Model organization

By Jaclyn Kratzer - examiner.com

Organization, or rather lack thereof, seems to be the common problem for most students with disabilities. I hear it all the time. It usually comes in the form of homework not getting completed or paperwork never coming home. There are of course things the IEP team can do and should do to help. I find it sometimes to be a simple thing, but then a notice that the child may not see organization done at home or school or have any frame of reference to emulate.

Read more HERE.

Hobby vs. job

By Jackyn Kratzer for Reading, PA Special Education Examiner

Is it a hobby or a possible job? When the team sits down to do a transition plan for students this is a question that is often asked. Now we may initially think that an interest can be a just a hobby. Someone may want to be an astronaut and because of some physical issues the dream of being an astronaut may not be obtainable. We may initially think that knowing about space may just be a hobby.

Read more HERE.

IEP Meeting Conversation Stoppers

From the National Center for Learning Disabilities by Candace Cortiella, Director, The Advocacy Institute

Some of the statements made to parents at IEP meetings are “conversation stoppers”—comments that create barriers and can prevent the IEP team from working cooperatively to develop effective special education services and supports for students with disabilities.

Here are nine common “conversation stoppers,” some information about what may be the real issues of concern and suggestions for how parents can respond in a forceful but respectful way so that planning for their child can move forward.

Stopper #1: “The General Education Teacher Could Not Be Here Today.”

What is the issue?

The vast majority of children with disabilities spend most or all of their school day in general education activities or classrooms. It is essential that the general education teacher be an active IEP team member. This does not mean that parents should expect teachers to leave their classrooms for long periods of time. However, it is reasonable to expect the general education teacher to attend IEP meetings to contribute expertise in setting academic, behavorial and social goals, to advise the team about curriculum and help identify where and when adaptations and accommodation will be needed so that your child can be successful in the general classroom and have meaningful access to the general education curriculum.

Here are possible responses

“Nina is one of Miss Taylor’s students and we think she is doing very well. However, I have no idea if the goals, accommodation and other supports we are suggesting are going to be helpful to Miss Taylor in adapting the curriculum and classroom activities so Nina can be successful. We need to schedule another IEP meeting so that Miss Taylor can attend for at least part of the time.”

“This is the first year my child has been spending a lot of time in a general classroom. I do not want to have IEP meetings without my child’s general education teacher. We can complete the main parts of the IEP and give a draft to Mr. Jones. But then we will need to schedule another IEP Meeting that includes him so that our team is complete.”

Stopper #2: “Your Child Can’t Participate In Academic Classes If He Can’t Pass the State Assessments.”

What are the issues?

Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) encourage schools to have high expectations for all students and require schools to provide equal opportunities for students to receive academic instruction. Students with disabilities have a right to have meaningful access to the general curriculum. Parents and IEP teams should work with general education teachers to identify those areas of the curriculum that can and should be incorporated into the student’s IEP and then provide modifications and accommodations through special education services.

Read more HERE.

"Be The One"

"Be The One" {Music Video} from Life Stage Films on Vimeo.

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Urges Congress to Prevent Devastating Cuts

From California Department of Education - NEWS RELEASE

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today urged Congressional leaders to work together and immediately pass legislation that would repeal drastic budget cuts set to take effect Friday under sequestration.

"Without Congressional intervention, automatic budget cuts from sequestration will take effect on March 1," said Torlakson in aletter to Congressional leaders. "After years of extensive state and federal budget cuts to education, these cuts will devastate communities across California…. These automatic cuts will cause long-lasting and irreparable harm."

Sequestration cuts could represent a $262 million funding reduction to California’s federal education program. These include estimated cuts of:
* $91 million for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, intended to improve education for disadvantaged students;

* $72 million in special education funding for programs that serve the needs of students with disabilities;
* $2.8 million for public charter schools;
* $6.9 million for Career and Technical Education;
* $9.6 million in funding for English learners; and
* $3.7 million in Impact Aid affecting students in federally impacted school districts in California, including children of active duty service members.

"Further, these cuts come at a time when California is just beginning a recovery from state-level cuts of over $20 billion to education spending over the last five years," Torlakson added. "The California Department of Education, school districts, and local educational agencies will need to find ways to cut costs even further under sequestration. This could result in school closures; teacher and administrator layoffs; increased student-teacher ratios; the elimination of college counselors and school-based mental health personnel; and deferred purchases, renovations, and repairs. These cuts would come at a crucial time in a student’s life. Many of these students may never make up the lost ground."

Read article HERE.

Schools See Gains From Positive Behavior Approach

A first-of-its-kind study looking at a widely-used program designed to improve behavior finds that the strategy is proving effective for students with and without disabilities.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins compared the experiences of students at 21 schools using the program known as School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or SWPBIS, to kids at 16 schools that did not use the program over four years.

They found that there were significant improvements in behavior, concentration, social-emotional functioning and pro-social behaviors at schools using the method. What’s more, implementing SWPBIS led to a dramatic reduction in the number of disciplinary referrals to the school office, according to the study published online this week in the journal Pediatrics.

Read more of Shaun Heasley's Disability Scoop article HERE.

Using technology to keep track if our child's school work

By Dennise Goldberg from Special Education Advisor

As most of you know, our son entered middle school this year.  For the typically developing student, it can be a difficult transition; but for the student with disabilities, it’s much harder to make the transition from elementary to middle school student.  In some school districts, middle school begins in 7^th grade but ours begins in 6^th grade.  I myself began middle school in 5^th grade and would NOT recommend it because I was not ready yet!  Not only do you have to change classrooms every hour but you have to allow time to run to your locker as well.  Let’s not forget changing for P.E. on a daily basis; thank goodness our son’s P.E. class is 6^th period.  Like many of you parents, we we’re very concerned about how our son would be able to function in his new environment and be able to access the curriculum successfully; well thankfully there is technology that helps parents keep track of their child’s school work on a daily basis.

Read more HERE.

One Step Forward, One Step Back For Students With Disabilities?

Thirteen years after a family sued the San Francisco school district over its lack of adherence with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the district has installed its last elevators, ramps, and accessible toilets in its schools.

The district spent $250 million to fix 50,000 violations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week.

The work entailed adding elevators, wheelchair ramps, new light switches, wider doorways, wheelchair lifts, Braille signs, and water fountains accessible from wheelchairs, the Chronicle reported. In the process, the district spent another $550 million to upgrade schools in other ways, including replacing roofs, heating systems, windows, repainting, repaving playgrounds, and so on.

Complying with the ADA took so long in part because San Francisco has the oldest school building inventory in California and the city's hilly landscape made work more challenging, the school district's facilities director told the newspaper.

Another 50 schools and district buildings not part of the lawsuit still have to be upgraded to comply with ADA. 

Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Special Education article HERE.

Texas Districts Flagged for Suspending Students With Disabilities

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

Disability Rights Texas has flagged 30 districts for disproportionately using out-of-school suspensions to punish students with disabilities.

Based on data from the Texas Education Agency, the group said that in these 30 districts, about 22 percent of students with disabilities were suspended out of school during the 2010-11 school year, compared to an average of 7 percent for students with disabilities in all Texas districts. But across all groups of students in all districts, only about 4 percent of students were suspended out of school, Disability Rights Texas said in a report this month.

The group, along with several others, is asking the districts to change their approaches to discipline.

Read more HERE.

Senate To Revisit School Restraint, Seclusion

Lawmakers are set to consider the use of restraint and seclusion in the nation’s classrooms this week, rekindling efforts to establish first-ever federal rules governing the practices.

The topic is scheduled to be front and center Thursday at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The issue has been a hotbed for disability advocates since 2009 when an advocacy group report uncovered widespread abuse and even deadly instances of restraint and seclusion in schools, problems which were later confirmed in a government report as well.

Students with disabilities were most often subject to the questionable practices, the reports found.

In response, legislation sharply restricting restraint and seclusion was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, but when Senate talks fell apart later that year, action on the issue largely fizzled.

Currently, a patchwork of state and local rules exist. Disability advocates say that federal requirements are needed to ensure student safety.

However, at least one group representing educators — the American Association of School Administrators — opposes such regulation arguing that it is unnecessary and would put school staff at risk.

Read more of Michelle Diament's Disability Scoop article HERE.

Charter Schools Enroll Lower Rates of Students With Disabilities

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

A new U.S. Government Accountability Office report about students with disabilities enrolled in charter schools found what many in the special education arena already knew: These kids don't show up in charters at the same rates they do in traditional public schools.

But the GAO report did offer one of the first comprehensive national looks at the phenomenon.

For example, as you'll see in the complete story on this report from me and my colleague Sean Cavanagh over at the Charters & Choice blog, the GAO looked at every state to see whether the percentage of students with disabilities in traditional public schools matched the percentage in charters. The majority, you'll see on page 8 of the report, don't even come close.

Read more HERE.

Will Congress compound its error on ‘highly qualified’ teachers?

Back in late 2010, Congress approved legislation that defined “highly qualified teachers” as including students still in teacher training programs. Now, instead of admitting that the definition doesn’t make much sense, Congress is on the road to passing new legislation to keep that definition on the books (even though a federal appellate court has ruled that it violates the No Child Left Behind law).

This week, and possibly as early as today, a Senate subcommittee is taking up an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — known in its current form as No Child Left Behind — that deals with this issue.

Under NCLB, all children are supposed to have highly qualified teachers. School districts are supposed to let parents know which teachers are not highly qualified, and they are supposed to be equitably distributed in schools. But they aren’t.

In fact, teachers still in training programs are disproportionately concentrated in schools serving low-income students and students of color, the very children who need the very best the teaching profession has to offer. And the inequitable distribution of these teachers has a disproportionate impact on students with disabilities.

Read more of Valerie Strauss' Washington Post article HERE.

Petition to US Congress: Fully fund special education.

There is a petition that can be signed on the website Change.org originated by James Woodhead of Union City, California:


Students with disabilities struggle with learning. They have much lower graduation rates than their typically developing peers. Programs to support them have never been funded at the 40% level by the federal government since the original law was passed in 1975. The mandate to provide these students with a "free, appropriate public education" persists. As a consequence, state and local school districts are having to utilize more and more of their general funds to fulfill the mandate. In a time of decreasing resources to support public schools the impacts on all students is devastating. 


Outcomes for students with disabilities are not good. In California, for example, students with disabilities fail to pass the required California High School Exit Exam at around the 50% level. After these students leave school their employment rate is a dismal 34%. This is a national disgrace. Special education has never been adequately funded and the same may be said of general education. You get what you pay for and Congress has not paid what they promised for 37 years. All of out students suffer as a result of this neglect. 
This is a bipartisan issue. Disabilities effect families of Republicans, Democrats and Independents without regard to party affiliation. These are not somebody else's kids, they are our kids and we all have an obligation to do the best we can to help them reach their full potential. 


Tell Congress to fulfill it's obligation to fully fund special education.


Petition HERE.

Girl Without Hands Wins National Handwriting Award

Annie Clark was born with no hands, but that’s not stopping the Pennsylvania first-grader who just won a national penmanship contest.

Clark, 7, was honored this week by Zaner-Bloser, an education publishing company, as one of two winners of its annual handwriting contest for students with disabilities. She received a trophy and a $1,000 prize. 

Despite her disability, Clark’s parents say she’s committed to doing for herself.

 Read more of Michelle Diament's Disability Scoop article HERE.

Supporting Students With Disabilities in Inclusive Schools: A Curriculum for Job-Embedded Paraprofessional Development

By Jennifer Sommerness from jennifersommerness.wordpress.com

Lately I have been working with a number of parents and schools during this busy time of year, when IEPs are needing to be revisited and plans for next year put in place for kids with disabilities (take a minute to read my posts about IEPs for some ideas of where to begin and important things to think about during this very necessary, and hopefully meaningful, process).

Read more HERE.

Suspensions more common for minority, disabled students

By Joanna Lin from California Watch

Racial minorities and students with disabilities are suspended at substantially higher rates than their white and non-disabled peers, according to an analysis of discipline data from nearly 500 California school districts. Researchers said the disparities are a civil rights issue and cause for alarm.

While 7.1 percent of all California students were suspended from school at least once during the 2009-10 school year, the rate was as high as 18 percent among blacks, 11 percent among American Indians and 13.4 percent for students with disabilities. The rate was 7 percent among Latinos and 3 percent among Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Released yesterday by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA's Civil Rights Project, the analysis is based on data school districts reported to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The reporting districts serve about 90 percent of all students in California.

Read more HERE.

Special Education Students a Focus in "Bully"

By Guest Blogger Alyson Klein - On Special Education

Two students with Asperger syndrome—an autism spectrum disorder that can make it tough to interact in social sitatuations—are featured heavily in "Bully," the new education shock-you-mentary, opening in wide release Friday.

The film opens with the grieving parents of Tyler Long, a 17-year-old with Asperger's syndrome who committed suicide. And it closely follows Alex Libby, another student with Asperger's who was repeatedly harassed by his fellow students at a Sioux City, Iowa, middle school.

Read more HERE.

Data Reveal Disparities in Schools' Use of Restraints

By Nirvi Shah from Education Week

New federal data that for the first time attempt to catalog how many times students were isolated or restrained—by a school employee or with a device—show that, in many cases, those techniques are applied disproportionately to students with disabilities, particularly black students with disabilities.

As part of its most recent data collection, the U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights asked more than 72,000 public schools to report how many students were isolated or restrained for the purpose of keeping them from harming themselves, classmates, or school employees. Although such techniques most often are associated with special education, the data show they are used with all students.

Read more HERE.

Feds Share Largest Collection of Student Restraint, Seclusion Data

New federal data about how often public school students are restrained or secluded at school show that, in the majority of cases, these approaches are used to contain kids with disabilities, who make up just a sixth of all students.

Data from the Civil Rights Data Collection, gathered from the 2009-10 school year from about 85 percent of the nation's school districts, for the first time includes information about mechanical or physical restraints and seclusion. Although even the Government Accountability Office has investigated concerns about the use of these methods, there's never been data collected on this scale about the practices. (Read some of Education Week's coverage of other data collected by the U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights here.)

Some analysis shared Tuesday by the federal Education Department shows that close to 40,000 students were physically restrained—or held by another person—that school year. Of those, 70 percent of the cases involved students with disabilities.

The department also found although black students make up 21 percent of students with disabilities, they represented 44 percent of the cases in which mechanical restraints—where students are controlled using some kind of a device—were involved. Some schools have used duct tape, handcuffs, helmets, anklets, and other devices, with the premise of keeping students from hurting themselves, teachers, or classmates.

This last practice is of particular concern to many groups who advocate on behalf of students with disabilities. The GAO report chronicled the deaths of some children restrained this way.

A new report from the National Disability Rights Network, whose "School is Not Supposed to Hurt" report several years ago shined a spotlight on the use of restraint and seclusion, shared stories this week of a middle school teacher duct taping a student to his wheelchair in Colorado and a 15-year-old student in Iowa strapped to a lunch table. Civil suits and federal complaints to the federal office for civil rights have, in some of these cases, found the schools violated state laws or students' civil rights, or both.

Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Special Education HERE.

Districts Must Expand Definition, Services to Students With Disabilities

By Nirvi Shah from Education Week

A new letter from the Office for Civil Rights at the federal education department details how school districts should act on some changes to federal law regarding people with disabilities. The way I'm reading it, the letter expands the range of students to whom school districts' may have to provide special education services and accommodations, including some who in the past may have been found not to need those services.

The letter is intended to clarify school districts' obligations following amendments made to the Americans with Disabilities Act that took effect in 2009. Those amendments say school districts should define disability very broadly, writes Russlynn Ali, the assistant secretary for civil rights, in a set of questions and answers that accompany the letter.

Read complete article HERE.