaptive Physical Education, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy are provided to support students in grades PK-12. Adaptive Physical Education supports are always provided in an inclusionary setting. Other therapies may be provided as inclusion, pull-aside, or pull-out services.

Language-Based Programs

Language-based programs are available in each school except the Early Childhood Center. The language based program provides students with mild to moderate communication disorders or language based learning disabilities strategy-based instruction in an inclusionary setting. The evidence-based practices emphasized in the language-based programs include: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, use of graphic organizers, explicit teaching routines, vocabulary support, study skills instruction, and flexible grouping.

Resource and Inclusion Programs

Many students with severe learning disabilities, cognitive or neurological impairments, or multiple disabilities require more intensive support and more extensive modifications to the general curriculum than are provided in the language-based programs. At the elementary level, students such as these may participate in resource room classes, which provide students with opportunities to reinforce academic skills, and review course content. At the secondary level, in order to have access to teachers who are highly qualified in core content areas, students requiring extensive curriculum modifications may participate in inclusion classes that are co-taught be a special educator and a content specialist. The evidence-based practices emphasized in the resource and inclusion programs include: reduced class sizes, individualization of learning goals, and collaboration between special educators and content teachers.

Special Classes

The district provides special classes designed to meet the needs of students with significant developmental, emotional, or behavioral needs. The table below summarizes the chief characteristics of these placement options. Students may not be placed in any of these programs simply because of the existence of a disability. Placement in a special class is appropriate only if the needs of a student render a less restrictive placement option ineffective. Students placed in a special class may be included with non-disabled peers for some or most of their learning time.

Special Schools

Agawam is a member district of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative (LVPEC). When none of the in-district options described above can meet the needs of a student, the IEP team should consider placement at a Collaborative program. If none of the Collaborative programs is appropriate, placement at an approved private special education school should be considered.

Home and Hospital Instruction

Tutoring services are provided for students who are under orders from a physician to remain at home for more than 14 consecutive or cumulative days in a school year. Students who are hospitalized for extended periods of time receive educational services provided by hospital staff.