Hilliard Schools is responsible for locating any child, birth through 21, with a suspected disability who resides within the Hilliard School District. The school district provides special education services to any child who qualifies as having a disability according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ages 3 through 21 years of age. If you know of a child who is suspected to have a disability, please call Debbie Cochran, Director of Special Education, at 614-921-7000 or contact your building principal for more information.

Students eligible for special education services may be eligible under the following disability categories:

• Autism
• Emotional Disturbance
• Hearing Impaired (including deafness)
• Intellectual Disability
• Multiple Disabilities
• Orthopedic Impairment
• Other Health Impairment (Minor or Major)
• Preschooler with a Developmental Delay (ages 3-5 only)
• Specific Learning Disability
• Speech or Language Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impaired (including blindness)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) requires states to establish procedures to assure, “that to the maximum extent appropriate,” children with disabilities are educated with children who are not disabled.  Special education services are provided on a continuum, with the least amount of services provided to access the curriculum with peers.Services and specially designed instruction can be provided to students with disabilities through numerous service delivery options, including, but not limited to:

Consultation – Licensed intervention specialists provide assistance to and collaboration with the general education classroom teacher, developing instructional or behavioral strategies for students with disabilities, selecting and/or developing instructional materials, and assisting in the development of appropriate classroom and instructional accommodations and/or modifications of the general education curriculum.

Direct – Licensed intervention specialists provide specially designed instruction and evaluation of instruction based on the general and/or functional curriculum in areas identified in the student’s IEP.  Instructional methodologies include, but are not limited to, differentiated instruction, modeling, guided practice, multi-sensory instruction, corrective feedback, progress monitoring, a provision in small group settings.

Support – Licensed intervention specialists provide instruction in collaboration with the general education classroom teacher that supports the student in the instruction of the general curriculum in areas identified on the student’s IEP.  The provided supplemental instruction focuses on assisting students in becoming independent in the “process” of learning through the use of compensatory strategies, intervention support, and study/organizational techniques.

Related Services

Related Services are supportive services required to assist students with disabilities to benefit from special education. These services may include, but are not limited to:

• Adapted Physical Education Services
• Audiological Services
• Interpreter Services
• Occupational Therapy Services
• Orientation & Mobility Services
• Physical Therapy Services
• School Psychological Services
• Speech and Language Services
• Specialized Transportation
• Transition Services

• Jeff Sloat, Hilliard Schools Parent Mentor 614-921-4002
• Hilliard City Schools Special Needs Preschool
• Hilliard City Schools Dyslexia Information
• ODE: A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education
• Ohio Department of Education: Office for Exceptional Children 614-466-2650
• The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities 740-382-5452; Toll-free: 844-382-5452
• Special Olympics