Special Services

We’re Here for You

Insight School of Michigan (ISMI) offers robust special education services to support students and meet their needs, empowering them to thrive in school and beyond. With high-quality, personalized learning and the help of teachers and support staff, students with special needs can achieve their academic goals, find their confidence, and pave a path to success.








In accordance with federal and state regulations, ISMI will provide an annual public notice to families informing them of ISMI’s Child Find responsibilities, procedures involved in the identification of educational disabilities and determination of students’ service and support needs. Families are encouraged to review the following information that describes these regulations. Information regarding ISMI’s internal practices to comply with these will be available in the ISMI‘s Special Programs Manuals and Handbooks.


ISMI strives to identify, locate, and evaluate all enrolled children who may have disabilities. Disability, as stated in IDEA, includes such conditions as hearing, visual, speech, or language impairment, specific learning disability, emotional disturbance, cognitive disability, other health or physical impairment, autism, and traumatic brain injury. The process of identifying, locating, and evaluating these children is referred to as Child Find. As a public school, we will respond vigorously to federal and state mandates requiring the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education regardless of a child’s disability or the severity of the disability. In order to comply with the Child Find requirements, ISMI will implement procedures to help ensure that all ISMI students with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disability, who are in need of special education and related services—are identified, located, and evaluated —including students with disabilities who are homeless or students who are wards of the state. Parent/guardian permission and involvement is a vital piece in the process. Once a student has been identified as having a “suspected disability” or identified as having a disability, ISMI will ask the student or the student’s parent/guardian for information about the child such as:

  • How has the suspected disability or identified disability hindered the student’s learning?
  • What has been done, educationally, to intervene and correct the student’s emerging learning deficits?
  • What educational or medical information relative to the suspected disability or identified disability is available to be shared with the school? This information may also be obtained from the student’s present or former teachers, therapists, doctors, or from other agencies that have information about the student.

All information collected will be held in strict confidence and released to others only with parental permission or as allowed by law. In keeping with this confidence, ISMI will keep a record of all persons who review confidential information. In accordance with state regulations, parents have the right to review their child’s records. As part of the Child Find process, some services may include a complete evaluation, an individualized education program designed specifically for the child, and a referral to other agencies providing special services.



For students confirmed to present with special education needs, once the IEP team agrees on the IEP and the student’s educational placement, a Prior Written Notice (PWN) will be sent to the parent/guardian for signature. This must be signed and returned to ISMI. ISMI can only proceed with implementing the student’s IEP (or 504 Plan) upon receipt of the signed PWN. Some students are found to present with one or more disability, but do not meet the eligibility criteria outlined under IDEA (special education); however their disability may still require ISMI to develop a 504 Service Agreement (504 Plan) to outline the special provisions a student may require for adaptations and/or accommodations in school-based instruction, facilities, and/or activities.



ISMI recognizes that despite best intentions of all parties, disagreements or miscommunications may arise between the school-based team and ISMI families or students. Should this situation occur, the ISMI special education case manager will initiate an IEP team discussion where the specific details contributing to any educational concern are fully discussed and addressed as the entire team determines would be most appropriate for the student. Collaboration is a primary focus for this type of meeting, and the ISMI Special Education Team seeks to establish and maintain the confidence of its families to always serve its students in order to maximize their educational success.


IEP Facilitation


Meditation


Formal Due Process