Early childhood special Education
marydyn
HandoutofLRELevelsK-1231.docxLevels of Special Education LRE Placements/Service Delivery Models for K-12
Level 1: General Education Classroom (NOT PART OF SPECIAL ED SYSTEM)
· Accommodations are made by the general education teacher as needed.
· The child does not usually have an IEP.
· Examples include: Differentiation, small group or one-on-one instruction as needed, re-teaching, etc. All effective teachers do this for any child who seems to not grasp concepts/skills or who is failing behind.
Level 2: General Ed Classroom with Consultation (least restrictive/specialized)
· A special education teacher consults with the general education teacher.
· The consultation involves suggestions for strategies, resources, accommodations, and/or modifications to curriculum, materials, and strategies used by the general ed teacher with that child with special needs.
Level 3: General Ed Classroom with Accommodations
· This level can look many different ways- much depends on the philosophy of the school system toward inclusion, the number of children included within a particular classroom, and the individual needs of the child with special needs.
· This is an inclusive setting with typically developing peers in a general ed classroom.
· This is the setting where the greatest number of students with disabilities are served.
· Some examples include:
· Itinerant Teachers:
· A special ed teacher may float from general ed classroom to general ed classroom, giving assistance or individual help to children with special needs in their regular classrooms. This is called an “itinerant teacher.”
· The special ed teacher may work with an individual child or a small group of children who all need help on the same skills. These children in the small group do not have to all be children with special needs.
· The itinerant teacher’s schedule is based on each special ed child’s IEP. The teacher may help one child with reading, another with math, and a third on organization.
· A school may have one or several itinerant teachers, depending on the number and needs of the special needs children within that school.
· Co-Teaching:
· This is when both a special education teacher and a general ed teacher teach together in the same room.
· There are both general ed children and usually several students with disabilities who are included.
· The teachers may team teach, one may teach the lesson while the other moves around the room and assists any child who needs help-but focuses mainly on the included children, or one teacher may teach the lesson, while the other works with a small group of children on a skill or concept.
· Another format is that one teacher teaches the lesson while the other works one-on-one with an included child during all or part of the lesson-the child the teacher works with may vary depending on the subject being taught.
· Resource Room:
· The child leaves the general ed classroom for a set amount of time per day or week for special instruction from the special education teacher in the special ed teacher’s room. This room is called the resource room.
· This is the first model where the child leaves the regular education room for academic services.
· Usually a resource room teacher has children coming to him/her all day for various subject areas. These children may be assisted individually or in small groups.
· Again, a school may have one or several resource room teachers, depending on the number and needs of the special needs children within that school.
· Support Services :
· Aides, paraprofessionals, attendants or scribes may accompany the child for only particular classes or for the whole day. These support professionals may provide personal assistance, mobility assistance, writing/reading assistance, speaking/communication assistance, or other needed services that the included student requires.
· At this level, any services a child with special needs would receive are usually provided within the general ed classroom or the student leaves the gen ed classroom for short periods-this includes: occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and/or language services, additional instructional time for needed subjects or concepts, including ESL (English as a Second Language) or specialized services for mobility (for children of low vision) or other specially needed services for the included child.
Level 4: Self-Contained Classroom with Inclusive Opportunities
· This is a classroom where all children in the class have special needs and are taught by a special ed teacher with at least one aide.
· This classroom is within a general ed public school.
· Most of the school day will be spent with the special education teacher and all or some of the students will have general education inclusion when/where appropriate. Sometimes these inclusive opportunities are for the whole class (for example, they all go to PE class with general ed classroom) or sometimes they are for small groups of the students. The aide or teacher may accompany these small groups to the gen ed setting or they may go on their own.
Level 5: Full Time Self-Contained Classroom
· This is a classroom where all children in the class have special needs and are taught by a special ed teacher and an aide.
· This classroom is within a general ed public school.
· Within a self-contained classroom, the special education teacher has her students all day long.
· There are few opportunities for inclusion but transition services/skills are available/taught.
Level 6: Special Day School
· This is a school which has an entire population of children within the school have special needs.
· At this level, the child is no longer in a general ed school.
· These special day schools can be part of the public school system or may be private.
· A few special day schools have partnerships with general ed schools to promote inclusive activities/opportunities.
Level 7: Residential School
· This is the most restrictive/specialized setting in special education.
· This is a school where children stay overnight. Some children/schools may have weekend visits home. Some may not.
· Typically, residential schools are reserved for two populations: children with deafness or blindness, or those with severe disabilities and medical needs who cannot be served at home.
Think of these levels as a triangle. Most students are served at the bottom of the triangle, where it is bigger. This would represent Levels 1-4. Fewer children are served as each level increases. Therefore, there are far fewer children in level 6 placements than level 2.
NOTE: This LRE document does NOT include home and hospital instruction. That is outside of the classroom, and conducted by teachers (within and outside of) the public school setting. Home and hospital instruction is usually short term, but for a very few, it is the best way to provide the services the child needs.
· Developed and written by Teresa L. Bridger, Ph.D.
At levels 1-3 the general education teacher is the primary teacher.
At levels 4-7 the special education teacher is the primary teacher.
