Students with Special Needs
Believing that God has created each of His children with individual learning styles and preferences, GDQ seeks to honor the differing strengths and developmental rates of its students.
Admissions Policy
- GDQ is open to accepting a child with special needs provided the school has the specialized staff and resources necessary to address the child’s needs.
- GDQ reserves the right to cancel a child’s place if information regarding the child’s academic, behavioral, social or emotional needs was knowingly withheld from the school at the time of enrollment. This includes any relevant testing and evaluations, along with parent observations, that would have assisted the school in determining appropriate placement and services.
- Parents need to understand that while the school may have a special needs teacher one year this does not guarantee a special needs provision in the years that follow. Continued enrollment will be decided year-to-year based on the child’s needs and the staff and resources available.
- Depending on a child’s skill level, GDQ may place a child requiring support in a class a grade lower than grade age.
Special Needs Support
GDQ seeks to honor the differing strengths and developmental rates of its students and is committed to the following measures.
Children who enter GDQ with an identified disability:
- GDQ will assemble an academic support team, of which the parent is a member.
- This team will develop an individualized education plan (IEP) that will describe services necessary for the child to learn and progress.
- These services may include modified or differentiated instruction and expectations, in class support, or pull out support with the special needs teacher.
- GDQ reserves the right to cancel a child’s place if parents reject the IEP.
Children presently enrolled at GDQ who exhibit consistent difficulties in learning:
- GDQ will use a variety of means including parent information, teacher observation, and informal baseline assessments to determine whether the child has learning issues that are impacting his/her ability to learn.
- Should a baseline assessment lead to a formal evaluation, GDQ would obtain the services of qualified personnel to conduct this evaluation. Parents will receive a full report of the evaluation. GDQ will include a summary, not the full report, of the evaluation in the child’s school records.
- From these findings (parent information, teacher observation, informal baseline assessments, formal evaluations), GDQ would then determine how best to move forward to address the child’s needs.