Special Education Services

General education follows the typical course of study towards a diploma. A student who can access curriculum and coursework without modification or alterations to the program would receive an offer of free appropriate public education that is 100% in the general education setting, which is not special education.   This level of independence and access is the ultimate goal for many students in special education.  A student with this FAPE can successfully access the curriculum with differentiation and/or specific accommodations (i.e. 504 Plan).

Diploma bound students who can access general education curriculum and require minimal specialized academic instruction or related services.  Students may only receive consultation services and do not require specific instructional interventions.  This is the least restrictive special education support. The term “related services” means such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as may be required to assist an individual with exceptional needs to benefit from special education.

Diploma bound students who can access general education curriculum and require the support of a credentialed education specialist and/or an instructional assistant working under the credential of a education specialist working with a general education teacher. Students may require specific instructional supports that require the expertise of a credentialed education specialist to design, implement, and monitor.

Students may be diploma bound students who access state content standards or students who require access to a functional curriculum. Students require intensive support from a credentialed education specialist and/or designated service providers to provide instruction, accommodations, and modifications in a smaller class setting. 

Journey supports individualized services for students to maximize their academic and personal potential by obtaining a foundation of safety, building resilience, and engaging in mental and emotional wellness that reflects positive decision making behaviors. Students will shape and lead the future with confidence, compassion, purpose, courage, and agency. Each student has access to intensive embedded social-emotional and academic support within the school day. Students receive educationally related mental health services (ERMHS), including individual, group, and parent counseling. Students have access to a therapeutic milieu as defined in the IEP such as services provided by district mental health clinicians, school psychologists, school social workers, academic counselors, behavior specialists, as well as services and supports to address mental health and behavioral needs.  Journey is for diploma bound students who access state content standards.

Students who require a functional curriculum in academics, behavior, gross motor, speech, vocational, and adaptive skills are served through specialized academic instruction services designed to assist student receive a certificate of completion. Specialized academic instruction includes intensive instruction and services to pupils when the nature or severity of their disability precludes full participation in the regular education program, as specified in an IEP. The foundation for each student's educational program is a functional life skills curriculum with the addition of both Core and Alternative Core Curriculums to meet individual academic needs. Students will exhibit the independence and self-advocacy to be contributing members of their communities through a joyful, inclusive, and individualized educational experience. 

The START Center is a community-based program through the Escondido Union High School District for students ages 18-22 years old. START prepares young adult students to make choices, be safe, and advocate for their independence through comprehensive instruction and engagement in their community. Vocational skills training and coaching is one part of START's comprehensive training program that includes mobility and orientation, independent living, communication, and post-secondary education. Curriculum is based on life skills instruction on personal responsibility, interpersonal relationships, physical and mental health, independent living, employability skills, occupational awareness, recreation and leisure skills, consumer skills, & community participation.

Related services aim to enhance a special education program if it is not sufficient in providing an appropriate education.  If a related service is both educationally relevant and necessary to the program, it could be appropriate to add to the IEP. Educational relevance exists when a proposed service can be explicitly linked with a component of the student’s educational program. Necessity stems from the related service having a specific purpose that cannot be addressed by the current  educational program.  EUHSD  offers related services in the following areas: speech and language, occupational therapy, educationally related mental health, psychological services, behavior intervention services, adaptive physical education, deaf and hard of hearing, orientation and mobility, and visual impairment.

Students with a temporary disability, which makes school attendance impossible or inadvisable, shall receive individual instruction in the student’s home or in a hospital or other residential health facility within the district boundaries. The purpose of Home/Hospital Instruction (H/HI) is to maintain student’s continuity of educational programming while recovering from the temporary disability so as not to jeopardize the student’s future performance upon returning to their education program. For students receiving special education services, H/HI is considered a placement on the continuum of services. If a student with an IEP is deemed unable to attend school due to a temporary or ongoing medical or psychological disability, the school is obligated to continue to provide special education and related services to the student during that time.

Students with a temporary disability, which makes school attendance impossible or inadvisable, shall receive individual instruction in the student’s home or in a hospital or other residential health facility within the district boundaries. The purpose of Home/Hospital Instruction (H/HI) is to maintain student’s continuity of educational programming while recovering from the temporary disability so as not to jeopardize the student’s future performance upon returning to their education program.For students receiving special education services, H/HI is considered a placement on the continuum of services. If a student with an IEP is deemed unable to attend school due to a temporary or ongoing medical or psychological disability, the school is obligated to continue to provide special education and related services to the student during that time.