Eligibility for Services

Special Education

IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Public Law 101-476

This legislation ensures that students with a disability are provided with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs.  The 13 disability categories of IDEA are listed below. A student with one or more of these disabilities must require specialized instruction in order to make progress in school and therefore qualify for special education services.   

  • Autism
  • Deaf-blindness
  • Deafness
  • Emotional Disturbance
  • Hearing Impairment
  • Multiple Disabilities
  • Orthopedic Impairment
  • Other Health Impairment (Various Medical diagnosis, including ADD, ADHD)
  • Specific Learning Disability (Math, Reading, Written Expression, Dyslexia)
  • Speech or Language Impairment
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Visual Impairment

Link to ISBE: Special Education Parent Information

Each year a copy of the Procedural Safeguards and rights for students with disabilities are furnished to all parents and/or guardians of students with disabilities receiving special education and related services. See the current version of the Procedural Safeguards below.

Procedural Safeguards (English)

Procedural Safeguards (Spanish)

 

Section 504: Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Students with disabilities who do not qualify for services under IDEA, may be eligible for services under Section 504 due to its broader definition.  A student must be determined to have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.  Major life activities may include:

  • Caring for one’s self
  • Performing manual tasks
  • Walking
  • Seeing
  • Hearing
  • Speaking
  • Breathing
  • Learning
  • Working 

Office for Civil Rights: FAQ on Section 504 

Section 504 Procedural Safeguards

 

Request for Evaluation

If you would like to request that your student be considered for an evaluation, please reach out to your student’s counselor. Students with a disability may qualify under the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) or Section 504: Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The counselor will consider this request with the building ASSIST team that meets weekly. If your student has been identified by a doctor or another professional as having a disability, please include that information in the request.  

If the school determines an evaluation is warranted for the student, an evaluation team, consisting of the parent/guardian and persons knowledgeable about the student, will meet  to consider the relevant information already gathered as well as any other needed assessment(s) to complete the evaluation.  This meeting is called a Domain Meeting. Once this team meets, the school will ask the parent/guardian for a formal consent in order to  complete the evaluation. An evaluation can not be completed without a parent/guardian’s consent.  

If the school declines to evaluate the student, the district will provide written notice to the student’s parent/guardian the reason along with the Procedural Safeguards, which outlines the parent’s/guardian’s right to challenge the school’s decision not  to evaluate the student.