• Office of Special Education and Student Services

    Special Education Overview

    Mission Statement

    The Upper Moreland Township School District, in partnership with the community, will provide all students with educational opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for excellence and success as critical thinkers, as caring and confident individuals, and as contributing members of society.

    The Upper Moreland Township School District is also committed to the inclusion of all students into the least restrictive environment where they are able to make progress on the goals identified by the IEP team with the appropriate amounts of support and services.

    Overview of Services

    Upper Moreland School District is committed to providing an individualized continuum of services for students with disabilities.  As a District, our goal is to educate students in the least restrictive environment possible, so that they have opportunities to participate and socialize with their general education peers and learn standardized-based content.  However, we also recognize that some students require additional pull-out services, research-based curriculum programs, and related services in order to make and maintain progress.  All special education services are in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and state laws and regulations and are provided at no cost to students who qualify.

    All students receiving special education services at Upper Moreland are provided with an individual education program designed to meet their unique learning needs and help them make and maintain growth throughout the school year and beyond.  Specially designed instruction and related services are also provided to students to help them access their educational environment.

    In order to qualify for special education services, students are evaluated by qualified personnel to determine if they are a student with a disability and in need of specially designed instruction.  The federal IDEA law recognizes 13 disability categories:

     Autism  Specific Learning Disability  Emotional Disability
    Multiple Disabilities  Orthopedic Impairments  Hearing Impairment including Deafness
    Intellectual Disability Other Health Impairments  Speech and Language Impairments
    Traumatic Brain Injury  Vision Impairment including Blindness  Deaf/Blindness


    Upper Moreland provides students with disabilities a variety of types and levels of service.  The following service types are available to students:

     Learning Support  Autistic Support  Emotional Support
     Multiple Disabilities Support  Speech and Language Support  Hearing Support
     Speech and Language Support  Vision Support  Physical Support


    These types of services are available at varying levels, including:

    • Itinerant- Instruction with a special education teacher for less than 20% of the school day
    • Supplemental- Instruction with a special education teacher for 20% to 80% of the school day
    • Full-Time- Instruction with a special education teacher for greater than 80% of the school day


    In addition to the above service types, Upper Moreland also offers related services to help students access their educational curriculum, there services include, but are not limited to:

    Speech and Language Therapy   Occupational Therapy  Vision Therapy
     Hearing Therapy  Counseling  Audiology
     Transportation  Orientation and Mobility  Physical Therapy
     Psychological Services    Assistive Technology

    For additional information on Special Education requests and services, please visit our
    Parent Education Information and Links page.