Welcome from the Director
Welcome to the Special Education web page for the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District. The Special Education Department strives to facilitate appropriate education for students with diverse learning needs and abilities; this is accomplished through collaboration with general education to provide a continuum of services delivered in the least restrictive environment in partnership with families. We work together to enhance strengths, recognize needs, and foster independence.
Sincerely,
Jen Truslow
Director, Special Education
Download the Welcome Letter from Jen Truslow, Special Education Director, Fall 2022
Updates and Announcements
Read the Acton Boxborough Tiered Focused Monitoring Report from DESE
FCSN Basic Rights Workshop Series (Serie de talleres sobre derechos básicos)
Basic Rights: Understanding the IEP
Date: Wednesday, November 16 at 5pm
Basic Rights: Transition Planning
Date: Wednesday, December 14 at 5pm
Strategies for the IEP Meeting
Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 5pm
For more information on services and support available in Spanish please contact Ruth DeLa Cruz @ [email protected]
Los padres interesados en asistir sólo tienen que inscribirse una vez a través de los enlaces de abajo. Está configurado para que puedan marcar todos los talleres en ese idioma en los que estén interesados y recibirán un correo electrónico de confirmación con los enlaces de las reuniones.
Registrase en espanol: https://fcsn.org/workshop-registration-for-the-latino-community
About Special Education
The Acton-Boxborough Regional School District offers a continuum of special education supports and services for the over 800 students with disabilities it serves. From Learning Center programs and specialized programs, to related services, supports are provided to meet the needs of individual learners. The goal of all programming is to support students with disabilities to access the general curriculum in their least restrictive environment and to be included within the general education setting to the greatest extent appropriate. All special education programming emphasizes skill development, self-determination, and self-advocacy skills for greater independence and responsibility for learning.
Each building is supported by a Special Education Coordinator who oversees, supervises and administers special education within the building. Students are supported by district staff that include special education teachers, speech pathologists, school psychologists, occupational and physical therapists , board certified behavior analysts, ABA tutors and special education assistants. Additional specialized related service providers are contracted as needed.
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Programs
(click here for overview)
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Services
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Beliefs and Practices
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Learning Centers - all schools
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Compass (SEL) @ McT, RJ Grey, ABRHS
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Connections (ASD) @ Conant, RJ Grey, ABRHS
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Pathways (Autism) @ Blanchard
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Language and Beyond - LAB @ Douglas, RJ Grey
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STEP/ODP(Life Skills) @ RJ Grey, ABRHS
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PACE (18-22) @ ABRHS
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Extended School Year
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Specialized Transportation
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Child Find
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Regulatory Monitoring and Compliance
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Evaluation and Assessment
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Early Childhood Screening
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Safety Care
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Professional Learning for general and special education staff
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Consultation and support to staff
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State Reporting
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Co-teaching
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Inclusionary Practice
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Equal ownership and responsibility for students with disabilities
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Parents as Partners
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Least Restrictive Environment
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Accessibility
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UDL
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Accommodations and Modifications
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Special Education Staff
The Special Education Office is located in the Administration Building at:
15 Charter Road
Acton, MA 01720
978-264-4700 x3265
Online Resources
AB SEPAC (Acton-Boxborough Special Education Parent Advisory Committee)
We partner with members of our communities SPED PAC and you can visit their separate homepage by clicking here.
Homebound/Hospitalized
In August 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education updated its guidance on students who are eligible to receive home/hospital educational services. Please visit their website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/pqa/ta/hhep_qa.html for important information and http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/28MR/ for the required forms.
If you have questions, please contact the Director of Special Education at 978-264-4700 x3265
Restraint Policy and Procedures
Each school has a team of professionals trained in restraint according to the Policies and Procedures established by the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District. The district provides yearly training to staff to keep current.
Electronic Document Access: PowerSchool Parent Portal
Parents of students with IEPs and 504 Plans can find their student’s documents in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. It continues to be our goal to support parents in having immediate and ongoing electronic access to their child’s special education documents (with the exception of short gaps of time between semesters and over the summer when we have to close the Portal to roll data over and conduct maintenance/ upgrades). The Parent Portal allows families to have ongoing access to their child’s special education documents, such as IEPs and progress reports in order to be fully aware of and support their plan. Families can find instructions on how to access these documents HERE and also in the Portal. (Note: If your family does not already have an account set up in the Parent Portal, you will need to create one. Then you will be able to access documents 24-48 hours later.)
Starting in 2019-20, we are excited to share that we are also adding Docu-Sign to our list of applications for parents to sign special education documents electronically. (If you have purchased real estate in the last few years, you have no doubt used Docu-Sign.) Now, when we seek parental consent for 504 evaluations, IEPs, a special education placement or evaluation, we will send a Docu-sign email with links to the document to be signed, along with a reminder to review the accompanying Notice in the Parent Portal. Our goal with online documents and electronic signatures is to support families to have ongoing access to their student's documents and to streamline the consent process.
Do you know a child who may have a disability?
Massachusetts special education law and the federal special education law IDEA mandate identification programs that find and evaluate children with disabilities from age three through twenty-one who require specially-designed instruction (know as special education) in order to make effective progress in the general education curriculum. If you suspect that a child may have a disability and may require special education in order to make effective progress in general education, please have the child's parent and/or legal guardian contact the Special Education Coordinator at their school.