Preschool Special Needs Program

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Griffin-Spalding/Pike County

Special Needs Preschool Program

The Special Needs Preschool Program serves children ages 3-5 who have significant developmental delays in the areas of self-help skills, interpersonal skills, communication, motor coordination, and cognition. Children may also have severe sensory deficits related to hearing or vision impairments, or autism. Related services available include speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy for children who meet eligibility criteria, as set forth by State of Georgia guidelines.

Children may be served in their natural environments of a day care or preschool setting through consultative/collaborative models or speech therapy. In addition, there are special needs preschool classroom settings for children who require more individualized instruction not available within their general education environments.

At Jordan Hill Elementary we have our 3-year old Inclusion Class, which is a collaboration with McIntosh Trail Head Start. The class is led by a Head Start teacher, Head Start Assistant Teacher, and a Special Needs Preschool Teacher. The class uses the Head Start approved High Scope curriculum. There are 17 children in the class, as per Head Start guidelines, 6 of whom are identified as having special needs.

At Moreland Road Elementary are 3 non-categorical classes of developmentally delayed children. The classes maintain state guidelines never to exceed a 4:1 student/teacher ratio, and use a Pre-K approved curriculum. Children may be identified as eligible at any time during the year, and may be enrolled in one of these classrooms for individualized instruction in a small group setting. Children may be cognitively impaired, physically disabled, prone to weak interpersonal skills, language delayed, sensory impaired, or autistic.