Directorate of Ontario

Early Childhood Special Education²⁶¹

School districts and other public agencies are responsible for locating, identifying, and evaluating eligible children and offering a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). Special education and related services for preschool age is referred to as early childhood special education (ECSE). It is important to remember that special education is not a place but a system of services and supports for children with disabilities.

ECSE services are provided through federal funding under the IDEA and state general revenue funds.

Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP)²⁶²

State advisory panel:

In General – The State has established and maintains an advisory panel for providing policy guidance with respect to special education and related services for children with disabilities in the state.

Membership – Such advisory panel shall consist of members appointed by the Governor, or any other official authorized under State law to make such appointments, be representative of the State population, and be composed of individuals involved in, or concerned with, the education of children with disabilities, including:

Parents of children with disabilities (ages birth through 26);

Individuals with disabilities;

Teachers;

Representatives of institutions of higher education that prepare special education and related services personnel;

State and local education officials, including officials who carry out activities under subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act;

Administrators of programs for children with disabilities;

Representatives of other State agencies involved in the financing or delivery of related services to children with disabilities;

Representatives of private schools and public charter schools;

Not less than one representative of a vocational, community, or business organization concerned with the provision of transition services to children with disabilities; and

A representative from the State child welfare agency responsible for foster care; and

Representatives from the State juvenile and adult corrections agencies.

Duties – The advisory panel shall:

Advise the State educational agency of unmet needs within the State in the education of children with disabilities;

Comment publicly on any rules or regulations proposed by the State regarding the education of children with disabilities;

Advise the State educational agency in developing evaluations and reporting on data to the Secretary under section 618;

Advise the State educational agency in developing corrective action plans to address findings identified in Federal monitoring reports under this part; and

Advise the State educational agency in developing and implementing policies relating to the coordination of services for children with disabilities.

Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center.

Raising Special Kids provides information, training, resources, and support to families of children with disabilities and special health care needs in Arizona. Experienced staff lend an understanding ear and assist families in identifying and locating appropriate resources. Workshops offer training in a variety of skills including advocacy, effective communication and collaboration techniques.²⁶⁴

On October 1, 2012, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and Raising Special Kids began forging a partnership to strengthen and improve the delivery of parent training and assistance in special education. This partnership is committed to providing a coordinated network to help parents of children with the full range of disabilities understand their roles and responsibilities in special education.

On July 1, 2013, Raising Special Kids and the ADE Parent Information Network (PIN) merged their parent training activities to create a “one-stop shop” for parents to increase their knowledge and skills for participation and decision-making in special education. The resources formerly provided by the PIN, including documents, trainings, and the lending library, are now available through Raising Special Kids.

The July 1 merger features the following for parents, school districts and other professionals:

Statewide parent information and training on various topics to assist parents in:

Understanding the special education process

Working with professionals to understand and support their child

Learning advocacy skills to appropriately participate in meetings

Special Education resource documents on a variety of topics

A local, regional, and national disability resource directory

Access to a DVD lending library featuring special education and disability topics

Regional support teams in Northern Arizona, Central Arizona, Southern Arizona

A toll-free help line (1-888-877-5910) for parents staffed by trained and knowledgeable specialists

All information, training and support provided in English and in Spanish

Arizona Department of Education at Short Term Loan Library²⁶⁵

The program is designed to provide short-term (4 weeks) loans of assistive technology for learning products to be used for the following purposes:

Consideration/Assessment as part of the IEP development process or IEP recommendations

Classroom implementation on a time limited basis

Serve as temporary loaner during device repair or while waiting for funding

Provide an accommodation for a student on a short-term basis

Professional development (teacher training, skill development, etc.)

This program is not intended to provide long-term use of equipment either for student specific or classroom use.

Public Education Agencies

Public education agencies (PEAs) are required by state and federal statute to provide accessible instructional materials in a timely manner to students with print disabilities. In 2006, a National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) was finalized to provide consistency in the electronic source files used to produce these accessible materials. Later that year, the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Center (NIMAC) began operations. The NIMAC is designed to aid schools in the provision of accessible materials by acting as a central repository for NIMAS files. Files are placed in the NIMAC by textbook publishers as a condition of purchase contracts for materials adopted by the PEAs. PEAs must decide to opt-in or opt-out of utilizing the NIMAC. However, choosing to opt-out does not relieve the PEA of its obligation to provide accessible instructional materials in a timely manner.

Files placed in the NIMAC may only be used to produce accessible instructional materials for students with individualized education programs (IEPs) who meet the criteria of a person with a visual impairment or print disability as defined in a 1931 federal law (2 USC. 135a; 46 Stat. 1487) commonly known as the Chaffee Amendment.

While anyone may search the NIMAC, only authorized users may request or download files. In Arizona, the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services (ADE/ESS) is the only authorized user. Schools wishing to access a NIMAC file submit a request to ADE/ESS that then authorizes a download and assigns the file to an Accessible Media Producer for the creation of the accessible instructional material in whatever format is required.²⁶⁶

Web Accessibility²⁶⁷

The Arizona Department of Administration – Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology Office shall develop, implement and maintain a coordinated statewide plan for information technology, including, adopting statewide technical, coordination, and IT policy and standards.

The policy focuses on providing an accessibility model in which web content authors, format designers, and software developers within State agencies understand their roles in providing persons with disabilities, access to existing and developing State web sites. The following web page designs and features for completing the accessibility model are to be addressed for all State web sites.

Graphics: Simple images; linked images; content images; graphical text; ASCII Art; list bullets; spacer images; animated graphics-text equivalent; animated graphics-frame rate.

Information in Color: Information in color and colour contrast

Moving Content: Static background color and moving text

Downloadable Files: Graphics in downloadable files and PDF files

Repetitive Content: Skipping navigation links

Data Tables: Identifying row and column headers and using SCOPE to group table cells

Multimedia: Sounds 10, speech-short clips (up to 60 seconds), speech-long clips, video-short clips (up to 10 seconds), and video-long clips

Image Maps: Image map graphics-text equivalent, client-side image map regions; and server-side image map regions.

Style Sheets: Style sheets.

Forms: Forms-label placement, forms-associating labels and controls, and forms-time responses

Scripts: Scripts-text equivalents and scripts-keyboard accessibility

Applets and Plug-Ins: Applets and plug-ins-links, applets and plug-ins-text equivalent information or functionality

Frames: Frames-labeling and frames-NOFRAMES elements

Keyboard Control: Keyboard control

Text-Only Pages: Text-only versions

Biometric Identification: Alternative identification

Equivalent Facilitation: Equivalent access

Grants and Loans

Funding and Finance by Arizona Department of Education²⁶⁸

Mission

To promote the development and implementation of special education through the proper allocation and distribution of federal funds. Proper funding processes ensure students with disabilities reach the highest level of achievement possible in school, the work place, and the community.

Program Description

The ESS Funding Unit distributes IDEA formula-driven, non-competitive, and discretionary, competitive grants to eligible schools throughout Arizona. The grant process is fully automated through the ADE Grants Management Enterprise system. Grants are approved, amended, and financially monitored through the automated system. There are approximately twenty grant categories and the unit processes approximately 1000 applications per year.

In addition to grants, the ESS Funding Unit manages all contracts, procurement, data collection, and budgeting for Exceptional Student Services.

Special Education Assistance to Schools²⁶⁹

The Section distributes formula-driven grants, focused-issue grants and state-appropriated funds. Grants are monitored through amendments, cash management reports, audits and other reporting requirements as identified in specific awards. The initiatives that support this mission are Fund Management, Guidance and Support, School-to-Adult-Life Transition, and Residential and Institutional Vouchers. Federal Entitlement Funds are formula-driven funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for general special education and preschool special education to support excess costs of educating students with disabilities. Special Education Placement and Residential Education Voucher Fund: Education costs of students placed in private institutions by the Department of Economic Security, Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Corrections, Department of Health Services and Juvenile Courts, as provided by A.R.S. 15-1182, Laws 1990, Chapter 164. Special Education Institutional Voucher Fund: Education costs of students attending the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB), children hospitalized in the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) and children in developmentally disabled programs operated by the Department of Health Services, in accordance with A.R.S., 15-1202. Extended School Year: Additional funds to schools to provide extended school-year programs for disabled students as provided by A.R.S. 15-881. Residential Placement Training and Residential Emergency Fund for use when the Department of Economic Security of Department of Health Services lacks funds to place students as per Laws 1991, Ch. 173. Supplemental Additional IDEA: Funds to schools that are experiencing rapid growth in the population of preschools children with disabilities, or that are initiating or expanding services in order to comply with state and federal statues relating to preschool special education.

Empowerment Assistance Program

The Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program was originally created by Arizona State Legislature to expand educational opportunities for special needs students. The program has subsequently been expanded to include students of an active duty military parent, students who are in foster care or who have been adopted, and for students attending “D or F” schools. Since the program was created by the legislative process, state law governs and houses its rules and regulations.²⁷⁰

Minimum Qualifications for the 2015-2016 School Year²⁷¹

Reside in the state of Arizona and

Meet one of the following (not applicable for military applicants):

Enrolled in an Arizona public school full time for the first 100 days of the 2014-2015 school year OR

Public school includes online public schools and charter schools

Received a School Tuition Organization (STO) scholarship for Displaced and Disabled students for the 2014-2015 school year OR

Eligible for Kindergarten

Student will be 5 but not 6 years old on or before September 1, 2015

and be identified in one of the approved student populations:

A child with a disability

A child who is a ward of the juvenile court and is residing in prospective permanent placement foster care

A child who is a ward of the juvenile court and who achieved permanency through adoption

A child who is the sibling of a current ESA recipient

A child who attended a public school assigned a letter grade of “D” or “F” for the first 100 days of the 2014-2015 school year

Children eligible for Kindergarten must reside within the boundary of a failing school

A child with an active duty military parent

A student that is eligible for preschool AND is identified as a child with special needs by the public school; must have a current IEP or MET

Post-Secondary Education Case Studies

University of Arizona²⁷²

The requirements for admission to the University of Arizona are the same for all students. Two campus resources for students with disabilities are the Disability Resource Center and the Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques (S.A.L.T.) Centre.

Disability Resource Centre

The University is committed to equal working and learning opportunities for disabled students, faculty, and staff and recognizes that accommodations or modifications may be necessary to ensure access. The mission of the Disability Resource Centre is to equalize the educational opportunities for students and provide support services for students, faculty, and staff with disabilities. The program is designed to promote full inclusion and participation in the educational experience and campus life. The Disability Resource Centre is the designated office that reviews disability documentation, certifies eligibility for services, determines reasonable accommodations, and provides or arranges for reasonable accommodations.

Other services and programs provided by the center include information/referral, problem-solving/support, Sign Language interpreters, test accommodations, alternate print formats, adaptive technology, adaptive athletics/recreation, and wheelchair/equipment repair. Training and technical assistance are also provided to the campus community.

Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques (S.A.L.T.) Centre

The S.A.L.T. Centre provides services designed to maximize the educational experience of students with specific learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders. This department provides educational support services using specially trained professional staff to guide students, teach learning and compensatory strategies, and monitor academic progress. Admission to the S.A.L.T. Centre is by application only. A fee is charged for all S.A.L.T. services.

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