Services to district-resident students with disabilities are available, through special education, for all eligible students, ages birth through twenty-one.

Special programs are provided to students identified as having disabilities in any of the following areas:

• Autism
• Emotional Disability
• Hearing Impairment
• Other Health Impairments
• Specific Learning Disability
• Mild, Moderate or Severe Intellectual Disability
• Multiple Disabilities
• Multiple Disabilities with Severe Sensory Impairment
• Orthopedic Impairment
• Preschool Moderate Delay
• Preschool Severe Delay
• Preschool Speech/Language Delay
• Speech/Language Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impairment
• Developmental Delay
   

For birth through age 2, MUSD will refer students to Arizona Early Intervention Services. You may contact the MUSD office at 682-4782 for more information.

For ages 3 through 5, services are provided by the district preschool child find office (520-682-4815).  Services include screening, referral for an evaluation, identification and placement of students who qualify for special education.

For ages 5 through 21, services are provided at each school and include screening, referring for evaluation, evaluating, identifying and placing disabled students into appropriate services.  Questions about these matters should be directed to the building principal, school psychologist or Special Education office (520-682-4782).

Screening

1. Screening of a student’s abilities in the areas of vision, hearing, cognitive or academic skills, communication, motor, social or behavioral skills and adaptive development shall be completed within 45 calendar days after enrollment for each kindergarten student and new student enrolling without appropriate screening records from his previous school.
2. In addition to formal hearing and vision screening, screening includes use of teacher rating scales, progress reports and/or observation reports to find students who should be referred for formal evaluation, due to a suspected disability.  Screening activities do not include detailed individual evaluation procedures such as psychological testing.
3. The school must inform the parents, within 10 school days, of any concerns arising from screening and inform them of proposed follow up on the student’s needs.
4. Records of screening results will be maintained in the student’s cumulative file.

Referral for Evaluation

Students about whom there is a concern, as a result of screening, will be referred for a full individual evaluation or other services.  Written parental consent for referral is required.  The parent consent shall be sought/obtained within 15 calendar days after the disposition of the referral/determination to evaluate.

The written notice of referral will include a copy of the procedural safeguards available to the parents of a child with a disability.

Children under the age of five should be referred to the Play & Learn Preschool Center (PAL) for evaluations to be scheduled.  School-age children should be referred to the in-building child study team.

Evaluation and Identification

1. A written evaluation shall be prepared by a multidisciplinary team, which will include at least one teacher or other specialist with knowledge in the area of the suspected disability, a regular education teacher, the evaluator, and the parent.  The evaluation shall include determination of the student’s primary language.
2. The evaluation shall be completed within 60 calendar days after obtaining written consent of the parent/guardian for the evaluation, or absent such consent, within 60 calendar days following mediation of due-process procedures.
   The evaluation shall assess the capabilities and limitation of the student in all areas of suspected disability, including where appropriate health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities.
3. Evaluation data shall include evaluations and information provided by the parents of the child, current classroom based assessments, observations by teachers and related service providers, and additional data, as needed, to determine if the student is a child with disability under one of the categories of IDEA and state law.
4. Children, who are identified as having a disability, will be provided an individualized educational program, which requires parent consent for initiation.

The goal of the Exceptional Student Services Department is to provide a free appropriate public education for all students with disabilities. Our District offers a continuum of service options for students between the ages of 3 and 21. Services are delivered in the student’s least restrictive environment at no cost to the family, based on needs determined by the Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Exceptional Student Services programs include related services such as psychological testing, speech pathology, occupational and physical therapy, and a preschool program for disabled students servicing ages 3-5 years.

For additional information, contact 682-4782 or visit the Exceptional Student Services on the District website at www.maranausd.org/edservices.