Page 38 - Ontario Schools: Kindergarten to Grade 12

Students who have behavioural, communicational, intellectual, physical, or multiple exceptionalities may require special education programs and/or services to benefit fully from their school experience. Such students may be referred to an Identifi- cation, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) set up by the school board. If identified as exceptional, they must be provided with appropriate special education programs and/or services designed to build on their strengths and meet their needs. In addition, the principal of the students’ school must ensure that an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is prepared and maintained for these students.
Access to special education programs and services need not be limited to students identified through the IPRC process. Boards may provide special education programs and/or services to meet students’ educational needs and prepare an IEP even if the student has not been identified as exceptional. Where a student has been referred to an IPRC but the meeting was not held prior to the student’s starting school, or where a meeting was held but no decision was made, the board must provide the student with a program appropriate to the student’s apparent strengths and needs; special education services appropriate to the student’s apparent strengths and needs; and a placement consistent with the types of placements considered by the IPRC.
The process for identifying a student as exceptional and determining a placement for that student is set out in Ontario Regulation 181/98.
School boards must establish a special education advisory committee in accordance with Ontario Regulation 464/97. They must also maintain the special education plan of the board in accordance with Regulation 306.
Categories and definitions of exceptionalities may be found in Part A of the document
Special Education: A Guide for Educators, 2001
www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/guide/specedpartae.pdf
“The Identification, Placement, and Review Committee” on the ministry website:
www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/identifi.html
O. Reg. 181/98, “Identification and Placement of Exceptional Pupils”
www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_980181_e.htm
PPM No. 149, “Protocol for Partnerships with External Agencies for Provision of Services by Regulated Health Professionals, Regulated Social Service Professionals, and Paraprofessionals” (September 25, 2009) www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/ppm149.pdf
O. Reg. 464/97, “Special Education Advisory Committees”
www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_970464_e.htm
36 OntariO SchOOlS, Kindergarten tO grade 12