SPECIAL EDUCATION

Through an individualized educational program, prepare students to become productive citizens within our community.

The goal of the Special Services Department is to meet each student’s individual needs. Through collaboration with related services, general education, administration, and parents we are able to define and address the needs of our students. We are proud to be able to offer a full continuum of services beginning from birth through graduation. With an emphasis on inclusion, our teams proactively discuss each student’s needs within the least restrictive environment.

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

DISTRICT
Executive Director
Shay Carter (Oversight of the Special Education Department)

Coordinators
Lauren Averill - (Oversight of Pioneer Ridge Middle, Trail Ridge Middle, and Gardner Edgerton High)

Kelly Edwards - (Oversight of Gardner Elementary and Wheatridge Middle) 

Jennie Kruckenberg, Ph.D. - (Oversight of Early Childhood, Behavior Specialists, and Moonlight Elementary) 

Olivia Riscovallez - (Oversight of related services, Edgerton Elementary, Grand Star Elementary, Madison Elementary, Nike Elementary, and Sunflower Elementary) 

Administrative Assistants
Missy Burling - MIS Clerk

Rose O'Dea - PK-12 Special Services (including ELL, 504, and Special Education)

Angie Plank - PK-12 Special Services (including ELL, 504, and Special Education)

CONTACT
Administrative Offices
231 E. Madison Street (physical address)
P.O. Box 97 (mailing address)
Gardner, Kansas 66030
Phone: (913) 856-2080

Department Information

USD231

Early Childhood

The purpose of the Early Childhood Special Education program is to provide early intervention services to children aged 3-5 (who are not yet kindergarten-eligible) who exhibit severe developmental delays. These delays are addressed through an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

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Life Skills Program

Specialized Program for Development and Application of Life Skills 

(Located in selected elementary/middle school and the high school) 

Life Skills Program is a functional program for students who have the most significant disabilities and need to learn functional life skills. The Life Skills program focuses on teaching students whose comprehensive data shows delays in functional academic skills, daily living skills, vocational, recreational/leisure, and communication skills. 

Students will actively engage in rigorous learning throughout the school day in various settings. Students participating in the  Life Skills program will also have access to all activities available to non-disabled peers to the greatest extent possible (activities such as grade-level field trips, assemblies, lunch, etc.).

Students within the Life Skills program with behavior challenges may need a Behavior Intervention Plan  (BIP). The IEP team will develop this plan to use the information from the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA). Data will be collected and reviewed periodically to determine if BIP changes are needed.

Programming and instruction are based on individual student needs; these needs may be met through whole group, small group, or individual instruction within the special education and general education setting. Students within the Life Skills program participate in an alternative curriculum developed to address educational and functional needs. 

Skills will include

  • Functional Academics: Skills that represent an application of an academic skill (e.g., reading, writing, math) to a real-life situation at home, on the job, or in the community. Instruction may be aligned with the essential elements.

  • Community-Based Instruction (CBI): This instruction incorporates IEP goals/objectives into lessons implemented outside of the school environment, providing experiences that will prepare students for tasks within the community.  

  • Personal Maintenance: Skills necessary for self-care, including eating, grooming, dressing, toileting, and health care. 

  • Activities of Daily Living: Skills necessary to participate in home life and the community. This includes skills associated with food preparation, shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc. 

  • Interpersonal Communication and Social Skills: Skills necessary to communicate and interact with others. This includes skills required to respond to others,  follow directions, indicate preferences, communicate, etc. 

  • Pre-Vocational Skills: Skills that are necessary to secure and maintain a job. This includes skills in specific employment, work habits, and job-related behaviors. 

  • Recreation and Leisure Skills: Skills used to engage in leisure activities for pleasure

USD231

Reaching Independence by Strengthening Emotional Skills (RISE)

The purpose of the RISE program is to provide a structured environment and inclusion support specifically designed to increase a student’s ability to self-regulate their emotions and behavior and to promote self-advocacy.

The goal of the program is for students to become independent in their use of these strategies so they successfully participate and learn in the general education classroom. The program supports students with significant internalizing and/or externalizing behaviors. 

Due to the nature, intensity, duration, and frequency of behaviors, the student's ability to access the general education curriculum and instruction has been greatly impacted. It presents as the primary barrier to their learning throughout the entire school environment. The needs of students in the RISE program cannot be met without the direct instruction and generalization of specially designed instruction in social-emotional learning throughout the school day and environment. Team members actively collaborate to best support student needs.

Skills Include:

Social/Emotional Instruction
Social skills require direct, intensive, and individualized interventions in the areas of social communication, self-regulation, accountability, and self-advocacy.  Instruction and strategies will focus on putting a framework in place to begin teaching the skill and then generalizing the skill across other educational environments. These interventions will focus on supporting the behavior as a form of communication.  Students are taught to appropriately communicate wants and needs, how to appropriately respond to expectations, and how to work through the perspective of others. 

Executive Functioning
Students require comprehensive, cohesive teaming across the school environment. Skills are worked on collaboratively among all service providers, and instruction occurs on an ongoing basis, including, but not limited to, task initiation, problem-solving, emotional control, impulse control, and self-monitoring.

Academic Instruction
Students may have academic needs that require specially designed instruction focusing on skills in reading, math, and/or written language. 

Functional Needs
Students may require instruction in fine motor, gross motor, speech/language, and adaptive (daily living skills, functional academics, etc).

Communications Program

Specialized Program for Strengthening Language, Communication, and Social Skills 

(Located in selected elementary/middle school and the high school) 

The Communications Program is an individualized educational program for students whose comprehensive data shows delays in communication, social awareness,  emotional reciprocity, and possible cognitive delays. The Communications program focuses on providing highly structured learning, intensive behavioral support, and intense social skills and communication support to develop foundational skills to increase inclusion in the general education setting.  

Students will be actively engaged in rigorous learning throughout the school day in a variety of settings. Students that participate in the Communications program will also have access to all activities available to non-disabled peers to the greatest extent possible, including (but not limited to) activities such as: grade level field trips, assemblies, lunch, etc. Students within the Communications program with behavior challenges may need a Behavior Intervention Plan  (BIP). The IEP team will develop this plan to use the information from the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA). Data will be collected and reviewed periodically to determine if BIP changes are needed.

Programming and instruction is based on extensive modification to the general education curriculum or instruction on the alternative curriculum. This instruction will be presented in small group or individual instruction within the special education and general education setting. This specialized program uses research-based methods to create individualized programs based on the student's learning style, developmental level, and communication levels to address individualized needs and skills. 

Skills will include: 

  • Explicit Instruction: Skills that the student should know or should be taught explicitly. Explicit learning needs to be generalized throughout the educational setting and the student's day.

  • Attention: Skills such as attention to a task will be addressed. This may include arranging the environment to decrease distractions and providing daily transitional cues.

  • Executive Functioning: Students will be taught time management and organization skills using visuals, structure, and routine.  

  • Communication: Expressive/Receptive-Functional communication skills are necessary for the student to get basic needs and wants met.  

  • Social Communication: Skills will be taught to help understand multiple perspectives as many of society's social norms are unwritten and re-enforced nonverbally, which is difficult for these students to decode and interpret

  • Sensory Processing: Skills to regulate the sensory system are necessary to avoid becoming overwhelmed by sensory input. Regulating students' sensory system allows students to attend to tasks, engage in social interactions, and minimize challenging behaviors.

  • Recreation and Leisure Skills: Skills that are used to engage in free time activities for pleasure.

Skills may include: 

  • Functional Academics: Skills that represent an application of an academic skill (e.g., reading, writing, math) to a real-life situation at home, on the job, or in the community.

Instruction may be aligned with the essential elements

  • Community-Based Instruction (CBI): This instruction incorporates IEP goals/objectives into lessons implemented outside of the school environment, providing experiences that will prepare students for tasks within the community.  

  • Personal Maintenance: Skills necessary to self-care, including eating, grooming, dressing, toileting, and health care. 

  • Activities of Daily Living: Skills necessary to participate in home life and the community. This includes skills associated with food preparation, shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc.