About Special Education

Special Education is specialized instruction specific to the student at no cost to parents. The instruction is designed to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. Children must meet specific criteria set by the State of Minnesota and the Federal Government to receive special education services. Special Education is an instructional service, not a place.

Students Served

In order to qualify for special education services, a student needs to be evaluated and meet criteria for a specific disability area as outlined by the Minnesota Department of Education. In addition, the student needs to show that their disability impacts their academic achievement. Some students will have a medical diagnosis but will not demonstrate an educational need and would not qualify. Some students will qualify for an educational diagnosis but will not have a medical diagnosis.

The recognized disabilities in Minnesota currently are:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Blind or Visually Impaired
• Deaf and Blind
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Developmental Adaptive Physical Education
• Developmental Cognitive Disability
• Developmental Delay (ages birth through 7)
• Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
• Other Health Disabilities
• Physically Impaired
• Severe Multiple Impairments
• Specific Learning Disability
• Speech Language Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury

If you have concerns with your child’s development, you are encouraged to contact your child’s teacher.

Resource Documents

• DCS Restrictive Procedures Plan: a paper copy is available upon request.

• Total Special Education Systems Manual (TSES)

         The Total Special Education Systems Manual outlines the policies and procedures for our special education department. It guides the special education department when making decisions on how to identify students, the steps in the evaluation process, steps to determining eligibility for special education services, and aspects of the Individual Education Plan (IEP).