Ontario’s Exceptional Students

• Agreement on generalities

• Disagreement on specifics

• Understanding each others’ perspectives

• Political overtones

• Definition determines identification and access to resources

Ontario’s Student Population 1997

• 2, 12, 039 Total

• 194,140 (9.24%) Exceptional

ElementaryTotal Exceptional

Male 716,157 65,832 (9%)

Female 679,342 36,653 (5%)

1,395,499 101,485 (7%)

Secondary

Total Exceptional

Male 358,543 54,936 (15%)

Female 340,037 29,759 (8.8%)

Elementary 1997

• Male Female %

• ED 6141 1123 7

• Autistic 1473 445 2

• Deaf 900 1114 2

• LD 32,403 16,020 48

• Speech 4300 2000 6

• Gifted 8488 6543 15

Elementary 1997

• Male Female %

• Dev Mild 5227 4048 9

• Dev D 2917 1992 5

• Blind 332 228 .5

• Deaf/Blind 44 35 -

• Other Physical 784 569 1

• Multi 2823 1532 4

Secondary 1997

• Male Female %

• ED 3412 915 5

• Autistic 549 152 .8

• Deaf 408 501 1

• LD 31,578 14,350 54

• Speech 1799 925 3

• Gifted 9303 7443 20

Secondary 1997

• Male Female %

• Dev Mild 4314 3195 9

• Dev 1320 984 3

• Blind 249 164 .5

• Deaf/Blind 2 5 -

• Other Physical367 315 .8

• Multi 1635 812 3

Provincial Schools

• Brantford-W.Ross Macdonald School for deaf and deaf/blind students

• Schools for deaf students:

• London-Robarts School

• Belleville-Sir James Whitney School

• Milton-Ernest C. Drury

Demonstration Schools

• Amethyst School in London

• Sagonaska School in Belleville

• Trillium School in Milton

• For students with ADHD and severe learning disabilities

• Residential schools with small populations

Demonstration Schools

• Centre Jules-Leger in Ottawa for deaf and severely LD in French

412 Special Schools in 1997

Hospital Schools

Care/Treat-

MentCentres

Male 576 5070

Female 440 1874

Total 1016 6944

Service Delivery

• Three part process

• 1. Identify special needs

• 2. Choose most appropriate setting

• 3. Plan, implement and regularly evaluate an individualized program

Identification

• Assessment- gathering/interpreting relevant information about the student

• Intelligence, abilities, strengths, needs, behaviors

• Health, psychological, behavioral profiles

Who conducts assessments?

• Classroom teacher assesses strengths and needs in classroom

• Resource teacher

• Clinician’s such as educational psychologist

Assessment Results

• Used in appropriate placement decision

• Guide development of an IEP

Placement

• Regular classroom

• Self-contained classroom

• Combination of the two

Placement by %-age of Exceptional Population

Reg & support

Reg & WD aid

PT SC & Reg

SC

Elem 30 33 18 19

Sec 52 28 12 9

Total 41 31 15 14

Program

• IEP

• Written plan of action

• Summarizes student’s strengths, interests and needs

• Transition plans for ages 14 and over

IPRC

• Identification, placement and review committees

• Identification

• Placement

• May make recommendations for support

• Parental agreement

• Program begins

Service Delivery

• Classroom teacher

• Assistant

• Resource teacher

• Consultants

Service Delivery

• Special input from:

• Parents

• School teams

• Advisory groups

• Advocacy groups

• Social agencies

• Specialists

Service Delivery

• What personnel are involved?

• How much support?

• For how long?

• Where?

• Primary responsibility?

• When and how reviewed?

Service Delivery

• Schools manage

• Board-centered, e.g unique needs, blindness

• Integration of school and board

School Team

• Common sense approach

• Cooperation and support

• Committee of staff members

• Supports special education

• Pre-referral opportunity

Multi-disciplinary Team

• Educators and professionals

• Initial stage meetings to determine placement and programming

• Meet once or twice

• Ongoing delivery by certain members

• Management and organization issues