Instructional Services

The Admission, Review and Dismissal committee determines the specially designed instruction needed and the frequency, duration and location of the services provided.

• Specially designed instruction means adapting the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of the student resulting from the student’s disability and ensure the student's access to the general curriculum.

Adapted Physical Education

Adapted physical education is a diversified program of developmental activities, games, sports and movements that is aligned to the state standards (i.e., TEKS) of physical education.

Its purpose is to provide a physical education program in which instruction is adapted to the specific abilities and interests of students with disabilities who participate in the general physical education program or who need modifications for safe and successful participation.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Services

Frisco ISD partners with Plano ISD’s Regional Day School Program for the Deaf (RDSPD) to provide a range of educational services for students with hearing impairments, including students who are deaf.

Itinerant deaf and hard of hearing teachers from the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf collaborate with Frisco ISD staff to provide support to students in general education or other special education programs in Frisco ISD.

Students who require interpreter services and an intensive level of support from deaf education certified teachers may be placed at the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf and enrolled in Plano ISD.

Vision Services

Teachers of students with visual impairments provide educational services to students who are blind or have impaired vision.

Individuals with impaired vision often need accommodations to ensure they can effectively access their curriculum as well as direct teaching in the areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum, including assistive technology, career education, compensatory skills, independent living skills, orientation and mobility, recreation and leisure, self-determination, sensory efficiency and social interaction.

Speech-Language Services

Educational speech therapy services are provided by a Speech Language Pathologist or a Speech Language Pathology Assistant in the areas of articulation; receptive, expressive and pragmatic language; voice; and fluency. Therapy focuses on supporting a student’s ability to interact appropriately with peers and adults, to engage in meaningful social-pragmatic exchanges and to access or make progress on their grade-level curriculum.

In Texas, speech therapy is an instructional special education service, meaning it can be the only service a student receives, or it can be provided as a part of a more in-depth Individualized Educational Program for students with additional disabilities.

Related Services

Related services are a wide array of supportive services provided to children with disabilities to assist them in benefiting from special education. The need for related services is considered by the student’s admission, review and dismissal committee as it relates to the student’s evaluation data.

Related services include, but are not limited to, audiology services, school health services, counseling services, medical diagnostic services, social work services, occupational therapy, transportation, orientation and mobility services, parent counseling and training, physical therapy, psychological services, recreation, rehabilitation counseling services and interpreting services.

A student with a disability who only needs a related service and not special education is not eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is any specialized item, device or piece of equipment used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.

Assistive Technology provides access to the student’s curriculum, allows for independence and enables students to actively participate in their education. It may include low-tech to high-tech communication systems, computer technologies (e.g., access switches, keyboards, specialized software) or FM systems.

Audiological Management

The educational audiologist ensures that students with hearing needs have access to auditory information in the learning environment. Key responsibilities include recommending, fitting and managing individual and classroom hearing assistive technology devices.

Trained campus staff monitor the hearing assistive technology and alert the educational audiologist when problems arise

The educational audiologist advocates for students’ needs by connecting diagnostic audiological information to its practical impact in the classroom and collaborates with clinical audiologists, other professionals and school staff.

Counseling & Psychological Services

Counseling and psychological services are provided by School Psychologists (LSSPs). School Psychologists partner with families, teachers, school administrators and other professionals to create safe, healthy and supportive learning environments that strengthen connections between home, school and the community.

Direct counseling services are intended to help children in the areas of academic achievement and social, emotional and behavioral skills.

Indirect psychological services include consulting with general and special education staff, training of educational staff, student observations, environmental recommendations and modifications, phone calls/email communication concerning the student or any activities related to student programming.

In-Home & Parent Training

In-home training supports a student’s generalization or development of functional critical skills across settings. Parent training assists families in understanding their child's unique needs, providing targeted information and strategies to support the implementation of their child’s Individualized Education Program.

Areas of focus for both in-home and parent training include communication, self-help, behavior and social skills. In-home and parent trainers do not provide academic tutoring.

Music Therapy

Educational music therapy is provided to enhance students' ability to access their education and generalize skills across environments.

The goal is to provide the student with melodic and rhythmic strategies, followed by the fading of musical cues to aid in attaining their goals.

The music therapist creates specialized strategies to pre-teach skills and support educational needs and independent engagement to achieve progress toward goals in areas such as communication, academics, social skills, functional routines and behavior/emotional regulation.

Music therapists work closely with instructional staff by providing effective ways to incorporate music into the curriculum and ensure strategies are incorporated across settings.

Occupational Therapy

Educational occupational therapy supports the student’s ability to access and function within an educational environment by minimizing the effects of the student’s disability and facilitating functional school participation.

Strategies may include classroom modifications, school-related self-care skills, fine motor skill development, sensory supports or adaptive equipment.

Occupational therapists partner with campus staff to implement required strategies across settings and throughout the school day. By providing services in the child’s naturally occurring educational setting utilizing an integrated service delivery model, the occupational therapist offers strategies needed for the student’s daily activities with active teacher/assistant involvement.

Orientation & Mobility Services

Orientation and mobility is a related service for some students with visual impairments, supporting the student’s understanding of basic body awareness through skills to navigate their environment efficiently, effectively and safely.

It supports the development of the student’s understanding of where they are in space and where they want to go (i.e., orientation).

It also helps them carry out the plan to get there (i.e., mobility).

Physical Therapy

Educational physical therapy is provided to support the student’s ability to access and function within the educational environment by minimizing the effects of the student’s disability and facilitating functional school participation.

Focus areas include positioning, balance and coordination, functional mobility training, gross motor skills or adaptive equipment. Physical therapists partner with campus staff to implement required strategies across settings and throughout the school day.

By providing services in the child’s naturally occurring educational setting utilizing an integrated service delivery model, the physical therapist offers strategies needed for the student’s daily activities with active teacher/assistant involvement.

School Health Services

School health services are provided directly by a school nurse or delegated by the nurse to an appropriately trained staff member in accordance with the student’s individualized health plan.

School health services may include special feedings, clean intermittent catheterization, suctioning, tracheostomy management, medication administration, safety planning, injury prevention, chronic disease management and skills training in the educational setting.

Special Education Transportation

Students served in special education may be eligible to receive special education transportation if their admission, review and dismissal committee determines they:

• are assigned to a specialized program not offered on their home campus;

• require a specially adaptive vehicle;

• require special assistance;

• require a monitor on the bus to provide extra supervision;

• have insufficient mobility skills for safe travel on a regular bus;

• require adaptive devices (wheelchair, crutches, braces, etc.) which may endanger themselves or others while riding a regular school bus;

• have an inability to communicate effectively that may result in a hazard to their safety on a regular school bus;

• exhibit tendencies toward hyperactivity, aggression, or withdrawal that may endanger themselves or others while on a regular school bus;

• or exhibit cognitive deficits which may result in hazard to their safety on a regular school bus.

If your child is eligible for special education transportation as a related service, the transportation page has additional information.