What We Offer
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Irving ISD offers a variety of services to meet the needs of all students.
To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
Special Education Programs
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Inclusion
Inclusion is a service provided to students in special education who are typically working on or near grade level. Specifically, Irving ISD has adopted the co-teaching model.
This model is one in which the special education teacher or other professional works collaboratively with the general education teacher to meet the needs of all students in the classroom and to provide the needed specially designed instruction and accommodations/modifications for the special education students in the classroom.
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LIFE
The Learning in a Functional Environment (LIFE) program is a self-contained educational program for students with significant developmental disabilities in grades K-12 that access the state standards through pre-requisite skills.
In addition to academic instruction in all core subjects, LIFE programs also provide instruction in communication, daily living, and vocation.
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Resource
The Resource Program is designed to serve Special Education students who have been identified as needing extensive modifications and accommodations that could not be provided in the General Education classroom.
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Community and Career Connection (3C)
Community & Career Connection (3C) is a one-year program with a focus on functional and vocational skills. The purpose of the 3C program is to provide adult students with disabilities opportunities and experiences to be integrated into their community through work, volunteer, and/or social connections.
The goal of the program is to gain employability skills, increase community access, and participate in volunteer opportunities. All instruction will take place at the Wheeler Transition Center site and in the community. Young adults will connect to Vocational Rehabilitation and/or other adult service agencies as appropriate.
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Project SEARCH
Project SEARCH is a one-year high school transition program for students with disabilities. Participants have met all academic requirements for graduation and spend a school year reporting to the Project SEARCH host business where they learn skills needed to obtain employment.
Project SEARCH combines classroom time with a year-long unpaid internship at a local business. This combination of instruction and immersion in the workplace setting prepares interns to meet employer expectations.
Project SEARCH students gain experience in a variety of settings within the business allowing students to gain a range of skills and training opportunities.
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The Positive Approach to Student Success (PASS)
The Positive Approach to Student Success (PASS) classroom is designed to provide and teach healthy emotional and behavioral skills to students to enable them to succeed in the general education environment and life.
Placement of a student in the Irving ISD PASS classroom must be an ARD committee decision.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) regulations identifies the individual education plan (IEP) team as a group of individuals composed of:
- Parent(s)
- Regular education teacher(s)
- Special education teacher(s)
- District representative who is qualified to provide or supervise the provision of special education services and is knowledgeable about both the general curriculum and school district resources
- An individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results
- Other individuals who have the knowledge or special expertise regarding the child to include related service personnel
- The student, when appropriate.
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Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities
Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) includes a range of services available for children who are ages 3-5 and who qualify for special education services.
The goal of the ECSE program is to provide early special education intervention to students with a focus on cognitive skills, social-emotional needs, language and communication skills, and physical skills so that children may be educated in an inclusive setting and to learn skills that they can further utilize as they transition into the elementary school setting.
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Active Learning
Active learning classrooms are designed to meet the needs of learners that require exploration to learn, but have not made meaningful connections between the things they explore and their function.
Learners in the active learning classroom need sensory motor input readily available to experience and acknowledge their world and learners are developmentally functioning at a sensorimotor or preoperational (Piaget) level. Instruction is provided through a series of routines that allow the learner to anticipate, acknowledge and participate in learning.
