The Norton City Schools Department of Special Education provides services to over 450 students with disabilities. By federal and state law, school districts are required to identify children who are suspected of having a disability and then to provide a free and appropriate education (FAPE) for all children with disabilities. These services can either be provided within the district or by agreement with another school district or service provider, as outlined in each student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). Currently, all but a very few students with disabilities are served within the district.

Norton's preschool special education program includes children with disabilities ages three through five. Services, at no cost to parents, include classroom instruction, school psychology, speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and transition to school-age programs. Preschool classrooms are located at Norton Primary School. For purposes of inclusion, typically developing children are also enrolled in the program. Typically developing children are selected by lottery in the spring and there is a monthly fee to attend.

School-age services, at no cost to parents, for students with disabilities ages five through twenty-one include instruction in special education classrooms and resource centers, individual/small group instruction for students who are fully mainstreamed in regular education, school psychology, speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, work study/transition, adapted physical education, consultation, community exploration and several others.

The Department of Special Education staff includes a director, an administrative assistant, four school psychologists, and four speech/language pathologists. The special education instructional staff (known as intervention specialists) is composed of teachers for students with mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-intensive disabilities. Additionally, the department staffs educational assistants to provide support for individual, small group, and large groups of students.

Child Find, Identification, and Continuum of Services

What does a disability mean?

• For Birth to age 3 - An established condition known to result in delay, or a documented developmental delay.

• For ages 3 through 5 - A documented deficit in one or more of the following developmental areas: communication, vision, hearing, motor skills, social emotional/behavioral functioning, self-help skills, and/or cognitive skills.

• For ages 5 through 21 - Identification of one or more of the following conditions: autism, intellectual disability, deaf-blindness, hearing impaired, emotional disability, multiple disability, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and/or visual impairment

Who can help?

What happens next?

NORTON CITY SCHOOLS

Department of Student Services

4128 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road, Norton, Ohio 44203

Phone (330) 706-2733