Mission

The mission of the Exceptional Children Division is to ensure that students with disabilities develop intellectually, physically, emotionally, and vocationally through the provision of an appropriate individualized education program in the least restrictive environment.

Within the Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities (Department of Public Instruction), are detailed procedures that outline the rules and regulations that NC public schools must follow for the delivery of special education services. Services are provided under the following areas of identification:

~Autism Spectrum Disorder (AU) ~Other Health Impairment (OHI)

~Deaf/Blindness ~Orthopedic Impairment

~Developmental Delay (DD) ~Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

~Serious Emotional Disability (SE) ~Speech or Language Impairment (SLI)

~Hearing Impairment (HI) ~Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

~Intellectual Disability (ID) ~Visual Impairment including Blindness (VI)

~Multiple Disabilities (MD)

NC Policies 1503-4.4 (a) states at the beginning of each school year, each LEA must have in effect, for each child with a disability within its jurisdiction, an IEP, as defined in development of an IEP.

NC Policies 1503-4.4 (e) states that "if a child with a disability (who has a current IEP that was in effect in a previous LEA in the state) transfers to a new LEA in the state, and enrolls in a new school, the new LEA, in consultation with the parents, must provide FAPE (including services comparable to those described in the child's IEP from the previous LEA), until the new LEA either adopts the child's IEP from the previous LEA or develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP that meets the applicable requirements."