What is the purpose of Special Education?
The purpose of Special Education is to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet the child’s unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living.

Who can refer a child to Special Education?
Any person who is familiar with the child’s needs and has concerns over the academic and/or developmental progress of the child. This could include, but is not limited to, the child’s parent, teacher, physician, counselor, or other community service providers.

What children are eligible to receive Special Education services through the local school district?
Any child between the ages of 3 and 21, who have been evaluated and determined that they have a need for specially designed instruction is eligible for services. Those children under the age of three should be referred to your local early intervention program. Those children over the age of 21 should be referred to the local community resource center.

Whom should I contact if I would like to refer my child to the Special Education Team for the Shaker Regional School District?
The following people can be contacted for referral information:

Belmont Elementary School 267-6568
Laura Duggan (lduggan@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Tynamaria Schwaegerl (tschwaegerl@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Cadsandra Prescott (cprescott@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Sally Wedemeyer (swedemeyer@shaker.k12.nh.us)

Canterbury Elementary School 783-9944
Kathy McGhee (kmcghee@shaker.k12.nh.us)

Belmont Middle School 267-9220
Ann Fogg (afogg@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Daniel Geoffrey (dgeoffrey@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Annie Vomacka (avomacka@shaker.k12.nh.us)  
Julie McHugh-Kramer (jmchugh-kramer@shaker.k12.nh.us)

Belmont High School 267-6525
Sharon Akerstrom (sakerstrom@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Andrew Brauch (abrauch@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Charlie Roberts (croberts@shaker.k12.nh.us)
Andrew Takantjas (atakantjas@shaker.k12.nh.us)

Who is part of the educational resource team at each school?
The team involves a group of special education professionals who have training in a variety of areas. At a minimum, this team would include the child’s classroom teacher, a special education teacher, guidance counselor, parent, and any other person familiar with the child. Additional persons may include Occupational Therapist, Speech and Language Pathologist, School Psychologist, Behavior Specialist, or Physical Therapist.

Once a referral has been made, what is the next step?
Once a referral has been submitted to the team, someone from the school will contact you to set up a meeting. The team has 15 days to hold this meeting. At this time, there will be a discussion of your child’s needs and difficulties. Samples of his/her work are often shown to display areas of weaknesses. Parents are encouraged to provide the school with any medical or psychological information that may pertain to the child’s difficulties. Once the team discusses the child’s needs, they will determine if any assessments should be completed.

What type of assessments can be done and who does them?
The Shaker Regional School District employs certified specialists who can complete these various evaluations.

Evaluations that may be done can include:

Academic: This assessment explores the degree to which a student has mastered academic skills appropriate for his or her age and grade placement in areas such as reading, mathematics, spelling, and writing.

Adaptive Behavior: This evaluation measures a student’s ability to care for him/herself and deal with the practical demands of a person’s environment

Communication Skills: This evaluation explores the student’s ability to understand oral and written language.

Intelligence: This evaluation explores the student’s reasoning skills, conceptual thinking, problem solving, perceptual skills, communication skills, memory and motor skills. Intelligence tests often yield information about a student’s learning strengths and weaknesses and learning style.

Motor: An assessment of fine and gross motor skills.

Observation: An observation of the student in their regular education setting is often done so that information can be collected about the student’s approach to academic tasks, his/her ability to deal with distractions, interactions with peers, and other aspects of school behavior and performance.

Social/Emotional Status: This evaluation explores a student’s motivation, attitudes, relationships with others, self-concept, and behavior as it relates to their educational functioning.

Vocational: This assessment is typically done when a student reaches the age of 16. This evaluation explores a student’s interests, aptitudes, and abilities as it relates to job performance.Q: How long does it take until I get the results of these evaluations? What is the next step in the special education process?A: At the referral review meeting, the parent will be asked to sign a permission to evaluate form. This form authorizes the special education team to complete the appropriate evaluations. The team then has 45 calendar days to complete the evaluations and have another meeting. An extension to this time frame can be attained if both the parents and the school agree. Extensions may be obtained for various reasons such as school vacations or excessive absences. Once the evaluations are done, another meeting is held to review the evaluations.

What happens when the team recommends the identification of my child?
When the evaluations are completed, the team must review them with the parent and determine if the child is eligible to be identified as educationally handicapped according to the New Hampshire State Standards for the Education of Handicapped Students. Identification can be made in many different areas.
These areas include:
Mental Retardation
Hearing Impairment
Deafness
Speech/Language Impairment
Visual Impairment
Seriously Emotional Disturbance
Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impaired
Specific Learning Disability
Deaf-Blindness
Multiple Disabilities
Autism
Traumatic Brain Injury
Developmental Delay

In order to be identified as educationally handicapped, the student must:exhibit one of the conditions listed above, that condition must impact the child’s academic performance and the child must be in need of specially designed instruction (special education)

What will happen if the team does not recommend that my child be identified as educationally handicapped?
If your child is found to not be in need of special education services, the team can provide modifications or suggestions to the classroom teacher in order to assist the child in the classroom. Referral to appropriate agencies may also be appropriate.

If I agree to the identification of my child, what is the next step of the process?
Once the child has been identified, a case manager will be assigned to your child. The case manager is a special education teacher who has been trained to work with students with a variety of disabilities. This is the main contact person for all special education services and questions. The case manager will then set up another meeting in order to develop an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) and to discuss placement options. This meeting is to be held within 30 days of the determination of eligibility.

What is an IEP? How is placement determined?
An IEP is a plan that will describe your child and the services that they are going to receive. The plan will include such things as your child’s strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, transportation or behavioral needs. The IEP will also include specific goals that the team would like to work on throughout the year. These goals should be measurable so that progress throughout the year can be assessed. Once the parent has approved the IEP, placement recommendations are made. The team must consider what the least restrictive environment for the child is.

The continuum of placements include:
Regular Classroom
Regular Classroom with special consultation to the classroom teacher
Regular Classroom with assistance by Special Education Staff
Regular Classroom plus part time Special Education Class
Full time Special Education Class
Full time/Part time Special Day School
Full time Residential Placement Home based programming
Hospital or institution

The team will consider all needs of the child in order to determine the best setting for that child to meet with academic success.

The case manager of my child recommended related services at his/her IEP meeting. What does this mean?
Related services are supportive services required to help a student benefit from his/her special education.

These services can include such things as:
Speech Therapy
Counseling or Psychological Services
Occupational Therapy
Transportation
Physical Therapy
Audiology
Parent Training

How often will I meet with the team to discuss my child?
The team will meet at a minimum of one time per year. IEP and Placement must be reconsidered each year. Evaluations and determination of eligibility are done every three years, unless determined by the team that they should be done sooner. You can also request a monitoring meeting at any time to discuss your child’s progress. Simply contact your child’s case manager to do this. Quarterly progress notes are sent home indicating your child’s progress on his/her IEP goals.

What if I don’t agree with the decisions that the team has made in regards to my child?
The first thing to do in this instance is to ask the case manager for a meeting to further discuss what your concerns are. If the situation is not resolved to your satisfaction, contact the districts Special Education Director and discuss the issue with him/her. If this still does not resolve the problem, you have several options.

These may include:
Mediation
Neutral Hearings
Filing a formal complaint with the Dept. of Education
Requesting a Due Process Hearing

Your child’s case manager or the Director of Special Education can provide you with information pertaining to these issues.

How can I, as a parent, help support my child’s educational growth and special needs?
A parent can help support their child’s needs in several ways. They can include such things as:

Provide consistency at home in regards to routines and homework schedules.
Be in contact with school personnel when issues do arise and assist the team in resolving them.
Offer to volunteer in your child’s classroom
Provide the team with additional information concerning your child’s health and emotional status.
Attend all meetings and take a proactive approach to the support of the educational needs of your child. Encourage your child to work hard and put forth their best efforts.
Discuss the special needs of your child with him/her.