Tips for IEP, IDEA and 504 via Wrights Law

By Marianne from TheCoffeeKlatch

Ten Tips For Special Education Advocates

Remember, your goal is to assist parents in achieving an appropriate education for their child.

1. Good advocates facilitate the IEP process.

Advocates must set an example for the entire IEP Team. They must be a role model of behavior for the parent. Challenging school experts, demeaning school staff, or being inconsiderate or impolite, will not advance the child’s cause. Your goal is to get better school services for the child. Good advocates ask questions and make valuable suggestions to advocate for a child. It is okay to disagree. It is not okay to put down or verbally attack someone.

2. Good advocates know the child and understand the disability.

Do your homework before you attempt to advocate for the child. Research the child’s disability. Be ready with ideas about instructional methods that are research-based and peer-reviewed. Meet the child and the family in the home environment. Put off making recommendations until you fully understand how the child’s disability affects his or her life and education.

3. Good advocates try to reduce existing barriers between the parent and the school.

Your goal is to bring the school and the parent closer to agreement. Good advocates explain to parents that negotiation is part of the IEP Team process – and a part of life! Pouring gasoline on a fire ensures that everyone gets burned and does not improve the child’s lot.

Read more HERE.

Get To Know Your CAC Committees - QIAT Committee – An Interview with Christian R. Patz, Ed.D.

What is the name of your committee?

QIAT-Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology

What is your committee all about?

The QIAT Committee is made up of interested parents/guardians, school and district staff that want to improve AT for students in our District.

What is the goal of your committee?

Consideration of the need for AT devices and services is an integral part of the educational process contained in IDEA 2004 for referral, evaluation, and IEP development. The goal of the QIAT committee is to identify the district use of AT and recommend strategies to insure that is happening.

How does your committee's work benefit special education students?

Consideration of assistive technology need is required by IDEA 2004 and is based on the unique educational needs of the student. IEP team members combine their knowledge and skills to determine if assistive technology devices and services are needed to remove barriers to student performance. When the assistive technology needs are beyond the knowledge and scope of the IEP team, additional resources and support are sought. The QIAT committee makes sure those supports are in place.

Any info on meetings?

Meetings are held on a monthly basis. The meeting schedule is usually set around parent schedules.

Are you looking for more participation?  How can one get involved?

We always welcome and encourage parent participation. The meeting times are listed on the blog or interested parents can email Christian Patz (Patzc@mdusd.org).

Christian R. Patz, Ed.D.

Administrator for Related Services

All About the IEP

By Elaine Mulligan from NICHCY (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities)

Think you know all you need to know about your child’s IEP – or that her teacher does? Maybe not!

Too often we fall into the bad habit of “trusting the process” without making sure that we understand the process. School districts develop forms, checklists, and procedures and we don’t always feel comfortable asking why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Why does it matter? The IEP should identify your child’s strengths and needs so the IEP team can put together a group of supports to enable your child to be more successful in school. The wrong supports can result in a lack of progress, or unruly behavior due to frustration. Be prepared with information from The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY).

Don’t you ever wonder . . .

Why does federal law require a general educator to be on the IEP team?

The regular education teacher knows the curriculum for a child’s grade level and what children in regular education classes are typically expected to do. If the child is going to be educated in the regular education environment for any part of the school day, then the child’s regular education teacher may talk at the IEP meeting about what the child will be taught and expected to learn. To read more about this, visit Regular Educators on our IEP Team page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/team/regulareducator.

When is it appropriate for the student to be included on the IEP team?

If transition goals and services are going to be discussed, the student with a disability must be invited to attend the meeting. In reality, parents and children often make this decision together. It’s not uncommon for parents and even teachers to encourage children to take part in developing their own IEPs. Some children in elementary school come to the meeting just to learn a little about the process or to share information about themselves. To read more about this, visit our Student with a Disability on our IEP Team page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/team/student.

Who else should be on the IEP team?

In addition to parents, special educators, regular educators, a school system representative, someone to interpret evaluation results, and the student (when appropriate), the IEP team may also include, at the discretion of the parent or the school system, additional individuals with knowledge or special expertise about the child, including related services personnel as appropriate. The parent or the school system may invite these individuals to participate on the team. To read more about this, visit Others with Knowledge or Special Expertise About the Child on our IEP Team page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/team/specialexpertise.

What exactly are “present levels”?

The “present levels” statement is crafted by considering the areas of development in which a child with a disability may need support. These are roughly divided into the two areas of development: academic and functional. To read more about this, visit Present Levels on our Contents of the IEP page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/iepcontents/present-levels.

Who decides the appropriate placement/service delivery model for the child?

Placement is directly connected to the child’s IEP, is based on the child’s IEP, must be decided by a knowledgeable group of persons, including the child’s parents, but is not necessarily decided by the IEP team. To read more about this, visit Placement on our When the IEP Team Meets page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/meetings#placement

What are “accommodations” all about?

IDEA requires that students with disabilities take part in state or districtwide assessments . . . To support the participation of children with disabilities in such large-scale testing, accommodations or modifications may be necessary in how the test is administered or how a given child takes the test. It’s the responsibility of the IEP team to decide how the student with a disability will participate, and then to document that decision in the child’s IEP. To read more about this, visit Accommodations in Assessment on our Contents of the IEP page at http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/iepcontents/assessment.

The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities can answer these questions and many, many more! Bookmark our All About the IEP page (http://nichcy.org/schoolage/iep) in English or Spanish so you’ll be prepared for your child’s next IEP meeting.

Article HERE.

The Myth about IEP Team Collaboration

By Doug Goldberg from the Special Education Advisor Blog

If you have been following my blogs lately, I recently got into a debate in the comment section of the Top Ten Negotiating Skills to Learn for an IEP. I’m going to focus this blog on one comment that was made:

“The (IEP) “team” concept does not in any way suggest a process of negotiation, rather it suggests collaboration. There is a significant difference with the former implying a relationship of possibly opposing views, while the latter implies a co-operative relationship.”

That was beautifully stated, but here’s the rub, IEP team collaboration is a myth. Here’s where I add my disclaimer, I am first and foremost a parent of a child with special needs and I am secondly a Special Education Advocate. This means I have been in a lot of IEP’s, and many of them have been collaborative, but that collaboration did not happen on its own. Assuming IEP Team collaboration happens organically is what keeps Special Education Advocates and Attorneys in business. There, I just gave away the secret. If school districts want to get rid of the Special Education Advocacy business, start working with parents to repair the trust that has been lost. Don’t get me wrong, parents, including myself, can sometimes hamper the IEP Team Collaboration as well. So how do we get from the myth of IEP Team collaboration to actual collaboration?

Step 1:

Eliminating or inviting outside sources that are manipulating the IEP Team. Your school district is legally required to have a representative at the IEP meeting who has the ability to commit the resources of the district. Yet, you would be surprised at how often I hear the school district’s representative say, “I don’t have the authority to approve this” or worse yet, “I have been authorized by my supervisor to make the following offer.” Parents have the right to invite members to join the IEP team. The parents should try to determine whether the administrative representative from the school district has authority, if they can’t do this on their own, then talk with a special education advocate to help you in this process.

Step 2:

The Parents need to educate themselves on the Law, Assessments, State Academic Standards and their child’s disability. There are actually two reasons for this:

1. By preparing for the IEP meeting the parents can participate in a productive manner. When the IEP Team members see that you have a firm grasp on the issues, they are more likely to listen to your comments and concerns causing better collaboration; and
2. It teaches the parents what the law actually provides for children with a disability. It does not provide the best education, only an appropriate education. Once a parent understands this difference they are less likely to make extreme demands. Yes, sometimes the parents ask for too much just as School Districts sometimes offer to little.

Step 3:

Get along with the team and eliminate hostile environments as much as possible. There is a big difference between assertive and being aggressive. This goes for all members of the IEP team. The IEP Team members from the School are usually nice, caring teachers and therapists that went into special education to help children but their employers don’t always allow them to do this. If you don’t think that’s true, read yesterday’s blog Beginning a new School and Knowing When to Say Goodbye.

Step 4:

Don’t discount each other’s opinions. School District employees should never assume they know what will work for the child just because they spent a few hours administering a standardized test or spent a few days doing informal observations. The parents have raised this child since birth and have valuable insight. Parents, the school district professionals are trained and knowledgeable and most likely understand many different learning strategies and methodologies. If, after listening to each other a consensus can’t be reached that is when you would ask for an Independent Educational Evaluations.

Step 5:

Parents should invite other people with specialized information about their child to attend the meeting especially other therapists, doctors or teachers. They can help guide the parents on whether they agree with the School Districts results or whether they have a different opinion.

As you can see there can be many roadblocks on the way to IEP Team collaboration. Both internal and external factors are at work. Even if the external factors are dealt with and a valid IEP Team is put together, we are all human beings that are sometimes wrong, sometimes irrational and sometimes emotional. This is why true collaboration only happens when we not only listen to each other but actually hear what others are saying.

Article HERE.

Parents Are A Great Asset To The IEP

The term “IEP” refers to Individualized Education Program and is most often used in conjunction with special services or for providing instructional services for a child with special needs.

For more on this article: click here

Parents Role in the IEP Team

Definition: The term "IEP" refers to Individualized Education Program, and is most often used in conjunction with special services or for providing instructional services for a child with special needs. It is an ongoing planning-tool that must be reviewed and revised on a regular basis.

More on this article from Autisable click here.