SEPs

=Special Education Plans (SEPs) =

What is a SEP?
A SEP according to the //New Brunswick Education Act// is defined as the following: . . . an education program for an exceptional pupil is based on teh results of continuous assessment and evaluation and which includes a plan containing specific objectives and recommendations for education services that meet the needs of the pupil (Section 1). (Resource for the Identification and Teaching of Students with Specific Learning Disability)

It is a plan that contains rcommended adjustments for educational goals and programs and which indentifies supports and services to effectively enable an exceptional student to learn and achieve. Planning can be accommodated, modified, and/or individualized (IEP). One or more types of planning can occur within the SEP. (Guidelines and Standards: Educational Planning for Students with Exceptionalities)

Who Would Need a SEP?
A SEP is necessary for students who require adaptations to their instruction and/or to the material presented. Many children with Specific Learning Disability will require planning to address their individual educational needs. (Resource for the Identification and Teaching of Students with Specific Learning Disability)

A SEP also applies to those students who may have an uderlying behavioural, intellectual, communicational, perceptual/sensory, or physical condition that has resulted in a delay in educational functioning. (Guidelines and Standards: Educational Planning for Students with Exceptionalities)

When Should a SEP be Developed?
A SEP should also be considered when a student is experiencing difficulties over an extended period of time and is not making progress even with the additional support that a teacher would typically employ in the classroom.

However, some students (K-2) will arrive in school with previously identified exceptionalities and will immediately rquire a SEP. Others will have exceptionalities that are not identified. It is important for classroom teachers, especially in the early years, to be cognizant of those students who are experiencing difficulties beyond what would usually be expected of a student in the primary grades, but who have not previously been identified.

When a student is placed on a SEP on-going @assessment and monitoring wiht the assistance of the team will confirm or negate the presence of an exceptionality and the necessityof an on-going SEP. (Guidelines and Standards: Educational Planning for Students with Exceptionalities)

How is a SEP Developed?
Colloborative planning is an integral part of the development of a SEP. Students, parents, classroom teachers, resource teachers, administrators, and otehrs that may include guidance counsellors, district personnel, school psychologists, speech/language pathologists, share information related to the student, share their goals for the student's future and identify his or her strenghts and needs. The collaborative group develops goals for which short-term objectives are then established. Responsibility for implementation and monitoring is also assigned. Roles may be assigned to any member of the collaborative team. The written plan produced from this collaborative effort should include a current level of performance, specific objectives based on the collectively developed goals, as well as methods, strategies, materials and/or equipment needed to support these objectives. The written plan should indicate the method of monitoring, the reporting of progress, and each team member's responsibility. (Resource for the Identification and Teaching of Students with Specific Learning Disability)

What are the Components of a SEP?
A SEP should include an identification of the strenghts or talents of the child, and or his or her needs with respect to processing difficulties as identified by the assessment process.

For children with Specific Learning Disability, the SEP will reflect planning based on helping them to further develop in areas of processing weakness; will indicate classroom adaptations to methods of presentation, support, and evaluation that recognize the unique processing needs of these children; and will reflect planning to help the children develop methods of coping with and understanding the uniqueness of their learning needs and talents. (Resource for the Identification and Teaching of Students with Specific Learning Disability)