Special Needs

About Special Needs

Working with a student with special needs requires an advanced set of skills that the average tutor is not generally equipped with. In fact, the phrase “special needs” is a broad umbrella term that encompasses a variety of different disabilities that are affecting an increasing percentage of our students. Tutor Me Education tutors that work with this population are hand-picked for their impressive work experience and have gone through extensive training in order to provide the appropriate services to achieve, and often surpass, the expected progress of a student to meet grade-level standards. Familiarity with the IEP (individualized education plan) process, goal setting, and progress monitoring in academic and social-emotional areas places our tutors at a higher caliber than your average tutor. They are able to pinpoint areas of weakness, and provide superb instruction that targets the area and ultimately teaches the student to address it on their own, all while catering to their specific learning style.
At Tutor Me Education, we recognize that low self-esteem and low motivation are common amongst students with special needs. For the typical tutor, this tends to present as overly challenging. However, our tutors have mastered high-level communication skills and build strong relationships and undoubtedly become mentors to their clients. Tutor Me Education staff has collaborated with school psychologists, reading specialists, behavior interventionists, and other special education teachers and specialists in order to comprise a growing list of resources, interventions, curriculum based measures and guides to exceed our families’ expectations and needs.
In California, there are 13 different eligibilities children with special needs fall under in order to receive special education services. Of the 13, the 5 most common are listed below:

Autism
An inability to use verbal and nonverbal language for appropriate communication and social interaction
A history of extreme withdrawal or relating to people inappropriately and continued impairment in social interaction from infancy through early childhood.
An obsession to maintain sameness such as resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines
Extreme preoccupation with objects or inappropriate use of objects or both
Extreme resistance to controls
Displays peculiar motoric mannerisms and motility patterns such as repetitive activities and stereotyped movements.
Self-stimulating, ritualistic behavior
The behavioral manifestations adversely affect the student’s educational performance, and require special education

Emotional Disturbance
An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances exhibited in several situations
A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
The presenting educational difficulties are not the result of social maladjustment.
The behavior has been observed over a long period of time and to a marked degree.
The condition adversely affects the student’s educational performance, and requires special education to meet the student’s needs.
Intellectual Disability (previously known as mental retardation):
The student demonstrates significantly below average intellectual ability.
The student demonstrates deficits in two or more of the following adaptive behaviors:
Communication
Home Living
Community Use
Health and Safety
Leisure
Self-Care
Social Skills
Self-Direction
Functional Academics
Work
The deficits were manifested during the developmental period.

Specific Learning Disability
The student may demonstrate a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the following areas and the student does not achieve adequately for the student’s age or to meet State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the following areas when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child’s age or State-approved grade-level standards:
Oral Expression
Basic Reading Skill
Mathematics Calculation
Listening Comprehension
Basic Fluency Skills
Mathematics Problem Solving
Written Expression
Reading Comprehension
The discrepancy is due to a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes:
Attention
Visual Processing
Sensory Motor Skills
Auditory Processing
Cognitive Abilities including:
Association
Conceptualization
Expression
The disability adversely affects the student’s educational performance, and requires special education to meet the student’s needs.

Other Health Impairment
This health impairment is not temporary in nature.
The impairment adversely affects the student’s educational performance, and requires special education to meet the student’s needs.

Note: If a student is suspected of OHI due to characteristics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), all elements listed below must be determined to establish eligibility.
A written report from a school psychologist that includes all existing information related to any characteristics of ADHD-like behavior exhibited by the student.
A written report from a special education teacher addressing academic skills.
An assessment by a school nurse.
The impairment adversely affects the student’s educational performance, and requires special education to meet the student’s needs.