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The mission of Ridgewood’s Special Education Department is to cultivate a positive environment in which students can work up to their potential in academic, social, emotional, and personal areas. Individual differences are nurtured by a staff committed to serving each student.
The Special Education Department provides a full continuum of services to students who have been eligible to receive special education services. Specialized services are provided for the following categories of disabilities: Specific Learning Disability, Emotional Disorder, Mental retardation, Speech/Language Impaired, Hearing Impaired, Visually Impaired and Physically Impaired. Placement decisions and the amount of services needed are determined by the IEP team, which includes the parent and the student. Special Education students should be exposed to the regular education curriculum as much as possible and when appropriate. Instruction in the regular education setting, with reasonable accommodations, increases students’ knowledge of academic concepts and assists them in performing well on standardized tests. Each student’s IEP is reviewed annually or by the request of the parent.
Jennifer Snyder provides Social Work services to students in the Special Education department. Services include individual and small group sessions for students with minutes mandated by their IEPs, as well as crisis intervention and interpersonal counseling for students by appointment.
Specialized programs available:
Collaborative Services:
Upon the recommendation of the IEP team, students are placed in regular education courses. Special education staff members will teach collaboratively with the regular education teachers and make appropriate accommodations for students in the regular education setting. Special education teachers will plan with regular education teachers and direct teacher assistants in implementing accommodations for students.
CCORE Programs (Cross Categorical Curriculum Offering Reality Bases Education):
Community based education, including speech and social work, in reality-based education.
Clare Woods Academy:
An ISBE approved non-public school that serves multiple disabled students.
LIFE One: (Learning Independence for further Endeavors)
Life skills with a community based curriculum including pre-vocational training.
LIFE Two:
No formal academic curriculum based in community resources and vocational training.
Maple Park Academy:
Special education students with significant emotional issues attend Ridgewood’s alternative high school.
Metro Prep:
Therapeutic day school that focuses on instruction with intensive individual and group counseling.
Peers Program:
Special education students who require more individualized, slower paced instruction in the core curricula areas will be placed in self-contained programs. Various levels of Peers English/Social Studies and Math/Science are offered for students. Mainstream opportunities in elective classes will be available for them.
Websites that the Special Education Department found interesting:
www.educationcoffeehouse.com
www.LDOnline.org
www.redford.edu
www.dyslexia.com
www.dyslexia.org
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