The Department of Juvenile Justice provides a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for all students with disabilities and ensures that measures are in place, allowing access to instruction, as identified by the student’s individual needs.
For those students who qualify for special education services under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is developed. The IEP is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the individual child.
For students with disabilities who qualify for services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a 504 plan is developed. This plan provides reasonable accommodations needed for the student to access the general education curriculum.
For more information about special education and/or section 504, contact DJJ’s school Compliance Specialists.
The school offers a wide range of carefully coordinated activities that assists all students in accessing resources, knowledge, and skills necessary to reach individual academic and career goals. These activities are outcome oriented and designed to link high school to post-secondary programs and then to the community. A selection of career inventories, formal, and informal assessments are used to guide this process (e.g., Brigance, VA Wizard, South Dakota Interest Inventory, Career Personality Profile, Skills and Abilities Assessment, Goals Assessment/Profile, O’Net Inventory).
High school and post-secondary students have access to Pathful Explore’s VA Job Shadowing online program, a unique video-based career planning platform that provides interactive tools designed to help students seek and develop a career path. VA Job Shadowing also offers a full curriculum of lessons designed to meet state career standards and is an extension of VA Job Shadowing program.
Transition planning and assessment is a requirement, under Federal/State regulation, for special education students and is incorporated into the development of the student’s Individual Education Program (IEP) plan.
Students with disabilities are also connected with the Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services (DARS) and can participate in the DARS Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) and Pathway Program while at DJJ. Being connected to DARS while in the high school and post-secondary programs provides for a seamless transition to this service as students re-enter the community. For more information contact DJJs school Transition Specialists.
The school psychologist works with students, teachers, families, to identify and break down barriers to learning. These barriers can range from students struggling to adapt to the current learning environment to teens trying to understand their disability. The school psychologist may also provide counseling to students, as defined by the student’s Individual Education Program (IEP) plan. This person is highly qualified in the administration and interpretation of evaluations to identify giftedness and other neurodiversity’s such as ADHD, autism, developmental delay, dyslexia, intellectual disabilities, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
School psychologists can help students get the diagnoses they need or better understand how their way of thinking affects their ability to learn. From there, the school psychologist can make recommendations to make the classroom environment more accommodating to these learners. For more information contact DJJ’s school psychologist.
Related services are typically part of a student’s Individual Education Program (IEP) plan or Section 504 plan. These supports may include medical, interpreting, speech language pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc., and are integrated throughout the school day so the student is better able to access general education. For more information contact DJJ’s school Compliance Specialists.
The special education parent/family liaison shall serve as a resource to parents and families to understand and engage in (i) the referral, evaluation, reevaluation, and eligibility process if they suspect that their child has a disability and (ii) the IEP process.
For more information contact:
Jill Sowers
jill.sowers@djj.virginia.gov
