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Special Education Service Providers Overview 

The mission of the special education department, in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act 2004 and NYS Regulations, is to service all students with pre-referral strategies, intervention enhancements, and special education services in the least restrictive environment while meeting state and federal guidelines. The Onteora educational community advocates not only for the academic needs of students, but also for the physical, social, and emotional well being of students.

Special Education Teachers 

The special education teachers provide additional (direct and indirect) instruction and classroom support for classified students as well as students at risk of not achieving the NYS learning standards. Intervention techniques include multi-sensory reading strategies, co-teaching, pre-teaching, re-teaching, organizational skills instruction, utilization of visual and tactile learning materials to reinforce skills and support the vast majority of students who benefit from a multisensory approach, and modify/breakdown and provide additional practice to support instruction. Special education teachers provide services in either a push-in or pull-out model, or special class settings, as determined by student need.

School Psychologists 

School psychologists tailor their services to meet the particular needs of each student and each situation and school. Although school psychologists use many different approaches and work in a variety of settings, most provide a number of core services. These services include counseling, social-emotional learning lessons, consultation, prevention, research and planning, intervention, assist in the creation, implementation and monitoring of functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans (FBA/BIP), and promote an environment that is safe and conducive to learning and assessment. 

Social Workers 

Social Workers provide specialized services within the general education setting to support acquisition of interpersonal skills that enhance the ability to work with others in small and large group settings, reduce disciplinary issues, assist in the creation, implementation and monitoring of functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans (FBA/BIP), and promote an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.

Social Workers also provide support for families and act as liaisons to accommodate referrals to outside community service agencies.

Speech/Language Therapists 

All Speech/language therapists are NYS Certified as Teacher of Speech and Hearing Handicapped. Additionally,  all 4 staff members are Certified Speech-language Pathologists. Examples of areas of therapeutic intervention include: remediation according to sound production errors or phonological issues, pragmatic skills, fluency and voice, language disorders for students experiencing difficulty understanding and using language to communicate in an academic and/or social setting including syntax, vocabulary, comprehension, categorization, and classification as well as the use of descriptive language, and articulation delays that impact intelligibility and/or development in the areas of phonemic awareness and phonics.

Occupational Therapy 

School-based occupational therapy is designed to enhance the student's ability to fully access and be successful in the learning environment. This might include working on handwriting or fine motor skills so the student can complete written assignments, helping the student organize himself or herself in the environment (accessing library, lunchroom, physical education, including work space in and around the desk), and working with the teacher to modify the classroom and/or adapt learning materials to facilitate successful participation.

Physical Therapy 

School physical therapy focuses on a child's ability to move as independently as possible in the school environment. The school physical therapist evaluates the child's ability to move throughout the school and to participate in classroom activities. Physical therapy interventions are designed to enable the student to travel throughout the school environment; participate in classroom activities, maintain and change positions in the classroom, as well as manage stairs, restrooms, and the cafeteria.

Teacher of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired 

Onteora's program provides services by a NYS certified Teacher of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired Teacher to support acquisition of core academic content, classroom strategies for both student and teacher, and assistance with environmental and instructional accommodations necessary to support students with hearing impairments as there are no students at this time who are deaf in our district.

Teaching Assistants 

Teaching Assistants in compliance with ESSA and NYS education law and regulations, all Teaching Assistants employed by Onteora are certified as NYS Teaching Assistants. Teaching assistants provide direct instructional services to students under the general supervision of a licensed or certified teacher. The teaching assistant is provided general (as contrasted with direct or personal) supervision by the licensed or certified teacher(s) who are responsible for the students' instruction. Special Education teachers provide direction and guidance to teaching assistants concerning the direct instructional services they are providing to students.