Special Education at HMMS

At Hartford Memorial Middle School, special education services are provided in a variety of ways. The service delivery model for most students in middle school may look differently than how they were delivered in elementary school.  Although services are determined by IEP (Individualized Education Program) teams based on individual student need, services are typically delivered in the following ways.

Team Special Educators

• Team special educators are part of a team (Nova, Altitude, Zapatera or Equinox) that includes an English, science, social studies, and math teacher.  
• Team special educators collaborate, advise, and assist their team teachers with modifying curriculum and implementing best practices for accommodations.

Regular Education Classes
Special educators support and provide direct instruction within the regular education class ( push-in)

Resource Room - Pull out services for direct instruction in a basic skill area
Special educators provide direct instruction based on the student’s needs as outlined in their IEP. They also pre-teach and re-teach concepts that are taught in the regular education class

Alternative English and Math classes instead of and/or in addition to the team’s English/Math class. Some students require math and/or English taught at their unique ability level.  This class is small group, tends to have a slower pace, and is for student’s 3-4 grade levels below.

Para-professional Support (small group) within the student’s regular education class, providing either support with academics, behavior, or both.

Para-professional Support (1:1) for students with more significant academic and  or behavior needs

Related Services

(Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech/Language Therapy)

Consultation model
This is the most common model once students reach middle school.  In this model, the related service provider works with the student’s team and provides strategies and instruction to the staff members so they can implement the support, instruction, and strategies directly to the student.

Small Group model
Sometimes students still need pull out instruction through this model. The related service provider works with the student providing direct instruction within a small group based on the student’s need outlined in their IEP

1:1
Occasionally students still need this level of intensity for service delivery.  In this model, the related service provider works with the student in a 1:1 setting providing direction instruction based on the student’s need outlined in their IEP