Resources for Students with Special Needs

The Auglaize County Board of Developmental Disabilities supports individuals with developmental disabilities and delays who live in Auglaize County.

Services include everything from early intervention programs for infants and toddlers, to transition services for school-age youth, to work and recreational activities for adults of all ages.

The Auglaize County Educational Service Center currently provides specialized academic and support services to 10 school districts in Auglaize and Hardin Counties. They provide access to professionals and services that would be unaffordable to many school districts, but are made accessible because our professional and services are shared among districts.

Our customers receive services from curriculum, gifted and special education consultants, speech pathologists, school psychologists, special education teachers and aides, occupational and physical therapists and assistants. They also provide Preschool services in both New Bremen and St. Mary’s.

In instances where schools need alternative education options, they are an invaluable resource for credit recovery and expulsion/suspension alternatives. The ESC programs include Opportunities for Youth, high school; Day Treatment, grades 5-8; and Alternative School for grades 5-12.

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) is the state agency that empowers Ohioans with disabilities through employment, disability determinations, and independence. It is accomplished through its Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR), Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired (BSVI), and Division of Disability Determination (DDD). A fourth area is the Division of Employer and Innovation Services (EIS), which is responsible for establishing and maintaining partnerships with employers. OOD works with partners in businesses, education and non-profit organizations to facilitate customized employment plans for Ohioans with disabilities; helps Ohio companies recruit and retain employees with disabilities; and is the sole agency determining medical and vocational Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs in Ohio.

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) OOD’s Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation and Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired provide vocational rehabilitation (VR) services to eligible individuals with disabilities to assist them to attain and maintain competitive integrated employment. OOD works with adults seeking to enter the workforce or retain a job, and with youth beginning at age 14 to assist them as they transition from high school into college and/or the workplace.

Provides support and service coordination for at risk and multisystem youth and families.

Help Me Grow is a free program for Ohio’s expectant parents and children (age birth to three years) and their families. Help Me Grow serves as the Central Intake and Referral Agency in Auglaize County. Help Me Grow is a voluntary program, families can enter and exit the program at their discretion.

The Help Me Grow program offers Early Intervention and Home Visiting Services.

The Children with Medical Handicaps Program (CMH) (Formerly BCMH) is a health care program in the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). CMH links families of children with special health care needs to a network of quality providers and helps families obtain payment for the services their children need.

The Children with Medical Handicaps Program offers three methods of service:

1- The Diagnostic Program

2- The Treatment Program

3- The Service Coordination Program

Children that are Eligible are:

-Age 0-21

-Permanent residents of Ohio

-Under the care of a BCMH-approved doctor (M.D. or D.O.) and who have or may have a chronic medical condition

Brochure: https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/790e4b2c-a455-478f-a454-dfab2437769b/BCMH-NEW-brochure-7-27-18.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_M1HGGIK0N0JO00QO9DDDDM3000-790e4b2c-a455-478f-a454-dfab2437769b-mrQ3pzi

The Autism Center works to build the capacity of school districts and other education agencies to improve their instruction and support for individuals with autism.

We do this by serving as a trusted, high quality source of information on research, resources and trends and by providing evidence-based training, technical assistance and consultation that equips professionals to foster learning and growth that meets individual student needs. Resources on this link include testing information, information on ASD, Resounce guide specific to ASD, training information, and the latest news.

The Lifespan Transitions Center works to equip communities to support the successful and unique transition of individuals with disabilities to ensure they can live their best lives for their whole lives.

This is done by being agency-neutral, outcome-focused, and person-centered in offering resources, training, and technical assistance to create successful support systems that incorporate community living and employment.

The Outreach Center for Deafness and Blindness increases access, communication, and equity for learners who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired. We do this by connecting resources and providing training for professionals and fostering relationships to equip communities to support families and learners where they are, with what they need, when they need it to learn, grow, and live their best lives.

Promoting a Strong Start and Charting a Positive Course for Young Children with Disabilities

The Center for the Young Child (CYC) is dedicated to giving children with disabilities the best possible start in life because early experiences impact lifelong outcomes.

This is done by informing policy, creating and sharing resources, and providing training and technical assistance so that young children (0-8) with disabilities have the foundation they need for a lifetime of learning, growth, and opportunities in their community.

The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities (OCECD) is a statewide nonprofit organization that serves families of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities in Ohio, educators and agencies who provide services to them. OCECD works through the coalition efforts of over 40 parent and professional disability organizations and over 70 individual members which comprise the Coalition. OCECD has also been funded since 1984 to serve as the Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) for the state of Ohio from the federal government, U.S. Dept of Education, Office for Special Education Programs.

A non-profit organization that provides the following standard protective services: Guardianship of person, Limited guardianship, Interim guardianship, Emergency guardianship, Trustee, Protector, and Conservator.

APSI Serves Individuals: -With significant and complex disabilities;

-Who lack the capacity to make decisions;

-Have no suitable family or alternatives to guardianship;

Who have needs that cannot be met through the remedies available to County Boards of DD , if applicable, per O.R.C. Sections 5126.30-5126.34;

Who have a situation that can only be rectified by the implementation of corporate protective services; and/or who are ordered by the probate court to be served by APSI.

Ohio Department of Education Webpage of resources for Students with Disabilities. Resource includes a wide variety of topics including teaching students with disabilities, Compliance & Accountability info, Resources, and Related information on topics such as Special Needs Educational Scholarships, HQT, School Choice, Gifted Education, and Early Learning.

To Increase the employment, retention, earnings and occupational skills of our Job Seekers

To assist Employers in finding and retaining qualified workers.

Offering services in Basic Computer Training, Resume' Workshop, Pre-Employment Workshop, OMJ Workshop, WIOA 101 - Orientation

The mission of Special Olympics Ohio is to provide year-round sports training and competition opportunities for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics contributes to the physical, social, and psychological development of the athletes. Through successful experiences in sports, they gain confidence and build a positive self-image which carries over into the classroom, home, job and community.

The mission of Family Resource Center is to provide specialized behavioral health services to individuals, children and families in our multi-cultural communities in order to strengthen family life and promote personal growth.

Mental Health Services

• Diagnostic Assessment

• Individual and Group Counseling

• Intensive Home-Based Treatment (Homebuilders)

• Multisystemic Therapy (MST)

• Problematic Sexual Behavior Treatment

• Play Therapy

• Crisis Intervention

• Psychiatric Services

• Community Psychiatric Support Services

• Maternal Mental Health

• Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)

• Prevention and Education Programs

Substance Abuse Services

• Diagnostic Assessment

• Individual Counseling

• Case Management

• Prevention and Education Programs

https://www.ssa.gov/

For Questions with Social Security Benefits or how to apply for Social Security Benefits call

1-800-772-1213

Lima Office

1-833-950-3089

https://www2.auglaizecounty.org/resources/job-family-services

12 North Wood Street

Wapakoneta, Ohio 45895

Phone: 567-242-2700

Provides summer speech services, summer camp scholarships and necessary medical supplies and mobility assistants for individuals with a chronic illness or handicap.

Provides assistance to clients throughout Auglaize County

The Equestrian Therapy Program has been touching lives in our twelve-county area for over 30 years. Our non-profit charitable corporation, established in 1982, is a Premier Center accredited by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl.). Our Instructors receive specialized training and certification which enables them to provide our students with activities that exercise the spirit, as well as the mind and body.

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Classes are held at Fassett Farm, which is owned by the Equestrian Therapy Program. Here the riders enjoy both indoor and outdoor arenas, as well as the woods and trails. Our students are referred through area hospitals, schools, therapists and physicians, or independently.

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The staff and volunteers at Fassett Farm embrace the concept that disabilities are challenged and new abilities are created.

ArtAbility was developed to provide options and opportunities for artists enrolled in the Marimor Adult Services program. These individuals express their ideas and vision through art and raise community awareness, participation and volunteerism.

Marimor Adult Services provides habilitation, training and employment to individuals with developmental disabilities in Allen County. The driving forces behind these efforts are the agency’s volunteer board members and the community, as well as staff and families. Marimor Adult Services offices are located at 2450 Ada Road, Lima, Ohio.

Capabilities Community Clubs, also known as Adult Day Support (ADS), are part of a member-led service that trains and reinforces skills that are critical to community inclusion and employment, including self-advocacy, communication, and social interactions. Newly introduced in 2020, the STEP (Start Toward Emerging Possibilities) approach requires additional specific outcomes for service delivery. At Capabilities, three person-centered tracks are defined that address the specific needs of people on varying employment paths: explorers, seekers, and workers.

To be eligible for our Clubs, individuals are either on a Medicaid Waiver or receive funding through their local county board of developmental disabilities. Transportation is provided to and from the Club activities through non-medical transportation. Those in our Clubs spend most of their time practicing and learning skills through small group instruction and volunteering. Our individuals are able to focus on how to get involved in their communities to discover new activities and recreation. Our Clubs take place fully in the community meaning they are non-facility-based, setting us apart from other ADS services. Additionally, our Clubs are in groups of up to five participants with one community consultant, allowing for unique, individualized training and experiences.

Auglaize Industries, Inc. is dedicated to improving the quality of life for adults with disabilities living in and around Auglaize County, Ohio. We are about people! The many smiling faces on our website perhaps say more about our program than words can begin to tell!

Auglaize Industries is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization providing Adult Day Vocational and Habilitation Services to eligible adults with disabilities. To accomplish our mission, the sheltered workshop program contracts with many area businesses to provide light assembly and packaging services as well as community employment jobs, creating work opportunities for approximately 80 adults. Another 35 adults participate in daily non-vocational options which include a Seniors' program, Adult Activity and Skills and Thrills for adults with severe and multiple disabilities.

At Benchmark, we believe that every person should be encouraged to be productive, inspired to learn, and be involved in their community at levels of their own choosing. We bring this principle to life in our Day Services program through social and educational opportunities and regular community participation—which includes volunteering and giving back.

Day Services participants explore their communities by visiting and volunteering at venues such as parks, zoos, and museums. Though most services are community-based, many programs have a home base where individuals learn life skills like cooking and money management. Individuals can also participate in sports, arts, and personal hobbies including music and recreational therapies.

Through these experiences, participants often:

• Improve physical abilities, including fine motor skills

• Develop social skills

• Build healthy relationships with peers and community members

• Increase independence

• Raise self-esteem

Day Services is designed for individuals of all abilities, including those with extensive medical and behavioral needs. No matter the activity, participants meet new people, make friendships, and enjoy their community.

Ohio Certified Driving School. We offer small class sizes taught by our own state certified instructors. Classroom instruction is 24 hours in length. Included in the price of the course is eight hours of on-the-road instruction. The classroom instruction is completed in four weeks. We offer both adult and juvenile remedial classes, taught in two four-hour sessions.

Drivers with Disabilities

Capabilities' certified instructor has a special certification to teach people with disabilities how to drive. Drivers needing special vehicle adaptations beyond spinner knobs, hand controls, or left foot accelerators need to supply their own vehicle for on the road instruction.

Services Offered:

-Driving Assessment

-Pre-Drivers Education

-On the Road Driving Instruction

-First Time Driver's Safety Course

-Adult Abbreviated Online Course

We Can Too’s mission is to provide quality employment to people with developmental disabilities to help them achieve their individual community-based, integrated employment and life goals.

We are dedicated to not only providing a high quality product and service to our customers, but also as a training center that helps people with disabilities reach their goal of community employment and becoming a more active and productive part of their community.

We Can Too provides quality vocational habilitation services to persons with developmental disabilities to help them achieve their individual community-based, integrated employment and life goals.

Foundations Behavioral Health Services is a community-based behavioral health center serving Mercer County and surrounding areas. Established in 1975, we have been providing professional counseling and support services to local residents for over 40 years. In 2012, the former Gateway Outreach Center merged with Foundations Behavioral Health, allowing us to offer a wide range of mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

The mission of Bittersweet, Inc. is to positively impact the lives of individuals with autism and those whose lives they touch.

Located in Lima, Ohio, Betty's Farm is an 88 acre farm that provides autism services and support to residents from Allen County and surrounding counties.

Programs Offered:

-Friday Night Fun & Social Living Club

-Adult Day Habilitation Program for Adults

-Day Programming

At The Center for Autism & Dyslexia, we believe that education isn’t about memorizing facts or taking tests—it’s about teaching children skills they can use to maximize their potential and live more meaningful lives. We are dedicated to providing a quality, well-rounded educational experience that gives your child the opportunity to achieve beyond expectations. Our goal is to help shape all students into independent, productive young adults who can effectively interact in real-world settings. Our child-centered approach focuses on fostering emotional growth; increasing academic, language, and behavioral competencies; and enhancing each child’s natural strengths.

Turning Point is an educational program for students with special needs who are continuing seniors. Through the use of real world work situations in a variety of different community job sites along with a job coach, the students will develop work readiness skills to secure and maintain future employment. The students follow the extended standards and use functional academics while in the classroom to learn daily living skills, social, and recreation skills.

Turning Point serves students ages 18 through 21 years of age. The goal is to teach students how to function as independently as possible. The class follows a community based functional curriculum to help students develop the vocational, daily living, and recreation skills they will need to be independent adults.

TRI STAR CAREER COMPACT – Career Technical education at its best! Nine schools in Mercer and Auglaize counties make-up Tri Star's Career Technical district. These nine districts have developed a curriculum of programs for junior and senior students who have an interest in a Career Technical field.

• Tri Star classes are held in Celina, Coldwater, and St. Marys

• Tri Star students attend classes only one-half day

• All programs are open to both male and female students

• Over 60% of Tri Star's graduating seniors go on to college and many earn free college credit as part of their Career Technical program

• Students who successfully complete a Career Technical program develop skills that make them job ready for the workforce upon graduation

The goal of Career Technical education is to help students develop skills that will be valuable throughout their life.

Career technical education is the "equal choice, not the alternative choice".

It is a new individualized vocational program that is designed to develop entry-level skills for employment through student-centered individualized opportunities.

Career Pathways recognizes the importance of meeting the preferences, interests, needs and strengths of each student.

Areas of instruction include:

• workplace skills (building resumes, interviewing, networking, safety)

• soft skills (communication, problem-solving, work attitudes)

• self-advocacy training

• financial knowledge related to work (budgeting, money management)

• daily living skills related to work

• social skills

• Volunteering, Job Tours

• Referral and Linkage with OOD (Opportunites for Ohioans with Disabilities)

• Eligibility is based on the Career Pathways Rubric (completed by teachers, staff and parents who have working knowledge of the student)

• Interview, academic, and application review with admissions team (student, parent, school district representative(s), ESC representative, Tri-Star representative)

• Enrollment will be capped in order to meet the needs of all students

Apollo Career Center prepares students for whatever is next after high school. With more than 20 programs, we help students discover what they love and how they can make a career out of it. Once their education is complete at Apollo, they’ll either be ready to begin their career or continue through apprenticeships, community college, the military or university.

We are proud to work with our associate schools:

• Ada

• Allen East

• Bath

• Bluffton

• Columbus Grove

• Elida

• Hardin Northern

• Perry

• Shawnee

• Spencerville

• Wapakoneta

Apollo offers many career options for high school students:

• Automotive Collision Technology

• Automotive Technology

• Building and Renovations

• Carpentry

• Computer Information Support

• Construction Equipment Technology

• Cosmetology

• Culinary Arts

• Early Childhood Education

• Electrical Systems Technology

• Fire/EMS Technology

• Floral/Marketing/Interiors

• Print and Graphics

• Health Science

• Multimedia Technology

• Spa and Esthetics Technology

• Sports Fitness and Exercise Science

• Welding and Fabrication

Since its inception, Project SEARCH has grown from a single program site at Cincinnati Children’s to a large and continuously expanding international network of sites. Project SEARCH’s primary objective is to secure competitive employment for people with disabilities.

State Support Teams were created by the Ohio Department of Education as a result of H.B. 115. Sixteen (16) regions were established with a State Support Team (SST) in each region. Each SST has a fiscal agent who signs a yearly Performance Agreement with the Ohio Department of Education. The fiscal agent for SST Region 6 is the Auglaize County Educational Service Center.

SSTs receive funding from three specific offices at the Ohio Department of Education. The Office for Exceptional Children, The Office for Improvement and Innovation and the Office of Early Learning and School Readiness.

Each year SSTs and their fiscal agents receive a Performance Agreement that defines the work that must be delivered to the region by the SST.

Services

• Alternate Assessments/Extended

• Standards

• Assistive Technology

• Autism and Low Incidence

• Continuous Improvement

• Co-Planning to Serve

• Family and Community Engagement

• IEP/ETR Development and

• Implementation

• Inclusive Practices

• Integrated Comprehensive Services

• Intentional Teaching: Language and

• Literacy Development for All Young

• Children

• Literacy

• Ohio’s Birth to Kindergarten Entry-Early

• Learning and Development Standards

• Positive Behavioral Interventions and

• Supports

• Procedural Safeguards

• Transition

Project SEARCH is a post-grad transition program for young adults students.

Project SEARCH provides real-life work experience combined with training in employability and independent living skills to help youth make a successful transition from school to productive adult life. Each student will participate in three internships in different departments at Mercer Health. This is a year-long program.

The program involves an extensive period of training and career exploration, long-term job coaching and continuous feedback from the teacher, job coach, and Mercer Health mentors. The ultimate goal for each student is to be placed in a job at a business site in the community.

Since its inception, Project SEARCH has grown from a single program site at Cincinnati Children’s to a large and continuously expanding international network of sites. Project SEARCH’s primary objective is to secure competitive employment for people with disabilities.

Collaborative Care Behavioral Therapy (CCBT) was born in 2020. Our founder and CEO, Brittany McDonald, BCBA, saw the need in our area, not only for effective ABA therapy, but for so much more.

The future goal of CCBT is to offer comprehensive services to children and young adults - including ABA, speech, occupational, and physical therapies. We want clients to be able to receive all of the resources in one place so that true collaboration can happen between all of the professionals working with the clients. Our clients and their families can get some of their lives back by not having to travel all over West Central Ohio for services.

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Presently, CCBT can offer home-based and school-based ABA therapy to clients in much of West Central Ohio. Until our practice can grow to what we see in our future, we are willing and able to collaborate with speech, occupational, and physical therapists to make sure that we are all working toward the same goals. We see that the success of our clients is greater when the entire therapy team, including all of the professionals and family members, can communicate and collaborate.

Services Offered:

-In-home ABA Therapy

-Parent & Staff Training

-Functional Behavior Assessment

-Behavior Intervention Plans