ESY or Extended School Year services are services offered to students who are disabled or differently-abled. As provided under IDEA or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the rights of disabled students in terms of academic maintenance are protected. The main goal of ESY services is to help disabled students maintain a certain skill rather than make them learn a new one or catch up with other regular students. Some students who have some disability may not be able to experience the normal progression of skills and these students need some kind of outside help to help them cope with their limitations and constantly check on their learning progress.
Through ESY, many of these students are expected to continually learn or maintain a certain skill. Without ESY services, many disabled students often regress and will need more time to relearn or recoup lost schooling time.
ESY services may be offered or extended to qualified and disabled students in different forms including additional classes and lectures, sessions of physical and/or occupational therapy, and other activities which may be done outside of a particular school district. Some students may able to get by with simple classroom setups while others need to be assisted through certain physical therapy sessions for example. The main point of ESY services is that the students will be ensured of continuing education to ensure better progress in terms of learning and skills development.
In most states across the US, the eligibility for disabled students in terms of age is not beyond 16 years of age. There are also restrictions in terms of availing ESY services if there is an availment of the same services the previous year. This is due to the fact that evaluation for the ESY or special education program is done annually and priority is given to new nominees to the service program. ESY services may also be availed by disabled students and their parents without any cost as documented under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
