Special Education Student Services

The Batavia School District provides a wide range of services to meet the needs of children ages 3 to 21 with special education needs. These services are of no cost to children residing within this district.

Services available are:

1. Vision screenings are done annually in the district; early childhood program, kindergarten, 2nd and 8th grades, all special education students, all new students to the district, and upon parent/teacher requests. The vision screening is not a substitute for a complete eye and vision evaluation by an eye doctor. Your child is not required to undergo this vision screening if an optometrist or ophthalmologist has completed and signed a report form indicating that an examination has been administered within the previous 12 months.
2. Hearing screenings are done annually in the district’s early childhood program, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, all special education students, all new students to the district, and upon teacher/parent request. Your child is not required to undergo this hearing screening if an audiologist has completed and signed a report form indicating that an examination has been administered within the previous 12 months.
3. Speech and language screenings may be conducted for a child referred by the teacher and/or parent.
4. Various special education services are available at all of the schools. Specific referral and eligibility criteria are applicable. In addition, the district has an Early Childhood Special Education Program for children ages 3 to 5.
5. Individualized screenings or evaluations may be requested by teachers or parents to determine if the child has a disability that requires special education support and/or related services. Upon receipt of this request, a meeting will be scheduled to review the request and determine the appropriateness of the referral.  Support services are available through the school psychologist, school social worker or other related service personnel for students with social or emotional needs that are impacting school performance.
6. Home/hospital services are provided to a student when a licensed medical physician determines that the student, will or is anticipated, due to medical condition, be out of school for 10 consecutive school days or more or on an ongoing intermittent basis totaling at least 10 days or more of absences.

Batavia is a member district of the Mid-Valley Special Education Cooperative (MVSEC) and Northwestern Illinois Association Cooperative (NIA). MVSEC provides self-contained instructional programs for children with learning problems classified as: learning disability; intellectual disability, emotional disability, multiple disability, other health impairment, traumatic brain injury, and autism. NIA provides itinerant and instructional programs for children who are hearing impaired, visually impaired, orthopedic impaired, and multiply impaired.

Federal and State laws have been established to ensure parental involvement whenever a child is considered for any of the above programs and this district encourages parent participation. Therefore, parents may initiate the request for an evaluation to consider the above services by contacting the classroom teacher or building principal. If the referral is determined to be appropriate, the building team will obtain the parents’ signed consent to initiate the referral. This evaluation must be completed within sixty (60) school days from the date of signed and received consent. Following the evaluation, building personnel and parents will meet to review the results of the evaluation, discuss educational implications and identify programming needs. If special education services are recommended, an Individual Educational Program (IEP) is developed if appropriate, and signed consent secured to indicate parental agreement with the proposed special education service. All children receiving special education services are reviewed on an annual basis to plan the student’s program for the following school year.