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Hello Parents, Families, Teachers and Other Guests,
The Downey-Montebello Special Education Local Plan Area celebrates the teamwork of families, educators, and medical professionals as we work toward creating strong foundations for our students.
Empowering parents and bringing the special education community together has long been an active goal within the Downey-Montebello SELPA. It takes a village to care for a child and through the Downey-Montebello SELPA all members come together to bond, plan, and work toward deepening our understanding and partnerships.
Warm regards,
Alanna Cooper
Useful Links: California Department of Education
Special Education: CalEdFacts
Surrogate Parent Information
Surrogate Parents in California Special Education: An Overview
California Parent Organizations
The EDge Newsletter
Important Documents
Support Groups & Additional Resources
Developmental delay support and peer groups located in Southern California.
211 L.A.
Autism Society of America, LA Chapter
Autism Speaks
Challenger Baseball, Downey
Club 21
Designated Exceptional Services for Independence (D.E.S.I.)
Easterseals, Southern California
Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC)
L.A. Care Health Plan
Modern Support Services
South Central Los Angeles Regional Center (SCLARC)
Social Vocational Services
Team of Advocates for Special Kids (T.A.S.K.)
TLC Family Resource Center – Downey USD
The Whole Child
Terms and Definitions
Special Education
Special Education means specially designed instruction at no cost to parent, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institution, and in other settings, and instruction in physical education.
Related Services
Related Services means transportation and such developmental, corrective and supportive services that may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, including the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions. Related services may also include:
1. Speech-Language pathology and audiology services
2. Interpreting services
3. Psychological Services
4. Physical and occupational therapy
5. Recreation, including therapeutic recreation
6. Counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling
7. Orientation and mobility services
8. School health services and school nurse services
9. Medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purpose only
10. Social work services
11. Parent counseling
Children with Disabilities
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) defines “children with disabilities” as including children with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments including deafness, speech or language impairments, visual impairments including blindness, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments or specific learning disabilities, and who by reason thereof, need special education and related services.
Evaluation
An evaluation is an assessment of your child using various tests and measures per Education Code sections 56320-56339 and 20 U.S.C. section 1414(a), (b) and (c) to determine whether your child has a disability and the nature and extent of special and related services needed by your child for his/her educational benefit. The assessment tools are individually selected for your child and are administered by competent professionals employed by the local education agency. Testing and evaluation materials and procedures will be selected and administered so as not to be racially, culturally, or sexually discriminatory. The materials or procedures will be provided and administered in your child’s native language or mode of communication, unless it clearly is not feasible to do so.
Free Appropriate Public Education ("FAPE")
An education that: (1) is provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge to you; (2) meets the standards of the California Department of Education; and (3) is provided in conformity with a written individualized education program developed for your child to confer an educational benefit and to be implemented in a preschool, elementary or secondary school program.
Parent
The definition of parent includes: (1) person having legal custody of a child; (2) an adult student for whom no guardian or conservator has been appointed; (3) a person acting in place of a natural or adoptive parent, including a grandparent, stepparent, or other relative with whom the child lives; (4) a parent surrogate; and (5) a foster parent, if the authority of a natural parent to make education decisions on the child’s behalf has been specifically limited by court order.
Individual Education Program ("IEP")
A written document developed by your child’s IEP team that includes at least all of the following: (1) present levels of academic achievement and functional performance; (2) measurable annual goals; (3) a statement of the special educational and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, to be provided to the child; (4) an explanation of the extent to which the child will not participate with non-disabled children in the general education programs; (5) the projected date for initiation and the anticipated duration, frequency and location of the programs and services included in the IEP; and (6) appropriate objective criteria, evaluation procedures, and schedules for determining, on at least an annual basis, whether the child is achieving his or her goals.
Least Restrictive Environment ("LRE")
To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities will be educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the general education program will occur only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
Local Educational Agency ("LEA")
This term includes a school district, County Office of Education (“COE”), a Special Education Local Plan Area (“SELPA”), or a charter school participating as a member of a SELPA.
Notification of Majority Rights
Your child has the right to receive all information about his/her educational program and to make all decisions when he/she reaches the age of eighteen unless determined incompetent by state law and procedures. Non-conserved adults are presumed under the laws of the State of California to be competent.
Common Acronyms
A-L
5AAC Alternative Augmentative Communication
AB Assembly Bill
ABA Applied Behavior Analysis
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
ADD Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution
AIT Auditory Integration Training
APE Adaptive Physical Education
AS Asperger Syndrome
ASD Autism Spectrum Disorders
ASL American Sign Language
ASRD Autism Spectrum Related Disorders
AT Assistive Technology
BIP Behavior Intervention Plan
BL Blind
CAC Community Advisory Committee
CAPD Central Auditory Processing Disorder
CBI Community Based Instruction
CCS California Children Services
CDE California Department of Education
CMH County Mental Health
CP Cerebral Palsy
DBL Deaf-Blind
DCFS Department of Child and Family Services
DD Developmental Delays or Developmental Disability
DDS Department of Developmental Services
DHH Deaf/Hard of Hearing
DIS Designated Instruction and Services
DMH Department of Mental Health
DPSS Department of Public Social Services
DS Down Syndrome
DSM-V Diagnostic & Statistical Manual, 5th edition
DTT Discrete Trial Training
ECE Early Childhood Education
ECSE Early Childhood Special Education
ED Emotional Disturbance
EI Early Intervention
ELL English Language Learner
ES Education Specialist
ESL English as a Second Language
ESY Extended School Year
FAPE Free Appropriate Public Education
FAS Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
FBA Functional Behavior Assessment
FC Facilitated Communication
FREC Family Focus Resource & Empowerment Center
GATE Gifted and Talented Education
GE General Education
HI Hearing Impaired
HoH Hard of Hearing
HQT Highly Qualified Teacher
IA Instructional Assistant
ID Intellectual Disabilities
IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IEP Individualized Education Program
IFSP Individualized Family Service Plan
ISP Individual Service Plan
ITP Individualized Transition Plan
LD Learning Disability
LAS Language and Speech
LEA Local Education Agency
LEP Limited English Proficiency
LID Low Incidence Disability
LKS Landau-Kleffner Syndrome
LRE Least Restrictive Environment
LSD Language or Speech Disorder
LSH Language, Speech and Hearing Specialist (Speech Therapist)
M-Z
MD or MH Multiply Disabilities or Multiply Handicapped
NIH National Institutes of Health
NPA Non-Public Agency
NPS Non-Public School
NT Neurotypical (not disabled)
OH Orthopedically Impairment
OHI Other Health Impairment
O&M Orientation and Mobility
OSEP Office of Special Education Programs
OT Occupational Therapy
PBS Positive Behavioral Supports
PD Physical Disability
PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorder
PECS Picture Exchange Communication System
PLoP Present Level of Performance
PP Paraprofessional
PSI Preschool Intensive
PT Physical Therapy
Q Intelligence Quotient
RS Related Services
RTI Response to Intervention
SAS Supplementary Aids and Services
SB Spina Bifida
SDC Special Day Class
SE Special Education
Section 504 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
SELPA Special Education Local Plan Area
SI Sensory Integration
SLD Specific Learning Disability
SLI Speech/Language Impairment
SLP Speech/Language Pathologist
TBI Traumatic Brain Injury
TDD Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf
TS Tourette Syndrome
VI Visual Impairment
Voc Ed Vocational Education
VR Vocational Rehabilitation
WWC What Works Clearinghouse