Departments

SASED operates nine instructional programs to extend the continuum of appropriate and effective educational environments for students from our member districts. Eligibility for a SASED program is determined by a student’s IEP team from his/her district of residence. On an annual basis, SASED serves approximately 5.5% of our member districts’ most challenging students. We also serve approximately 100 more students from the DuPage /West Cook Regional Cooperative in our low incidence programs. The SASED educational programs are as follows:

Southeast Alternative School – K-12th grade programing for students with significant emotional and behavioral disorders in a highly structured and individualized setting.

Multi-Needs – PreK-12th grade programming for students with some level of moderate to severe cognitive delay and other significantly disabling conditions such as speech/language delays, physical challenges, sensory processing deficits, medical needs and/or autism. Community based instruction/programming is also a significant part of the Multi-Needs program curriculum.

STARS Autism – PreK-8th grade programming for students on the Autism spectrum. Research-based methodologies from the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) serve as the foundation for designing each student’s individualized cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral learning plan.

Directions – 3rd-12th grade programming for academically capable students who need intensive support in social emotional skill development. It provides integrated cognitive behavior therapeutic intervention within a rigorous academic curriculum. The Directions Program is intended for students who do not manifest aggressive, or acting out behaviors.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing  – PreK-8th grade programming for students with identified hearing losses. Using a Total Communication philosophy, traditional and modified academic content is taught with an emphasis on language development.

Visually Impaired – PreK-12th grade programming offering a full continuum of options for students who are blind/visually impaired and who have been determined to need intensive and/or specialized instruction due to their visual impairment.

Transition – programming for students who are post HS but younger than 22 years old and continue to need support and instruction to achieve post-secondary goals in employment, continuing education, functional/daily living skills, etc.

Project SEARCH - is an internship program for students with disabilities in their last year of high school or a when finishing their Transition program. The one-year internship takes place at the Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield where total immersion in the workplace facilitates the teaching and learning process, as well as the acquisition of employability and marketable work skills.

Extended School Year (ESY) –Transition programming provided after the end of the school year for all eligible students who are enrolled during in any of the SASED programs.  Additionally, SASED conducts an extended school year program for elementary grade students who receive instructional/self-contained level programming within our member districts.

With the exception of the Southeast, Directions, Transition, and Project SEARCH, all other SASED operated classrooms are housed in general education school buildings (member district schools). Students are placed in educational settings that are age appropriate, offer opportunities for inclusion and are as close as possible to their district of residence.

SASED provides direct services to students our educational programs and those who are served directly by our member districts. In addition, SASED has created a menu of service options which support the development of our member districts to effectively serve students with disabilities within the least restrictive environments in their home district/school. The SASED services include the following: Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy - are provided to students in SASED programs as required by their individual education plans. SASED also assigns OT and PT to serve students within our member districts as requested. Instructional Support Team (IST) - is a highly trained and diverse group of consultants/coaches with backgrounds in educational psychology, applied behavior analysis, positive behavior supports, response to intervention and special education. They work across both SASED and district classrooms and programs from Early Childhood through Transition. The IST members not only provide direct service to students and student teams, but are expert trainers and conduct workshops and in-service presentations throughout the school year. Assistive Technology Team - is a highly experienced group of specialists with diverse backgrounds that provide information and train IEP teams to effectively consider and/or implement Assistive Technology for students with disabilities. This service is provided to students and classrooms within SASED and our member districts. Professional Development - encompasses a variety of professional learning and staff development programs throughout the year. These programs are open to SASED and member district educational support personnel, certified staff and administration.

School Improvement - SASED has developed a full menu of resources on the topic of MTSS for our member districts and programs. The services range from professional development and training opportunities to building/district coaching and coordination of county level support groups.

Itinerant Services - are available to all SASED member districts. Itinerant teachers are available to provide consultative level services to students with hearing, vision, and orthopedic impairments.

Diagnostic Services - provided to the 92 member school districts of DuPage/West Cook Regional Cooperative. These services include:

• Audiological Evaluations
• Screenings (Hearing & Vision)
• Ear Mold Services
• Low Incidence Psychological Evaluations