Skip To Main Content

Logo Image

Minneota Public Schools

Logo Title

What is Special Education

sped

What is Special Education?

Special education is education that is individually tailored to meet the unique needs of a student that result from his or her disability. Special education is provided free of charge by public schools under Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

 

Special Education May Be:

  • An individulized education curriculum that is different from same age peers who do not have disabilities 
  • The same curriculum but includes accommodations and modifications
  • A combination of both

 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) definition of Special Education:

Special education means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including—

(i) Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and

(ii) Instruction in physical education.

 

Minnesota has 13 categorical disabilities including:

  • Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
  • Blind-Visually Impaired (BVI)
  • Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH)
  • Deaf-Blind (DB)
  • Developmental Cognitive Disabilities (DCD)
  • Developmental Delay (DD)
  • Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD)
  • Other Health Disabilities (OHD)
  • Physically Impaired (PI)
  • Severely Multiply Impaired (SMI)
  • Specific Learning Disabilties (SLD)
  • Speech or Language Impairments (SLI)
  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)