North Carolina's Exceptional Children Division, part of the state's public school system, provides special classes to students with mental, physical, emotional and vocational disabilities. The division assists public schools throughout the state with educator training and course programming. In addition, the division oversees the management and the allocation of program funding from both federal and state grants. Parents working with a public school's program for disabled students can consult the Exceptional Children handbook on parents' rights and procedural safeguards, provided on the Exceptional Children Division website.
The Governor Morehead School in Raleigh offers a range of educational services to the visually impaired. Depending on a student's individual needs, an education from the Morehead School could mean anything from satellite preschool classes to residential placement at the main K-12 school. The school also serves researchers studying visually impaired education and works with the field's professional development center of North Carolina Central University. As part of the school's core mission, it also seeks to support the families of children with visual impairments.
Since 1894, The North Carolina School for the Deaf (NCSD) has offered residential or daytime instruction for deaf or hard of hearing children. Located on a 160-acre campus in Morganton, the school features elementary, middle and high school programs. Besides the school's accredited learning programs on campus, it extends the option for advanced students to combine study both at the NCSD and at local Burke County schools for a well-balanced mix of learning environments.
The TEACCH Autism Program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication related handicapped CHildren) is headquartered at the North Carolina University School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. TEACCH also has eight regional centers, located in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Gastonia, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh and Wilmington. Since the early 1970s, the school has provided clinical services, parent training, counseling and recreational groups for individuals with autism. The Early Autism Program provides counseling for families and intense, hands-on classes for toddlers with autism. According to TEACCH, the program's adult clients with autism have an institutionalization rate of 5 pecent, compared with a worldwide average of 46 percent.