Exceptional Children
Lori Heginbotham, Director of Exceptional Children's Program
Lori Heginbotham serves as Director of Exceptional Children for Edenton-Chowan Public Schools. She previously served as Director of the West Virginia Family-to-Family program and as Program Coordinator for West Virginia University's Center for Excellence in Disabilities. Formerly, she taught special education and general education at Chowan Middle and D.F. Walker Elementary School. Prior experience also includes serving Bertie County Schools as an assistant principal. Ms. Heginbotham earned her Master of School Administration and Curriculum Development from Frostburg University of Maryland. Ms. Heginbotham shared that her greatest joy is when "I play a role in assisting someone to become their absolute best self"
Categories of Disabilities Under IDEA Law:
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. This impairment may include: Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (Atypical Autism), Asperger’s Disorder, Rett’s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder or all Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disability.
Deaf-Blindness (DB)
Deaf-blindness is hearing and visual impairments that occur together, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.
Deafness (Df)
Deafness is a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification that adversely affects the child’s educational performance.
Developmentally Delayed (DD)
Developmentally delayed is when a child is aged three through seven, whose developmental and/or behavior is delayed or atypical, as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development, and who, by reason of the delay, needs special education and related services.
Emotional Disability (ED) (also referred to as Serious Emotional Disability)
Serious emotional disability is a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:
- An inability to make educational progress that 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 behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances.
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. Serious emotional disability includes schizophrenia.
Hearing Impairment (HI)
Hearing impairment is an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness. The term “hard of hearing” may be used in this capacity.
Intellectual Disability (ID)
Intellectual disability is a significant sub average general intellectual functioning that adversely affects a child’s educational performance existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.
Multiple Disabilities (MU)
Multiple disabilities means two or more disabilities occurring together (such as intellectual disability and blindness, intellectual disability and orthopedic impairment, etc.) the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness.
Orthopedic Impairment (OI)
Orthopedic Impairment is a severe physical impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures, etc.)
Other Health Impaired (OHI)
Other health impairment is having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette’s Syndrome, etc.; and
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
Specific Learning Disability is a disorder in the processes involved in understanding or in using language spoken or written that may manifest itself in the impaired ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. Alternate conditions may include, but are not limited to, dyslexia and dyscalculia. Disabilities not included: Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of serious emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Speech or Language Impairment (SI)
Speech language impairment is -
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- A communication disorder, such as an impairment in fluency, articulation, language, or voice/resonance that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
- Language may include function of language (pragmatic), the content of the language (semantic), and the form of the language (phonological, morphologic and syntactic systems).
- A speech or language impairment may result in a primary disability or it may be secondary to other disabilities.
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Traumatic brain injury is an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory; perceptual; and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual Impairment (VI)
Visual impairment is an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness. A visual impairment is the result of a diagnosed ocular or cortical pathology.
Services & Programs
The EC Behavior Support Specialist works closely with the Exceptional Children’s Director, Central Office support staff, teachers, administrators and related service personnel to:
- Decrease the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions related to behavioral issues
- Increase appropriate student behavior and coping skills during times of crisis
- Improve parent and staff communcation and skills in reducing problme behavior at home and in the classroom.
School-Based Therapy
School-based therapies are provided to those students who have been evaluated and qualify for them. These can include Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT), Deaf or Hard of Hearing Services (DHH), Vision Impairment/Braille, or Speech/Language Services. ABA is not a service provided by the Edenton-Chowan Public School system
Pre-Kindergarten EC Services: (3 Year Olds)
Edenton-Chowan Public Schools offer specialized services for 3-year-old children with exceptional needs to support their development and meet the goals outlined in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Parents can choose between two service delivery options. Both options are designed to ensure the children’s educational needs are met in alignment with their IEPs while providing flexibility to accommodate family preferences and schedules.
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Drop-In Services: Parents may bring their children to a designated location for sessions where teachers and related service providers deliver specially designed instruction and other supports.
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Itinerant Services: Teachers and service providers travel to community-based settings, such as child care facilities or public locations like libraries, to deliver services. This flexible approach allows children to receive support in their natural environments, promoting inclusion and practical skill development.
Pre-Kindergarten EC Services: (4 Year Olds)
Students served in a 4-year old PreK program engage in a diagnostic year with a special education teacher. . Ongoing assessment and observational data is collected and paired with intervention opportunities, modifications, and accommodations. Parents and IEP teams can choose between a variety of service options based on individual needs:
- Exceptional Student Education PreK Classroom (Self Contained): Students are enrollment in a Self-contained class require intensive, specially designed instruction in a smaller group for a major portion of their day. ALL students in this classroom have an IEP and identified areas of developmental delays.
- NC PreK Classroom: Students are enrolled in the NC PreK Classroom where there is a mixture of students with identified developmental delays and neurotypical students who do not have an IEP. In these classrooms, the teacher provides support for the student’s IEP goals, but the child is also exposed to the NC PreK curriculum.
- Drop-In Services: Parents may bring their children to a designated location for sessions where teachers and related service providers deliver specially designed instruction and other supports.
- Itinerant Services: Teachers and service providers travel to community-based settings, such as child care facilities or public locations like libraries, to deliver services. This flexible approach allows children to receive support in their natural environments, promoting inclusion and practical skill development.
Continuum of Services for Students with Disabilities
EC Case Managers By School
How to Make a Referral
Dear Principal,
I am writing to request that my child, (child’s name), be evaluated for special education services as I suspect my child has the following disability: ________________________. I am worried that (child’s name) is not doing well in school and believe he/she may need special services in the area/areas of _________________________________________________________________________in order to learn. Here is some information about my child:
Child's full name ___________
Date of Birth:_________
Race _________
Hispanic or Non-Hispanic _______
Grade: _____________
School: ____________
Parent/Guardian Name(s) __________
Parent/Guardian Phone Number(s) __________
Parent/Guardian Mailing Address _____________
I am worried, because he/she is not learning certain skills as he should. (Give examples)
We have tried the following to help: If you or the school have done anything extra to help your child, briefly state it here
I understand that I have to give written permission in order for (child’s name) to be evaluated. Before the evaluation begins, I have some questions about the process that I need to have answered (list any questions you may have). I would be happy to talk with you about (child’s name). My preference of communication is (text, phone call, email) Thank you
Sincerely,
Your name
Additional Resources