Special Education

Welcome to MSAD 53 Special Education

 MSAD 53 offers extensive services to students with disabilities ranging from direct special education instruction to accommodations in the regular classroom.

What is special education?

Special Education is designed to make sure that students with educationally-related disabilities have an appropriate education.  It includes trained teachers and special teaching materials and techniques.  It includes programs for students with any of the following conditions that interfere with education:  intellectual disabilities, emotional disabilities, learning disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, speech or language impairments, health problems, physicals disabilities, autism or traumatic brain injury.  Special education is intended to give students with educational disabilities a better chance of success in school.  Special education may be provided in a regular classroom where the teacher gets help from a special education teacher or the student may receive help in a resource room, speech room or other specially designed education setting.  The important point is that special education is designed with the individual student's needs in mind and that it provides an education that will benefit the student.  All educationally disabled students are entitled to educational and supportive services that will meet their needs at no cost to the parents.

What are supportive services?

Supportive services are those that are necessary for a student to benefit from special education services.  These may include special transportation, physical and occupational therapy and speech services.  Not all services from which a student may benefit are included under law as a supportive service.  Your child will be entitled only to the supportive services found to be necessary for your child to benefit from special education services.  For example, if the child is in need of physical therapy because of a muscular problem but that muscular problem does not affect the child's education, that child would not be entitled to physical therapy through special education.