In
order for parents to understand the area of Special
Education better, we provide the following summary.
We are attorneys, not psychologists, psychiatrists,
teachers, therapists, or physicians. We have learned
much from these professionals but offer no opinions
outside our area of expertise. In addition, each state
has its own laws and regulations and we do not offer
any opinions for students living in states other than
Virginia. Nothing in this summary should be taken
as legal advice. Please consult your local Special
Education Attorney for further assistance.
Special
Education consists of services the public school provides
to legally disabled children to enable them to receive
a free, appropriate public education and become productive
citizens of the community. Our approach is to educate
parents, teachers and children about the law, negotiate
difficult or expensive services, translate scores
from professional evaluations into information the
parents can use and talk to the children about what
they want to do when they grow up and how they feel
about school. We work very hard to provide the child
with motivation to try again to succeed at school.
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PROCEDURE
AND CONTEXT
The mechanism for the provision of Special Education
services is testing of the student followed by evaluation
of the test results and personal knowledge of the
child by a committee of educators and parents. If
the child is found eligible for services, the committee
drafts an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for
the current or upcoming school year that specifies
the services the child will receive and monitors the
child’s grades, behavior and emotional well-being.
With appropriate services provided in the least restrictive
environment, the disabled child usually succeeds.
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LEGAL
DISABILITIES
It is estimated that somewhere between 16% and 19%
of all school aged children are legally disabled.
Legal disabilities include children diagnosed with:
Autism, Deafness, Deaf-Blindness, Speech or language
impairment, Visual impairment, Developmental Delay,
Emotional Disturbance, Specific Learning Disabilities,
Mental Retardation, Orthopedic impairment, Multiple
disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Other Health
Impairment (including ADHD and ADD). The disabilities
must be serious enough to interfere with the child’s
ability to learn for the child to receive Special
Education services.
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ROLE
OF PARENTS
Congress has put in place a law that theoretically
provides excellent assistance for disabled children.
However, the system depends on parents to educate
themselves about the law or pay an attorney to represent
the child and make sure the schools actually provide
the services the child needs. Special Education is
a very complex area of law involving a number of federal
and state statutes and regulations.
Parents
who trust the school to “do the right thing”
are often disappointed with their child’s progress.
It is up to the parent to learn about the child’s
disability and how it affects the child in the classroom.
The parent must also be able to interpret the child’s
test results and be able to communicate to teachers
and administrators the child’s strengths and
weaknesses and how the child learns. Parents must
be skilled negotiators to bargain with school representatives
and argue convincingly about why the child needs specific
assistance. Parents should respect teachers and work
with them to come up with creative solutions to problems.
Parents need to know their rights in this process
and how to make sure the child is receiving the services
stated in the IEP in a complete and consistent manner.
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PROBLEMS
AMONG THE ADULTS
Special education services are expensive. Tension
between the parents of disabled students and school
administrative personnel tends to increase as the
schools are faced with budget cutbacks and students
are pressured to succeed in Standards of Learning
testing. In addition, many educators resent parents
telling them how to educate or run their school. Teachers
are often overburdened and feel that it is not fair
to their other students for the teachers to constantly
be absent from their classrooms attending IEP meetings.
Despite all of the work and time that goes into evaluating
the child and preparing an IEP, it is worthless if
the IEP team does not do a good job drafting the document
and if school personnel do not actually provide the
needed services to the child every day in the classroom.
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ELIGIBILITY
It is the school district’s responsibility to
find all children between the ages of 2 and 21 who
may have disabilities and to evaluate whether or not
they need Special Education. The first step involves
a detailed evaluation of the child’s intellectual
ability, academic achievement, medical diagnoses and
medications, social history, behavior and emotional
health. Trained professionals must make these evaluations
and give the school and the parents written reports
of their findings and recommendations. Parents should
speak with the evaluators to understand the test results.
If the parents disagree with the evaluation done by
the selected professional, they may request an independent
educational evaluation by a professional of their
choosing to be paid for by the school district.
After
the testing is complete, the school district will
convene an Eligibility Meeting to discuss whether
or not the child has a disability that adversely affects
his or her education. For instance, if a child is
in the third grade, has an IQ of 125 but is being
recommended for retention because of failing grades
and poor behavior, the Eligibility committee may look
at a number of possible disabilities including Learning
Disability, ADHD, and Serious Emotional Disturbance.
Schools
vary on the criteria they feel is necessary before
finding a child eligible for Special Education. Parents
should request copies of the child’s evaluations
as well as the written criteria for each possible
disability before the Eligibility Meeting. Parents
should always attend their child’s Eligibility
Meeting, even if it means leaving work and losing
income. Parents should also tape-record the meeting
or take careful notes because very important information
about their child will be disclosed at this meeting
and they will have a hard time digesting so much information
all at once.
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IEP
MEETING
If the child is found eligible for Special Education
services, the school district will convene a meeting
to develop an IEP for the child. The IEP may take
quite a while to discuss and draft. Both the school
representatives and the parents must be willing and
able to devote whatever time is necessary to do a
good job. The IEP team may decide to stay and complete
the IEP at one sitting or have more than one meeting.
The
following people must be at each IEP meeting: the
parents, at least one special education teacher, at
least one regular education teacher (if the child
is or may be in the regular classroom for some part
of the day), a representative of the school district
who knows the general curriculum and what services
the school offers and can commit the school to providing
services, an individual who can interpret the test
results, other people who have knowledge about the
child, and, if appropriate, the child. Sometimes the
same school official may fulfill more than one of
these roles. Parents should find out as the meeting
begins who is fulfilling each of these roles.
The
IEP team needs to be organized in its deliberations
to conserve time. Parents must understand what information
will be discussed and in what sequence so they do
not bring up irrelevant issues or jump ahead to services
when the team is discussing present level.
There
are three major parts to an IEP that identify where
the child is now, where he should be at the end of
the year with appropriate services and what services
the child needs.
1.
The Present Level of Performance: This section describes
the child’s disabilities, strengths, weaknesses
and where he or she is academically – right
now. While most of this information will come directly
from the eligibility test results and evaluations
by the child’s teachers. The parents’
description of things the child enjoys doing, behavior
at home, problems at school, etc. is very valuable.
This is the time to also discuss whether the child
is being bullied. Is the child’s lunch being
stolen? Are the teachers saying nasty things to the
child? Any need of the child at school should be taken
into consideration and discussed. At the end of the
discussion, the parent should review what has been
written. It should clearly state the child’s
disability, how far behind the child is in various
academic areas, what medications the child takes,
the child’s strengths, weaknesses and needs
as well as any problem behaviors.
2.
Goals and Objectives: Building on the Present Level
of Performance, this section documents where the IEP
team believes the child should be academically by
the end of the school year if appropriate services
are provided in the least restrictive environment.
We want to set goals to narrow the gap between ability
and achievement. Goals must be stated very specifically
and they must be measurable. “Johnny will improve
his reading,” is not measurable. “Johnny
will improve his reading to the 8th grade and 3 months
level as tested by the Woodcock Johnson,” is
measurable. Most disabled children should make noticeable
progress in mastering the regular curriculum i.e.
at least a year’s improvement in every academically
strong area and even more improvement in academically
weak areas as shown by standardized testing at the
end of the school year.
For
example, a fifth grade student, Joey, is reading at
the first grade level and has been diagnosed with
ADHD. His mother resisted putting him on medication
but his doctor has recently found a medication to
help him focus that she can accept. The IEP team is
convinced that Joey’s learning will take off
and agree to write a reading goal that the child will
read at the 2nd grade plus six months level by the
end of his sixth grade school year. They also set
short-term objectives for him to master each grading
period in order to make sure he is on track.
For
mentally retarded or brain-damaged children, goals
will be set for life skills, social skills, dressing,
cooking, etc. It is just as important to set high
but realistic goals for these children as for all
other children. At the end of the discussion of the
Goals and Objectives section, the parent should review
what the school has written to make sure it is accurate
and complete.
3.
Services or Accommodations: In Virginia, disabled
children are not entitled to the best education possible
from the public school, only a level of education
that permits them to make some academic progress.
In other words, disabled children are provided a Chevy
by the public schools not a Cadillac. If the parents
want the child to have a Cadillac, they must provide
it themselves. On the other hand, the public school
is required by law to meet all of the child’s
needs. If school officials don’t see a particular
need, however, it will be up to the parent to provide
evidence that the child really has that need.
The
Services or Accommodations section records the services
that the school district will provide to the child.
(Note: this section is often the smallest in the entire
IEP). The specific services flow in a logical way
from the Present Level of Performance (where the child
is now) and the Goals and Objectives (where the child
should be by the end of the school year). Before going
to an IEP meeting, parents need to know what services
the child needs. There are many kinds of services
depending on the type of the child’s disability
and its severity: an extra set of textbooks, help
remembering homework, use of a computer at home, counseling,
special transportation, training in use of a calculator,
one-on-one tutoring, a behavioral intervention plan,
extra time on tests, etc. Teachers can be an invaluable
resource in helping develop specific services to assist
the child.
Perhaps
the most important service is the child’s placement
in the least restrictive environment. All public schools
must provide a continuum of placements from the regular
classroom (least restrictive) to residential placement
(most restrictive). In between, there are a number
of steps along the continuum – Collaborative
classes (taught by both Regular ed and Special ed
teachers); Resource class (Special ed teacher instructs
small group of disabled students on organizational
skills, monitors homework); Self-contained classroom
(small group of disabled students who have all of
their classes in this smaller setting); ½ day
academic program with ½ day work internship;
Group day treatment program. The key is to find the
least restrictive placement in which the child can
be successful in learning. As you can imagine, each
more restrictive placement becomes more expensive.
There is sometimes a tendency to leave children in
the regular education classroom even though they are
failing and constantly being suspended.
For many students, careful preparation of these sections
of the IEP will be sufficient for them to succeed
at school. The parent will review the entire IEP to
make sure it is complete, understandable and reflects
the consensus of the IEP team. Make sure the pages
are numbered sequentially and initial the bottom right
hand side of each page so that there cannot be any
substitutions. There will be an approval box for the
parent to sign if he or she agrees with the IEP. If
a parent does not agree, however, the parent should
still sign the IEP but indicate that he or she does
not agree and write somewhere on the page or on the
back of the page exactly why he or she feels the IEP
is inappropriate. At this point, there will be the
possibility of mediation or a due process hearing
but the parent will need expert assistance in order
to meet all the legal criteria.
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BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION PLAN
Approximately half of all disabled students exhibit
angry, disruptive, disrespectful or dangerous behaviors
at school. These behaviors need to be dealt with in
the IEP as well as the child’s academic issues.
If not corrected, problem behaviors can sabotage an
IEP, the child’s classroom and the child’s
entire family.
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HOSTILE
ENVIROMENT
Even though most disabled students have average or
above-average intelligence, they are stigmatized at
school as “dummies,” particularly if they
are placed in a self-contained class (separate, small
classroom of disabled students). If disabled students
develop “bad behaviors” they may be stigmatized
further as “trouble-makers.” They are
often bullied, picked on, and excluded by the other
children. Sometimes their teachers do not know about
or understand their disabilities and become exasperated
and angry that the child continues to act out. Often
there is not one adult at the school whom the child
trusts. The child’s self-esteem and grades begin
a downward spiral, their behavior deteriorates and
the parents panic.
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PUNISHMENT
The typical response to bad behavior is to punish
the child, particularly if it happens in the middle
of class or in a crowded, noisy environment. Teachers
and administrators punish the child, and when the
parents find out, they punish the child as well. However,
if you punish a child for behavior he or she cannot
control, the behavior will not stop but new behaviors
will develop. The child may try to avoid everything
associated with school (truancy, day-dreaming, sleeping
in class) or become angry and belligerent (cursing,
throwing things, bringing weapons to school). If the
unfair punishment continues, children may give up
entirely or become violent. The IEP team really needs
to know the child to determine whether he or she can
control the problem behaviors.
For
example, say that Doug, a 5th grade student, is constantly
jumping out of his seat in class and walking around
the room. Is this behavior an impulsive pattern associated
with the child’s Attention Deficit Disorder
or is his ADD pretty much under control and this is
his willful decision to disrupt the class, draw attention
to himself and avoid boring instruction.
How
you answer that question will shape how you deal with
the behavior. Teachers tend to over-estimate the amount
of control a child has (he’s a bad kid), and
parents tend to under-estimate that control (he’s
a good kid). The tendency is to keep badly behaved
children in regular education classes but send them
out of the classroom frequently. (Stand in the hall,
referrals to the principal, and suspensions).
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PROBLEM
BEHAVIORS
What kinds of behaviors do teachers see in
disabled students that go beyond the normal behaviors
for children that age? Problem behaviors in younger
disabled children include constantly making loud noises,
tantrums, disrespecting the teacher, throwing things,
taking other children’s papers and ripping them
up. As children grow older, they may refuse to do
any work, become truant, write notes about wanting
to blow up the school or kill the teacher, dress in
black, ignore an administrator, curse, etc.
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ADDESSING
PROBLEM BEHAVIORS IN THE IEP
The law is very clear on this issue. If the
child’s behavior impedes his learning or that
of others, the IEP team MUST consider strategies including
positive behavioral interventions and supports to
address problem behavior. The goal is to extinguish
problem behaviors that can be controlled by the child
at the youngest possible age before the child’s
self-esteem drops and minimize problem behaviors that
are an integral part of the child’s disability
by including services, modifications and accommodations.
Technically, problem behaviors can be dealt with in
an IEP in one of two ways. Either the behaviors can
be stated in the Present Level, Goals written in the
Goals section and Services indicated in the Accommodations
section, or a separate Functional Behavioral Analysis
and Behavior Intervention Plan can be developed and
included as part of the child’s IEP.
An IEP team should start with the idea of being creative
in working with problem behaviors. Schools should
stress flexibility and cooperation with parents. Parents
should trust reports of the child’s behaviors
as accurate. At the IEP team meeting, together they
should:
1.
Identify the Behaviors - all of the behaviors that
have been a problem at school. Lay it all out. Be
completely honest. Then, look for patterns –
does the child become a jumping bean every afternoon
at 2:00? Is that when his medicine wears off? Does
he always get a referral from Ms. Nasty Teacher in
4th period? Is that a personality clash? Does she
resent being saddled with a special ed child?
2.
Child should be Present and Participate - It is appropriate
for middle school and high school children to be in
every IEP team meeting and at this point in the meeting
to offer additional behaviors that may have been missed
as well as explanations for these behaviors and suggestions
of how the classroom or instruction could be modified
to prevent or reduce problem behaviors. Children should
be told that if they feel uncomfortable, they might
choose to leave the meeting at any time.
3.
Provide POSITIVE Interventions - What is a positive
behavioral intervention? Instead of embarrassing,
humiliating, nagging, or growling at the student,
ALL of the child’s teachers, parents and administrators,
bus drivers, gym teachers, etc. will praise the child
for good behavior and reward the child with something
that the child values.
For
Example: Say the most pressing problem Suzie has at
school is that she does not do her homework. You ask
Suzie and she says she forgets or she doesn’t
want to do her homework. Mom says that Suzie tells
her that she has already done it. Mom also says that
what Suzie loves more than anything is to talk on
the telephone with her friends. Suzie’s teacher
thinks that Suzie is afraid she will get a bad grade
on her homework since she is so far behind all of
her classmates.
With this information, the IEP team decides that each
of Suzie’s teachers will modify her homework
and give her special attention for 15 minutes each
day so that she can succeed. (5 spelling words instead
of 20 and one-on-one practice during lunch). Once
a week, the special education coordinator will call
Suzie’s Mom and leave a message of the number
of homework assignments Suzie completed that week.
Suzie’s Mom will give her 5 minutes of telephone
time with her friends for each assignment she completes.
The team agrees to reconvene in three weeks to assess
the success of the plan.
But some problem behaviors are very serious and tend
to lead to involvement with the juvenile justice system.
How can the IEP team handle these with positive interventions?
Rocky,
in the 10th grade, is seriously emotionally disturbed.
It is the end of September and he is failing again.
He has already been held back twice so that he is
considerably older and more sophisticated than his
classmates. He weighs 250 pounds. His biggest problem
behavior is that he frequently curses his teachers
and other students provoking them to retaliate. He
has been suspended three times this year and beaten
by gangs twice. Rocky won’t come to the IEP
team meeting and is talking about dropping out or
maybe getting his GED. He frequently complains to
his gym teacher that all the other teachers make him
mad. Rocky has never been violent and he is passionately
interested in Carpentry in which he excels. Rocky’s
Mom does not come to the IEP meeting and his Dad’s
whereabouts are unknown. The school appoints a Special
Advocate who is a retired teacher. She has not met
Rocky.
With this information, the IEP team will want to focus
on the child’s strength in Carpentry. Since
Rocky seems to have a good relationship with the gym
teacher, the IEP team will ask him and the Special
Advocate to meet with Rocky and with his Mom if she
will come. They will offer to meet at her convenience
and at her home. At that meeting, they will listen
to complaints and propose creative ideas. Would Rocky
like to take courses in other construction areas and
drop English, Math, French and History? Would he like
to attend school part of the day and work the other
part? Is he receiving counseling to help him deal
with his anger? Would he like to participate in sports?
What does he want to do for a living?
Then
the IEP team will schedule another meeting and discuss
what the gym teacher and the Special Advocate have
learned. They will invite other faculty who know Rocky
well to participate in the meeting. The team will
decide if Rocky is in the least restrictive placement?
They will go through his IEP and determine if it is
appropriate for Rocky. They will consider additional
services tailored to meet Rocky’s career goals,
academic goals and behavioral goals such as guidance
counseling, psychological counseling, educational
testing. They will consider a work/study program for
Rocky. They will analyze what triggers Rocky’s
cursing and what positive interventions could be taken
before he gets to the point of frustration (such as
encouraging his teachers to praise him honestly and
frequently for good behavior, teaching Rocky five
strategies to use instead of cursing to express his
angry feelings, giving him a leadership role in the
classroom, etc.) And they will implement the behavioral
intervention plan, reviewing it frequently.
Thus, even in this difficult situation, the IEP team
can make a real difference in the child’s life
and can offer positive interventions instead of punishments,
nasty comments and suspensions for problem behavior.
It is a lot of work, though, and some schools may
not be willing to make the effort. In Rocky’s
case, it would be up to the Special Advocate to demand
that the effort be made.
In addition to the three key areas of Present Level,
Goals and Objectives, and Services as well as Behavioral
Intervention, the IEP can include a number of other
services depending on the child’s disability:
extended school year services if the child regresses
severely over the summer vacation without instruction;
assistive technology if the child has a physical disability,
services for private school students, etc.
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TRANSITION
PLAN
Once the child is in high school, the IEP
should also contain a Transition Plan which is a coordinated
set of activities preparing the child for college,
employment, independent living, vocational training,
and coordination with other agencies for provision
of services, if needed. These services prepare the
child for higher education, work, being an active,
healthy, happy member of society. Unfortunately, this
type of planning is often very weak, perhaps consisting
of giving the child a vocational assessment and telling
the child to contact his guidance counselor. Parents
need to aggressively pursue transition services for
their children including career research, work internships,
summer employment, job hunting training, work skill
training, college survival skills, vocational training,
etc.
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CONCLUSION
We hope this summary has been helpful in explaining
how Special Education can provide all disabled children
with an opportunity to learn and be successful at
school. Parents can improve the quality of that education
by being knowledgeable about the child’s disability,
understanding the process, negotiating a good IEP
and following up to see that services are actually
provided. Beyond that, parents may need to seek the
assistance of an advocate to go to the IEP meeting,
an expert in the area of the child’s disability
or a Special Education attorney to represent the child.
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