Assistive Technology (AT) Team
The Ex Ed AT team is a resource for staff seeking assistance with AT. The goal is to provide support, information, and expertise to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities in the classroom. The AT team maintains a lending library of equipment and offers consultation to staff seeking information about the AT needs of children with disabilities.
Audiology & Teachers for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Team
Audiologists screen difficult-to-test students and engage in professional practices to identify, assess, and manage disorders of hearing. Audiologists provide services to students with hearing loss and auditory processing disorders. Audiologists work with the Teachers for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing to oversee all personal and classroom amplification equipment.
Behavior Team
The Ex Ed behavior team (BESST) supports students who have behavioral and social-emotional needs. The team observes, monitors, and collects data on students with significant behavior issues to develop an appropriate behavior plan. The team trains teachers and helps create a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of behavior plans.
Although Child Find is an ongoing district-wide responsibility to identify, locate, and evaluate K-12 students who may have a qualifying disability, TUSD has a designated Child Find team that has a dual focus. Part of the team focuses on identifying, locating, and evaluating preschool students from 2 years 10.5 months to age 5 who may have a qualifying disability and a need for specially designed instruction as a result. The other part of the Child Find team focuses on evaluating parentally-placed private school or homeschooled students who may have a qualifying disability and a need for specially designed instruction.
Motor Skills Team
Adapted PE (APE) teachers, occupational therapists (OTs), and physical therapists (PTs) work with students to improve motor skills. APE helps students improve balance, flexibility, strength, and endurance. OTs address fine and gross motor skills for academics, play, leisure, activities of daily living, and work skills. PTs focus on improving student strength, coordination, and mobility.
O & M
Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialists teach travel concepts and orientation strategies that facilitate safe, efficient, interdependent travel for students who are visually impaired or blind. Sensory skills, concept development, motor development, and environmental and community awareness are all integral components of the orientation and mobility process.
School Psychologist Team
The primary responsibilities of school psychologists are to evaluate students for special education eligibility and provide counseling to students. The goal is to facilitate the educational and emotional development of all students by working collaboratively with school staff, families, and community agencies to make data-based decisions to inform and promote the mental health, welfare, and education of all students.
Sign Language Interpreters
An educational interpreter plays a crucial role in facilitating effective communication between Deaf or hard-of-hearing students and their teachers, peers, and other school staff. Their primary responsibility is to interpret spoken language into sign language or vice versa, allowing students who use sign language as their primary mode of communication to access educational content and participate fully in classroom activities.
Social Worker Team
Social workers are the linkage between schools, families, and the community, and they are instrumental in the success of the students they work with. Social workers provide therapeutic counseling to students and provide social emotional supports to the schools in their region. Social workers also assist families in meeting the basic needs of the students.
Speech-Language Pathologist Team
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide comprehensive services for the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, and intervention of communication disabilities related to educational success. SLPs provide services to students with communication disorders involving articulation, fluency, oral language, or voice, using evidence-based practices.
Transition Team
The transition team is a bridge between school and adult life, including higher education/training, employment, and independent living. The team oversees a variety of work programs designed to increase student self-determination, career awareness, and competitive employability.
TVI
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TSVIs or TVIs) provide specialized instruction and services that are needed to meet the educational needs of visually impaired or blind students. TVIs complete functional vision assessments (FVAs) and learning media assessments (LMAs), provide accommodations and adaptations of materials to provide accessibility for students, create large print and braille for students with identified services, coordinate and provide specially designed instruction in the areas of Expanded Core Curriculum for students with visual impairments, and consult with and provide training/support for classroom teachers and other staff members.
