The Significant Support Needs Program (SSN) provides intensive special education and related services while supporting the spirit of Least Restrictive Environment. The criteria used to receive SSN placement is not disability based, but rather based on the individual instructional /support needs of the child as he/she interacts with the curriculum.
Students benefiting from the SSN program have instructional needs, which require:
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Significant accommodations to curriculum to support physical, speech, or emotional limitations---Examples include: additional time, different settings for learning, different presentation or different response to the curriculum, and added structure. |
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Significant modifications to curriculum to support significant cognitive limitations and other limitations in the physical, speech, or emotional areas—Examples include: lesser amount of content, some changes to content, adaptive functioning, functional academics, consistent need for performance demonstrations. |
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Ongoing significant adult intervention |
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Possibility of significant medical support |
Educational placement decisions are always based on the child’s needs and are determined by the IEP team in consultation with the Cluster Coordinator and SSN teacher.
In determining placement the following should be considered:
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Decisions are data driven. Therefore lack of progress in current setting should be documented over a period of time. |
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Significant cognitive delays means Full Scale IQ score below 70 and adaptive scores below 70. This does not automatically mean placement, as each student must be considered individually. |
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A completed severity rating scale should indicate the need for greater than 50% of school time needing adult support and 50% of curriculum modified. |
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Placement is not determined strictly by scores, but rather by programming needs and required level of support needed. |
CN 11/02