The attached materials and the website links below will give you a basic understanding of Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation Services (OVRS) procedures compared with Special Education procedures.

Remember that OVRS services are based on eligibility for those services. Special Education is based more on entitlement to services once initial eligibility is determined.

Essentially, to be eligible for services from OVRS, the client must have a diagnosed disability that:

1. Is a substantial impediment to employment,
2. Requires substantial services from OVRS that will facilitate employability, and
3. Providing those services are likely to result in a positive outcome such as competitive employment

http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/vr/about_us.shtml
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/vr/services.shtml

To receive Special Education Services under IDEIA (the Federal Law that drives special education services) in school, the following basic conditions need to be in place:

1. The child's disability impacts their ability to progress effectively in regular education and they require special education, and
2. The child requires specially designed instruction to meet their unique needs as a student with a disability.

These subtle differences make it challenging, at times, for the two systems to agree that every student who receives Special Education is, by default, eligible for services from OVRS. A key ingredient to lessen this conflict has to do with the understanding of functional limitations and being able to translate "educational barriers" into "functional limitations". Two documents are included here that consider what functional limitations are (Functional Limitations File Review Process) and present a model of collaborative assessment used in Colorado (2006 Colorado Assessment Process).