Special/Gifted Education
Welcome to the Office of Special Education and the School Psychologist
- Special Education
- Learning Support
- Emotional Support
- Autistic Support
- Life Skills Support
- Transition Services
- Speech and Language Support
- Community-Based Instruction Programming
- Gifted Education
- Concussion Management
The Forest Hills School District provides an extensive range of educational services and support for students with special needs within our schools. The continuum of programs and services for children with disabilities varies in accordance with the changing needs of the student of our community.
- Participates on the Student Assistance Team and/or Instructional Support Team Activities.
- Participates in Individualized Education Program (IEP) planning for all exceptional students in out-of-district placements, all original placements, and any other IEP request of teachers, administrators, or parent.
- Provides in-service training to district staff on matters of special education programs and psychological services.
- Develops districts special education plan in coordination with the Superintendent and Director of Education.
- Coordinates itinerant and other Intermediate Unit 08 services with the appropriate IU personnel.
- Participates in the hiring process of professional and non-professional special education staff.
- Represents district at interagency conferences and/or planning meetings.
- Observes and evaluates the in-class performance of all tenured/non-tenured special education teachers.
The school psychologist provides support and interventions to students; consults with families, teachers, administration, staff, and other school-employed mental health professionals (i.e., school counselors, school social workers) to improve support strategies; works with school administrators to improve school-wide practices and policies; and collaborates with community providers to coordinate needed services. Some specific duties of the school psychologist include:
- Participates in Student Assistance Team activities and/or Instructional Support Team activities.
- Works with administration and staff to develop screening procedures that will identify exceptional children as well as reduce inappropriate referrals to special education.
- Assists the professional staff in generating referrals for multi-disciplinary evaluations.
- Responds to parental requests for multi-disciplinary evaluations.
- Conducts psychological and academic assessments.
- Collects and interprets student and classroom data.
- Assesses diverse learning needs.
- Observes students during classroom and other activities as necessary.
- Serves as chairperson and/or member of the multi-disciplinary evaluation team (MDT) for initial evaluations and mandated re-evaluations.
- Aids in planning appropriate Individualized Education Programs for students with disabilities.
The Special Education office is located in the Junior-Senior High School at: