Eligibility for Special Education Services: 

Special education is defined by Federal (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, I.D.E.A.) and State law (California Master Plan for Special Education) as specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents to meet the unique needs of the individual with exceptional needs, whose educational needs cannot be met with modification of the regular instructional program. School-aged children with exceptional physical, communicative, or learning needs are eligible for special education and related services, when a child’s identified disability adversely impacts his/her educational performance, the student may be found eligible for special education services. 
In order to be eligible for special education, the student must exhibit one or more of the following disabling conditions: 

• Autism
• Deaf-blindness
• Deafness
• Emotional Disturbance (ED)
• Established Medical Disability (EMD)
• Hard of Hearing (HH)
• Intellectual Disability (ID)
• Multiple Disabilities (MD)
• Orthopedic Impairment (OI)
• Other Health Impairment (OHI)
• Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Speech or Language Impairment (SLI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impairment, including Blindness

However, having one of these disabilities doesn’t automatically qualify a child under IDEA. To be eligible, a student must:

• Have a disability and as a result of that disability
• Need special education to make progress in school.

Autism

A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance.

 

Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

 

A hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, which adversely affects a child's educational performance.

 

Emotional Disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics, over a long period of time and to a marked degree, that adversely affects educational performance:

• An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
• Inappropriate types of behavior or feeling under normal circumstances
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression or
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
  The term (ED) includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Established Medical Disability (EMD)

A disabling medical condition or congenital syndrome that the individualized education program (IEP) team determines has a high predictability of requiring special education and services. (This eligibility category is only applicable for children ages 3-5.)

 

Hard of Hearing means hearing, impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance, but that is not included under the definition of “deaf” in this section.

 

Significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

 

Concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.

 

A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

 

Having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment.

 

A specific learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. Eligibility for services requires that there is a significant discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the following academic areas: oral or written expression, listening or reading comprehension, basic reading skills, mathematics calculations and reasoning. Disorders not included - the term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, or mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

 

A communication disorder, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

 

Acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

 

Impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

• Procedural-Safeguards-English.pdf

• Derechos-de-educación-especial-de-los-padres-y-los-ninos-1.pdf

 

 

Narrative - A reader friendly summary of the Local Plan

 

 

The GJUESD Special Education Department invites parents to attend quarterly meetings to provide feedback on district goals, programs, and services as they pertain to students with disabilities.  The purpose of these meetings is for parents to share their experiences and provide input on improving outcomes for students with disabilities. 

 

Time: 3:30pm to 4:30pm

 

Join Zoom Meeting

 

Meeting ID: 882 6737 6297

Passcode: 309982

 

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The Sacramento County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Community Advisory Committee (CAC) may be composed of parents of students with disabilities enrolled in public or private schools, parents of students enrolled in school, students and adults with disabilities, general and special education teachers/other personnel representatives, and other private agencies concerned with the needs of students with disabilities.

The majority of CAC is required to be composed of parents of students enrolled in schools participating in the Local Plan Area, with a majority being parents of students with disabilities.

The members of the Community Advisory Committee are appointed by, and responsible to, the governing board of each participating district/LEA or county office or any combination thereof participating in the SELPA; however, all parents of students with disabilities are encouraged to attend.  

Community Advisory Committees have specific and important roles and responsibilities which are reviewed in detail in the California SELPA Community Advisory Committee Guide, 5th Edition, 2022. Every Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) is required to establish a CAC.

Meeting dates/times: TBD