Mission
Special Education...a service, not a place!

Special Education and related services are provided to eligible students in the Lakewood School District. The Lakewood School District serves more than 330 students ages three to twenty-one years who have been identified as eligible for special education services. The Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that children with disabilities and the families of such children have access to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). IDEA is focused on improving educational results for children with disabilities.

Access to all special education services is through a formal referral and evaluation team assessment process. Once an evaluation team determines that a student has a disability that has an adverse educational impact and that the student requires specially designed instruction, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed to meet the needs of the individual student.

For more information on the process of qualifying students for special education, contact Jamie Rutledge, Administrative Assistant to Special Education at 360-652-4501 X 1016.

Birth to Three

The Early Intervention Program serves families of infants and toddlers birth to three years of age. The Infant Program provides or arranges services to help parents who are concerned about their infant's development. These families may be served in their homes, at the child's daycare, or an alternate setting. The infant educator providing these services is a certificated teacher specializing in working with infants with special needs and their families. In order for a child and family to be eligible for these services they must live within the Lakewood School District, and their young child must demonstrate a delay in at least one of the following areas of development: speech, motor, problem-solving or social skills, or have a disability that may lead to a delay, such as visual impairment, hearing loss or prematurity.
For information regarding this program, contact Snohomish County Early Intervention Program, 425-388-7402.