Instructional Settings
Special education services are provided in a variety of instructional settings. Instructional settings are based on the percentage of time or number of periods that the student receives direct, regularly scheduled special education services as required by the Individual Educational Plan (IEP), and not on the student's disability. Instructional arrangements include the following options:
Inclusion/Co-Teaching Classrooms - Co-Teaching is an instructional arrangement where a general education teacher and a special education teacher plan, teach, and evaluate students together in a general education setting.
Academic Interventions - Many students at LISD participate in some form of academic intervention to enable them to overcome specific areas of academic weakness.
Content Mastery - Students may go to another classroom to receive individual or small group instruction on an as needed basis.
Resource Classrooms - Students whose disabilities have created a need for more intensive academic instruction attend class in a special education classroom with a highly qualified teacher who is also trained in working with students with disabilities.
Functional Academic Classrooms - These classrooms provide educational, vocational, and life skills training for students with significant cognitive impairments. Additionally, some of these students need special care for physical and/or medical conditions
Behavioral Support Classrooms - These classrooms are designed to support students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. The students are taught social skills and coping behaviors in addition to the curriculum of their same grade peers.
Programs for Deaf - This program provides services for students with hearing impairments across Llano County. Some students receive support from itinerant teachers who travel to their schools. Students needing more intensive support attend a Llano ISD school where teachers who are certified to work with this disability have classes. Some of these students also have interpreters who attend classes with them.
Itinerant Services for the Visually Impaired - This program provides services for students who are blind or have low vision. Itinerant teachers work with students and with campus teachers to assure that they are able to participate in the educational process with their peers. These students are also provided assistive technology, adapted materials, and specialized instruction as needed. Orientation and Mobility services are also available to eligible students with visual impairments. This related service provides instruction for safe and independent travel skills, which may include use of the long cane.
Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) - Students with disabilities often need services starting at age three to prepare them for school. These services range from appointment-based interventions in language development to classrooms with centers-based learning environments to build educational and social skills that are essential for school readiness. The classrooms range from specially designed environments for students with intensive needs to co-taught preschool classes with same age peers.
Transition Program - The transition program provides services to students who have completed the 12th grade but have a continued need to work on skills for their life as an adult.
Beginning in 8th grade, students with disabilities participate in a career assessment and planning process to develop goals for after high school and a plan for meeting those goals. During the high school years, a variety of choices will be available to help the students meet their goals including curriculum that prepares students for college and a curriculum that builds job skills.
Special Olympics – Llano ISD students with disabilities get a variety of opportunities to participate in Special Olympics across many grade levels. Students begin building skills in campus physical education programs with the support of a physical education teacher. At age 8, they become eligible to participate in Special Olympic events such as bowling and track. Their participation meets some of the goals of their individual plans such as becoming more active, agile, and learning to access the community recreational facilities. Like their general education peers, the high school students get opportunities to travel to sporting events throughout the state on extra-curricular school-sponsored trips.
