Special Education
Special education is a federally mandated service program designed to serve educationally disabled students identified as having mild to profound disabilities. Confluence Academies offer a continuum of special education services to assist students with disabilities reach their potential. Our focus is to educate students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent appropriate with their non-disabled peers. Most importantly, emphasis is placed on assisting students gain knowledge and experience, grow in self-esteem, and develop social and work-related aptitudes.
The identification of an educational disability and necessary services required to address the student’s needs is a function of a referral-evaluation-eligibility-staffing process. Students qualify as an individual with an educational disability if the results of an evaluation demonstrate the degree of the student’s impairment requires special education in one or more program options. The decision as to whether or not the assessment results demonstrate the degree of the student’s impairment requires special education shall be made by the individualized education program team. The individualized education program shall take into account all the relevant material available on the student; no single score or product of scores shall be used as the sole criterion for the decision of the individualized education program team as to the student’s eligibility for special education. The staffing involves parents, school administrators, regular education teacher(s), special education personnel and the student when appropriate. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) for the student is developed by the staffing team and reviewed yearly with modification made if needed.
The special education department is dedicated to providing an overall system that connects and communicates in such a way that all students with special needs are served appropriately.
Special education services are provided for students with:
- intellectual disabilities
- visual impairment/blindness
- multiple disabilities
- specific learning disabilities
- emotional disturbance
- speech and language impairment
- traumatic brain injury
- autism
- orthopedic impairment
- deaf/blindness
- other health impairments
- hearing impairment and deafness
Every child is entitled to a public education regardless of disability. Children with disabilities may go without services because families are not fully aware of their options. If you know of a child, birth to age 22, who you feel may be in need of special education services, please contact Confluence’s Special Education Director, Dr. DiAnna Thompson, at (314) 588-8554 or [email protected].