Solana Beach School District offers a continuum of special education services from preschool through sixth grade, who have been identified through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process as eligible for special education.

Our district promotes inclusion and works to support students at their home school site and in their general education classrooms to the maximum extent possible.

Related Services are provided to students by appropriately qualified specialists/ service providers as specified by their IEP, beginning at preschool through sixth grade.  A service provider may work with a student individually, in groups, and/ or through consultation.  The service provider is an IEP team member who supports the student's goal areas specific to their area of expertise. All school sites offer a full complement of related services, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, adaptive physical education, counseling services, behavior intervention consultation, physical therapy, deaf and hard of hearing itinerant services, itinerant vision services, and more for students identified as requiring these services through the IEP process.

All of our schools offer Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI) through Learning Resource Centers (LRCs), which are designed to support a wide range of student needs. Our LRCs are staffed with one or more Education Specialists and trained instructional assistants, who offer both push-in services (services provided in the general education setting) and pull-out services (services provided within the separate special education setting) based on each student's individual needs. 

Additionally, the district offers SAI to students with more extensive support needs in specialized programs at Carmel Creek  (K-3) and Solana Pacific (4-6).  Staffed with an Education Specialist and trained instructional assistants, these programs offer a modified, functional, and academic-skill based curriculum delivered primarily in a special education setting, with inclusion into the general education setting to the maximum extent appropriate. These students necessitate an increased amount of individualized, or very small group supports in order to benefit from their education.  The specialized supports are tailored to address the extensive support needs in the skill areas including, but not limited to, functional/ applied academics, behavior, pragmatics, health/ medical, community connections, recreation/ leisure, and social/ interpersonal; individualization is determined based on each student's needs.