Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Weber on All Areas of Suspected Disability

Excerpt from: Disability Law (click for full article)

 

Disability law maven and IDEA expert Mark Weber has just posted this paper on SSRN: Mark C. Weber, All Areas of Suspected Disability, Loyola L. Rev. (forthcoming).  The abstract:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires school districts to assess children “in all areas of suspected disability.” It further provides that each child’s individualized education program (IEP) must contain measurable annual goals designed to “meet each of the child’s...educational needs that result from the child’s disability,” and a statement of special education and related services that will be provided for the child “to advance appropriately toward attaining annual goals.”

Is Your Child's IEP Really Individualized?

Excerpt from: Wrightslaw (click for full article)

 

What's the "I" in IEP? IEPs must be Individualized to the unique needs of each child with a disability. That means your child's IEP should be tailored to his specific needs.

In this issue of the Special Ed Advocate, you will get an IEP checklist to help you make sure your child's education plan is individualized. Learn what specific information IDEA requires in the IEP.

So, I can help develop my child's IEP? Yes, absolutely.

Excerpt from: Wrightslaw (click for full article)

 

Your input is invaluable. You are an essential part of the IEP team. The law is very clear about your right to participate as part of the team developing your child's IEP.

Should the IEP include ALL the services my child needs?

In this issue of the Special Ed Advocate you can use Wrightslaw's new IEP Pop-up to answer questions about how you and the IEP team determine the services & accommodations your child needs.
Please don't hesitate to forward this series to other friends, families, or colleagues.

What's So Important About Present Levels in the IEP?

Excerpt from: Wrightslaw (click for full article)

 

If your child's IEP fails to include accurate information about Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, the IEP is defective. It has no foundation.

Schools say they don't need to include Functional Performance Levels because they aren't related to academics. Not so!

In this issue of the Special Ed Advocate, you will learn the requirements for Present Levels in IEPs. Find out how Present Levels are used to develop measurable goals to meet your child's unique needs and to get an appropriate program and placement.

Please don't hesitate to forward this series to other friends, families, or colleagues.

 

Late Bloomer: How Getting an IEP in High School Helped Me Succeed

Excerpt from: National Center for Learning Disabilities (click for full article)

 

The day I finally got an Individualized Education Program (IEP), I was in my junior year of high school. Now, I understand that when people think of a student who has an IEP, they usually think of a young child in elementary school. Unfortunately, for me, that wasn’t the case. For many years, my family and I tried to figure out my diagnosis and get me an IEP, but this process took longer than anyone could have imagined. After many visits to the neuropsychologist, I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia, AD/HD and auditory processing disorder.

It’s an extraordinary feeling when you finally have a documented reason for some of your past academic struggles and when you can tell everyone that they were wrong when they said that you were “just being lazy.” Having the diagnosis also made all of the evaluations, trips to the neuropsychologists, and fights with the school district well worth it. At this point, it didn’t matter to me and my family how long it took to get my accommodations, what mattered was that I could finally use them.

Considering LRE in Placement Decisions

Excerpt from: NICHCY (click for full article)

 

Least restrictive environment, or LRE as it is more commonly called, is one of several vital components in the development of a child’s IEP and plays a critical role, influencing where a child spends his or her time at school, how services are provided, and the relationships the child develops within the school and community. Indeed, LRE is a foundational element in building an appropriate IEP that can improve outcomes for a child—in school and in life.

School Says, “No Advanced Classes for Kids with IEPs”

Excerpt from: The Wrightslaw Way (click for full artice)

 

Your child has an IEP because she is a child with a disability that adversely affects her education.

Because of her disability, she needs special education and related services.” 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Ed., p. 49.

Children with IEPs receive protection from discrimination under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504).

You say your child qualifies for advanced classes and the school will not enroll her because she has an IEP. That sounds like discrimination.

Public agencies that receive federal funds have to follow Section 504. Almost all public schools receive federal funds.

A school cannot exclude a qualified student with a disability from participating in any school program solely because of a disability. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/504faq.html

Your IEP Roadmap: Education Pathways for Your Child

Excerpt from: National Center for Learning Disabilities (click for full article)

 

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the first stop on the road after determining your child’s eligibility under the IDEA 2004. That road can be hard to navigate without guidance, so we've produced a roadmap to guide you.

The thorough graphic gives a visual and easy-to-use overview of the IEP process, from intervention and evaluation to classification and planning accommodations. You'll see the different pathways you and your child can take, including developing an IEP or 504 Plan.

Mental Health Services for ASDs

Excerpt from: Making Special Education Actually Work (click for full article)

 

Rendering effective mental health services to students in special education who have ASDs and need mental health services in order to benefit from their IEPs can be done cost-effectively. It requires that the right combination of expertise and skill assembled for each student’s treatment team. It also requires well-designed mental and behavioral health treatment plans that include detailed descriptions of how the skills taught in therapy will be generalized to natural settings such as the classroom, playground, cafeteria, or school bus. The treatment team would need to function like a well-oiled machine, each complementing the work of the other.

The savings to society of doing it right would far exceed the costs of delivering a successful program. More importantly, there are just some aspects of independence upon which no dollar value can be placed. To be supported in becoming as independent as possible by one’s fellow citizens affords some of our most compromised citizens access to their Constitutional liberties, and that’s something of which one can be proud to be a part.

Change in Location Can Be A Change in Placement

Excerpt from: Randy Chapman's Ability Law Blog (click for full article)

 

Some school districts and their counsel assert that, under the IDEA, a change in location of service delivery is not a change in placement if the IEP services remain the same. If the location change is not a change in placement, the service location can be changed without parent input or an IEP meeting. That may sometimes be the case, but there are many instances in which IEP services may generally remain the same but a change in location will affect the service delivery so that it is a change in placement. For example, students with disabilities must attend the school they would attend if they did not have a disability, unless the IEP requires otherwise. Thus, placing a student with a disability in a school they would not attend if they did not have a disability is an IEP team decision and changing a student’s placement to a school they would not attend if they did not have a disability is an IEP team decision. Whether the change in location is a change in placement turns on the facts of the specific situation.