Welcome to the Special Education Department of Seven Hills Classical Academy!

The Special Education department implements programs that have been developed to assist students who are eligible for services according to Minnesota eligibility criteria.  According to Minnesota statutes, a child with a disability means a child identified under federal and state special education law as having a hearing impairment, blindness, visual disability, speech or language impairment, physical disability, other health impairment, mental disability, emotional/behavioral disorder, specific learning disability, autism, traumatic brain injury, multiple disabilities, and a deaf and blind disability and needs special education and related services.  Once a child has been evaluated and identified as having an educational disability, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is created based on the student’s learning needs.  The IEP team works collaboratively throughout the school year to ensure the student is making adequately yearly progress.  The IEP team meets once a year to update the student’s learning goals and objectives.

Disabilities which may require Special Education services are defined below:

Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

A child has a significant difference or discrepancy between his/her intellectual ability and his/her achievement in the areas of reading, math, written expression, oral expression, and/or listening comprehension; severe underachievement in academic work and severe difficulty in processing information.

Emotional or Behavioral Disorder (EBD)

A child has exhibited significant concerns for six months or more with behavior, social skills, peer relations, emotional responses and coping skills which interfere with learning and/or relationships in school.  These concerns may be a sudden crisis that causes danger to the child or others.

Speech or Language Impairment

A child exhibits great difficulty speaking, understanding, or using words and sentences in a meaningful way.

Developmental Cognitive Disabilities (DCD)

A child exhibits multiple difficulties in learning and not showing skills of independence usually expected at the child’s age.  The student experiences a much slower rate of learning.

Visually Impaired

A child has experienced a loss of vision, visual field acute and/or very poor visual acuity even with correction (glasses), which interferes with the student’s performance in school.

Physically Impaired

A child has experienced a permanent, severe and acute, or chronic physical condition diagnosed by a physician which greatly interferes with performance in school.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

A child has great difficulty in communicating and interacting with others which interferes with learning and/or relationships at school.  These significant difficulties are usually first observed at an early age.

Traumatic Brain Injury

A child has experienced a permanent and severe injury to the brain occurring after birth, which greatly interferes with learning.

Other Health Disability

A child exhibits a broad range of chronic or acute health conditions diagnosed by a physician that greatly interferes with learning.

Deaf-Hard of Hearing

A child experiences a hearing loss ranging so severe that it impairs the processing of linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification.  This includes hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects educational performance but is not included under the definition of deafness.

Deaf Blind

A child experiences concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational concerns that the individual cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or blindness.

Meet the Special Education team!

952-426-6003

cfarrell@shcamn.org

Carolyn Farrell Director of Special Education and Dean of Students

Colleen Jax Special Education Teacher

Susan Stalock Special Education Teacher

Dianna DiPalermo Occupational Therapist

Kari McKernon Speech and Language Pathologist

Marshal Mehlos School Psychologist

Paula Monson School Social Worker

Ian White Educational Assistant

Shani Parotti Educational Assistant

Anna Knaeble Educational Assistant (currently long term substituting as fourth grade teacher)

Shannon Archer Educational Assistant

Alisa Langley Educational Assistant

Tara Bartko Educational Assistant

Mike Nilssen Educational Assistant

Rowan Morbey Educational Assistant