|
Children With Special Needs
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Every year, under the federal law
known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), millions of
children with disabilities receive special services designed to meet their
unique needs. For school-aged children and youth (aged 3-21), special education
and related services are provided through the school system. These services can
be very important in helping children and youth with disabilities develop, learn
and succeed in school and other settings (National Dissemination Center for
Children with Disabilities (NICHCY), 2009).
Students with Exceptionalities
Students with disabilities or
special learning needs in Florida – called exceptionalities by the Florida
Department of Education – include children with speech or language impairment,
emotional/behavioral disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual
disabilities, specific learning disabilities, physical disabilities, sensory
impairment, developmental disabilities and gifted children.
The number of Pinellas County public school students with disabilities has
declined steadily since 2003, reflecting, in part, declining overall student
membership. In addition, the percentage of student membership having
disabilities has also declined, falling from 18.2% of total student membership
in 2003 to 15.1% in 2008. In the fall of 2008, there were 15,769 students
with disabilities and 5,613 gifted students in Pinellas County - students with
more than one exceptionality are only counted once by their primary
exceptionality.
 |
As shown in the chart below, students with communications
disorders (speech impairment, language impairment, autism spectrum disorder and
specific learning disabled) comprise the largest group of exceptionalities in
Florida, with Pinellas County having a lower percentage of students with
communications disorders than the state and other similarly sized counties
except Duval. However, the percentage of Pinellas County students classified as
having emotional disorders is double that of Florida.
The disability categories included under each exceptionality are
as follows:
- Communication - speech impaired, language impaired, autism spectrum
disorder, specific learning disabled.
- Emotional - emotional/behavioral disability
- Intellectual – intellectual disability (previously called educable,
trainable or profoundly mentally handicapped).
- Physical - orthopedically impaired, hospital/homebound, traumatic brain
injured or other health impaired.
- Developmental - developmentally delayed
- Sensory - deaf or hard of hearing, visually Impaired or duel sensory
impaired.
Funded Agencies:
PARC -
Discovery Learning Center
Achieve Tampa Bay - Child Care Outreach
Achieve Tampa Bay - Respite
Carlton
Manor - Therapeutic Group Home
NFC Coalition - Sanderlin NFC Family Center on Deafness
CCC
- Community Contracts -
R'Club -
Exceptional Student Scholarships
Other Resources:
Pinellas Indicators has ZIP Code data on
disabilities:
http://www.pinellasindicators.org/pdf/Disabilities_2000.pdf
The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence
From Florida’s McKay Scholarship Programs:
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/cr_52.pdf
|
