Special Education
In Forsyth County, we are passionate in celebrating students’ strengths and supporting their needs in ways are that meaningful to each student. IDEAS is the Special Education Department’s recently established initiative aimed to promote awareness, understanding and fidelity of implementation regarding the areas that ensure the SPECIAL in Special Education. These areas of emphasis include Intervention, Data, Eligibility, Accessibility, and Self-Advocacy. Within each area, a team will lead efforts in research, planning and guidance to schools in order to ensure that we can identify what we are implementing to provide a SPECIAL educational experience for all students. In addition to selecting new reading and math interventions for countywide use, the Intervention committee’s goal is to have recommendations in place by spring so we can provide advance professional
22 | State of the Schools 2022-2023
learning for any newly supported interventions. The focus of the data committee is to review, revise and enhance data collection methods and tools used to identify deficits to ensure appropriately calculated goals and objectives in the IEP. The eligibility committee is working on several resources including creating quick guides for teachers and facilitators to access the Georgia Department of Education eligibility requirements. While increasing awareness of access needs and accessibility tools, the accessibility committee is researching strategies to facilitate application of these tools in ALL educational environments. The self-advocac y committee has been researching and identifying transition and self-advocacy resources and services provided for students with special needs in Forsyth County that stretched across professional disciplines from CTAE (CTI), Student Support and Special Education.
