Special Education

• Child Find (Spanish)
• Child Find (English)

Pleasant Grove Independent School District (PGISD) has special services available to eligible children and young adults identified with a disability. Federal and State laws require that school districts maintain a Child Find system for identifying, locating, and evaluating individuals with disabilities within its jurisdiction who are in need of special education or related services.

Child Find is a free referral and information service available through local education agencies (PGISD) and Education Service Center Region VIII. Your child must have an educational need for services which cannot be provided in general education. The Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee must determine how the disability affects participation in age appropriate activities.

Our Child Find efforts include advertising the availability of special education and related services through public notices, connections with private schools and daycares, staff training, community health fairs, and school meetings. Resources such as letters, posters, or brochures can be made available to pediatricians, community agencies, campuses, churches, and other children organizations.

Early Childhood: If you are a parent of a 3-5 year old who is not enrolled at a PGISD campus, please contact Patty Jameson at (903) 831-4086.

School Age: If you are a parent of a 3-21 year old who is enrolled at a PGISD campus, please contact your child's campus administrator or teacher to begin the referral process.

Private School/Proportionate Share: Each year Pleasant Grove ISD must set aside a proportion of federal funds for children placed in private schools by their parents, and who have been identified with special needs. If you are a parent of a child enrolled in a private school who resides in PGISD boundaries or attends a private school within PGISD boundaries, please contact your residential campus (PGISD residents) or the campus closest to your child's private school. Please note that proportionate share funds are limited and distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

Referral Process: Referrals may be initiated by parents, (ECI) Early Childhood Intervention agencies or campus staff. Students receiving services through ECI will be transitioned into the public school system starting as early as 120 days prior to their 3rd birthday. A physician or community agency may recommend that your child be referred for evaluation, however the parent must initiate the request with the district.

Eligibility: Your child must have a disability as defined within federal and state guidelines. As a result of this disability, your child must demonstrate an educational need for services. Special services are available to eligible children and young adults who may be experiencing difficulties in one or more of the following areas:

• Auditory Impairment
• Autism
• Deaf-Blindness
• Emotional Disturbance
• Intellectual Disability
• Other Health Impairment
• Multiple Impairment
• Orthopedic Impairment
• Specific Learning Disability
• Speech/Language Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impairment

Procedural Safeguards

• Notice of Procedural Safeguards (esc18.net) English
• Pro Safeguards (esc18.net) Spanish
• Additional languages can be found at Procedural Safeguards - SPEDTex

Written notice must be given to the parents of a child with a disability a reasonable time before the public agency proposes to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child; or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child. The written notice must contain required elements.

The public agency (Pleasant Grove ISD) proposing to conduct an initial evaluation to determine if a child qualifies as a child with a disability after providing notice consistent with the provision outlined in the Prior Written Notice, obtain informed consent, from the parent of the child before conducting the evaluation.

Parent's Guide to the Admission, Review, and Dismissal Process

Purpose of Special Education: Specially Designed Instruction
Special education is defined as specially designed instruction provided to meet the unique needs of a student with a disability. Specially designed instruction is designed to ensure access to the general curriculum through modifications so that the student can meet the same academic standards as his/her nondisabled peers and to ensure progress toward meeting IEP goals and objectives.
Specially designed instruction means organized and planned instructional activities typically provided by an appropriately qualified special education professional that modify, as appropriate the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction. What makes instruction truly individualized and specially designed for a student with a disability and different from what a general education student receives is how the instruction is linked to the student's IEP goals and objectives.
It should be noted, however, that specially designed instruction is fundamentally different than accommodations. Accommodations are something that teachers provide to support access to the general curriculum. Accommodations do not change what is taught, change the strategies used to teach the content or change how instruction is delivered to students. Accommodations may be considered as a means for providing differentiated instruction that is responsive to a variety of learning styles. Because of their basic nature and ease of implementation, an individual does not have to have specialized training to provide accommodations. Moreover, many accommodations are common-sense approaches for responding to the learning needs of students with or without disabilities. Students who are able to have their learning needs met effectively and sufficiently within the general education environment through the exclusive use of individual accommodations rather than specially designed instruction would not be considered a special education student in this area.

Parent Consent for Evaluation

• The activities under the IDEA cannot take place unless the school obtains the parent’s consent.
• The school must fully inform a parent of all the information needed to be able to make a decision including a description of the proposed activity.
• The information must be in the parent’s native language or other mode of communication.
• If there are records to be released, the school must list the records and to whom they will be released to.
• When a parent gives consent, it means that the parent understands and agrees in writing that the school will carry out the activity (evaluation) for which consent is sought. It is important that the parent understands that consent is voluntary and may be revoked at any time prior to the activity taking place. If a parent revokes consent for an activity, it is not retroactive. The school must maintain documentation of reasonable efforts to:
  • Obtain parental consent for initial evaluations (including detailed telephone records, copies of correspondence, and detailed records of visits made to the student’s home)
  • Provide special education and related services for the first time
  • Complete a reevaluation
  • Locate parents of wards of the state for initial evaluation.

Initial Evaluation

• The school may not evaluate a child for special education services without the parent's consent.
• Informed parental consent means that the parent understands and agrees in writing to allow the school to test his/her child.
• If the parent does not consent to the initial evaluation, the school district may, but is not required to, ask for mediation or request a due process hearing to evaluate the child.
• If the school district decides not to ask for mediation or to request a due process hearing to override a parent's refusal to consent for evaluation of their child, the school district is not in violation of the Child Find requirements under the IDEA.

• Texas Education Agency Special Education in Texas
• The Legal Framework for the Child-Centered Special Education Process

SPEDTEX DIRECT LINK

Description:

The Special Education Information Center (SPEDTex) provides resources and interactive features for increasing family awareness of disabilities and special education processes, with the goal of improving partnerships between schools and families.

Contact information:

Phone: 1-855-773-3839

Email: inquire@spedtex.org

Live Chat: Visit SPEDTex website.

The Texas Legal Framework