Special Education at Scarsdale Middle SchoolScarsdale Middle School provides a range of special education programs to our students who have Individualized Education Programs or IEPs. The least restrictive program is called the learning resource center or LRC. This program is designed to assist students who are in mainstream classes by reinforcing basic study, reading, writing, math and organizational skills. These skills are generally taught within the context of the curriculum in accordance to their IEP goals.For those students whose skill deficits prohibit them from succeeding in a mainstream class, we provide a combination of special class and co-teaching called the parallel curriculum. The academic content in the parallel program is similar to the mainstream curriculum, but the curriculum may be taught at a different pace or with a different emphasis. English and math are taught in a special class setting with a 12:1 ratio, while social studies and science are generally co-taught. The co-taught model for science and social studies allows for the general education teacher and the special education teacher to work collaboratively in the same classroom. At times, classes may be broken into smaller groups for reteaching and skill reinforcement. Students may be assigned a combination of these classes depending on needs. For example, a student may take parallel curriculum English and social studies and mainstream math and science. The students in the parallel curriculum have an academic support period to assist them with their educational program.Students who have more significant academic needs take part in a special class program which has a student teacher ratio of 8:1:1. Functional academic skills are taught in accordance with each student's IEP. The students are also instructed in social skills and prevocational skills based on their individual needs. Students in this program often take part in the New York State Alternate Assessment and are required to meet the Alternate Performance Indicators as set by the State. Students are mainstreamed in areas such as PE, music and quarterly classes based on their level of independence and are supported as needed.In addition to special education programs, we also provide related services such as speech and language therapy, counseling, physical therapy, occupational therapy, vision therapy and itinerant hearing services. These services are provided based on IEP recommendations.Special education and general education teachers are available after school for additional help and review.