Programs & Services

The Chestnut Ridge School District is committed to identifying and providing an appropriate education to all students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.  This is accomplished by offering a continuum of supports and services in the district's special education programs.  

 

The district also provides a Student Support Team (SST) process as a pre-referral step. During this process, a team utilizes a problem-solving approach, Response to Intervention (RTI), and/or Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to provide research-based intervention, data collection and analysis.  The team can recommend interventions for academic, social/emotional needs, and/or behavioral needs.  The SST team and parent can agree at any point in the process that a special education evaluation is necessary and appropriate.  If that occurs, the student shall be evaluated by the district in order to determine whether the student has a disability and requires specially designed instruction. 

 

Students may qualify for special education services if they meet a "two-pronged" test of eligibility.  First, the student must meet eligibility criteria by having a disability.  The educational disability categories include autism, deaf-blindness, emotional disturbance, deafness, hearing impairment, specific learning disability, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, speech or language impairment, visual impairment including blindness, and traumatic brain injury. Second, the student must demonstrate a need for special education.

 

If a student qualifies for special education services, a variety of supports and services may be offered.  While many supports are offered within the district, some classrooms are shared by neighboring districts or provided by other providers and may be offered at various locations that are not on the Chestnut Ridge school campus.

 

Special education services are provided based on the needs of the student, not the category of disability.  Supports may be itinerant (less than 20% of the day), supplemental (between 20%-80%), or full-time (80%+).  These supports include the following categories.