In easy to understand terms, special education is specialised instruction and related services that an education district provides to children who qualify as educationally disabled. A child could have a learning disability, an emotional problem, an other health impairment, or numerous other “educational disabilities”, and if the team agrees that the scholar is suitable, then an Individual Education Program (IEP) will be developed ( what is an IEP ?). All this is to be paid for by the education district at no cost to the parent. It's a school district’s requirement to provide a Free Acceptable Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) to children, regardless of a disability, for pupils 3 to 21 or graduation, whichever comes first.
This sounds like it should be straightforward, right? But the process is really anything but easy. The special education laws are perplexing to even the most seasoned experts it appears. It is amazing to believe that average families and parents make it through the procedure unscathed.
So what exactly is this process? I am going to go through it simply here for you.
First there is a “child find” process. It’s the education district’s responsibility to find kiddos from 3-21 who might have an inability. Here is where preschool screenings and kindergarten screenings become important. The other way a district “finds” a kid with a disability is through the REFERRAL process. Anyone who knows the child and thinks that there is an instructional disability issue can refer a child to the special education department at the child’s school or district. This referral should be in writing and describe what the difficulty is and it should request further evaluation. Once the high school district receives this referral, it has 15 days to get rid of the referral. This means that the special education team gets together to check all existing education information (like report cards, assessments, teacher comments, etc) to work out if further analysis is needed. At about that point, the school district might say that they do not feel a full blown special education evaluation is required and that they will try some other school room interventions, and so on. Or, they’d say that they do believe additional info is wanted to decide pertaining to whether or not special education is needed, and they would then propose an evaluation and ask folks to consent to some further testing.
Once the parent (s) sign (s) consent, the school district has 60 days to finish the EVALUATION. During this time, the high-school psychologist will very probably finish an intellectual evaluation (IQ test) and some achievement tests to work out if the child is doing as well as he could be, or if there are more things going on that are getting in the way of the child’s education. Other pros, eg occupational specialists or speech and language pathologists might do some assessments too , dependent on the suspected areas of disability. After the testing is completed, the experts write reports and recommendations and then an analysis review meeting is held. Once the results are reviewed, the team can discuss whether or not the child is eligible for special education services primarily based on whether the kid is found to have an educational disability or not.
If a student is considered admissible, and IEP or Individual Education Program is developed. The team has 30 days to develop this document. This document contains information about the way the kid is functioning currently, and what their strengths and challenges are. It comprises of the accommodations and alterations an institution will establish to assist the student and will have objectives and goals to address any required areas of specialized instruction. It will also include what special education and related services a student will receive while at school. For example, things listed might include a one on one aide, or instruction in a special education classroom, or speech and language therapy, and so on. For older pupils (over 14), there has to be a transition plan, that lists what activities need to be undertaken for preparing for post secondary life.
This IEP must be reviewed annually, and modified to reflect areas of progress or continued need. There’s also a three year reevaluation process. New testing and assessment is conducted each three years, if necessary, to gauge progress and evaluate the instruction occurring.
Angela Keef is a special education advocate and consultant with over 15 years of experience. She's passionate about helping parents and children involved in the special education system, and helping teams in developing suitable plans and working together toward a standard goal….improved student achievement! Angela provides one on one private special education consulting and can help answer questions about an IEP, IEP goals
and objectives or any other general questions regarding special education.
