Colonial Beach Public Schools offer a variety of free special
education programs serving children from age 2 through 21. Colonial Beach Public Schools participates in
an ongoing process of locating, evaluating and identifying youth ages 2 through
21 who are disabled and may be in need of special education services under the
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) or provisions under
Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This includes wards of the state and those
who attend a home-school or private school which are located within the
geographic boundaries of the Town of Colonial Beach. Children with disabilities who turn two on or
before September 30 and who have not reached their 22nd birthday
by that date can be considered for these programs.
Disabilities which may adversely affect a child’s educational
progress include the following:
- Developmental delay among children ages 2 through 6 who
experience a significant delay in physical, cognitive, communication,
social, emotional, or adaptive development;
- Autism, a developmental disability significantly
affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social integration,
generally evident before age 3. Other characteristics are engagement in
repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to
environmental change or changes in daily routines, and unusual responses
to sensory experiences;
- Deaf-blindness;
- Deafness so severe that the child is impaired in
processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification;
- Hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating;
- Intellectual disability or significant subaverage
general intellectual functioning with deficits in adaptive behavior;
- Multiple disabilities, including two or more
impairments at the same time;
- Orthopedic impairment; including those caused by
congenital anomaly, disease, or other causes such as cerebral palsy;
- Other health impairments, such as limited strength,
vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems;
- Emotional disturbance, with one or more of the
following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked
degree: An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual,
sensory, or health factors; an inability to build and maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
inappropriate behavior or feelings; a pervasive mood of unhappiness or
depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated
with personal or school problems. The term does not apply to children who
are socially maladjusted unless other serious emotional disturbances
exist;
- Specific learning disability, a disorder in one or more
of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using
language, spoken or written, that may manifest in an imperfect ability to
listen, write, spell, or do math calculations;
- Speech and language impairment, a communication
disorder, such as stuttering or impaired articulation, language, or voice;
- Traumatic brain injury, an injury to the brain caused
by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional
disability, psycho-social impairment, or both. This can apply to head
injuries that are congenital, degenerative, or brain injuries induced by
birth trauma;
- Visual impairment including blindness.
Early warning signs of these disabilities include delays in
reaching developmental milestones in early childhood, such as trouble sitting,
standing, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, learning or paying attention.
Early intervention helps children with disabilities have a better chance to
develop.
If your child is currently enrolled in a public school in the Town
of Colonial Beach, contact your child’s school if you have concerns about your
child’s learning or development. If your
child if not currently enrolled in a public school in the Town of Colonial
Beach, please contact the Office of Special Education at 804-214-9035.