Special Education Services

School Psychologists

Our district employs 15 school psychologists whose duties primarily include: case management of special education students; behavioral support; psychological assessments; counseling and guidance; threat assessments and crisis interventions.

As case managers, our psychologists oversee the due process and legal procedures for the special education students and their services. In addition, those general education students who have significant behavioral needs may be receiving direct support from the psychologists. This support may include direct counseling and collaboration with the school staff and administration.

Speech Language Pathologists

Speech and language services include the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of communication disorders which adversely affect a child's educational performance. The focus of the Speech and Language Specialists in our schools is to facilitate the development of effective and efficient communication skills so that students may participate as fully as possible in educational, social, and vocational interactions.  Speech and Language Specialists conduct assessments and provide therapy for children who have a variety of disabilities in the areas of articulation, language, voice or fluency. Language assessments may involve receptive and/or expressive language, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Services are provided for eligible students from birth to age 21.  Depending on the nature and severity of the disorder, services may consist of individual or group therapy, services integrated in the regular classroom or indirect services through monitoring or consultation with the classroom and/or special education teacher. Intervention services are also provided by our specialists in order to determine the need for an assessment, or provide short-term services. RtI may be provided for students with language or fluency concerns, and our SIP (Speech Improvement Program) services are for students with articulation needs.  All of the Speech Language Specialists in KCUSD have earned their Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) by the American Speech Language Hearing Association and are licensed by the State of California.

Behavior Intervention Team

The Behavior Intervention team is composed of a Behavior Intervention Specialist, Case Managers and Behavior Intervention Technicians that provide ongoing training and support to special education teachers, specialists, parents, general education teachers, and school staff who serve the needs of students in the Kings Canyon Unified School District. The services of the Behavior Intervention Team focus on those students with disabilities or behaviors that impair learning or social functions. The team assists in the development of interventions; by completing behavior assessments and in the development of behavior plans for the purpose of providing a safe and effective educational environment for students with challenging behaviors. The Behavior Intervention Team collaborates with the School Psychologist, school site staff, and district personnel to provide individualized student assessments and assistance in the development of appropriate communication and social behaviors. In addition, the Behavior Intervention Team is responsible for developing district as well as site-specific training and workshops on topics related to behavioral change, assessment, interventions, evidence-based practices, and progress monitoring based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

District Special Education services may provide individual and small group instruction that emphasizes the development of cognition, language, social, behavioral, self-help and academic skills to individual’s ages 0-22 years that have various forms of abilities. Needs are addressed within a curriculum aligned to Common Core State Standards.

Related Services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also include school health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training (Code of Federal Regulations 34 CFR 300.34(a)).