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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Special Populations Reopening Toolkit


The Department of Education released a Special Populations School Reopening Toolkit, and our team has broken it down into manageable pieces.


Case Manager Section

Before your child or student in your care goes back to school, the case manager should be contacting you to see if you and the student need any support or assistance. If you have not heard from your case manager, it would be good to contact them.

Please practice talking with your child, or the child in your care to remind him/her of the rules in the classroom and school. Also tell them they may be in a new classroom, with a new teacher and have new classes.

If the student will be working with a new teacher or other adults, see if you can have them meet the person, before school starts.

It is good to have the student’s (your child’s) schedule before school starts. Print the schedule and talk to the student about any changes and what their schedule should look like.

Make sure your case manager and the teacher know if anything has changed with (your child’s) the student’s health, or if the child is taken any new medicine. If anything has changed with your child, please make sure the child’s health plan is current.

It may be a good idea to talk to your child about having friends at school and help him/her start a good friendship, with someone at the school.

Things to Think About

·        Know who your child’s teacher will be.

·        Know your child’s class schedule, and the classes he/she will be in

·        Know important dates, such as school orientation and when school will start.

·        Know if your child will have a locker. If they will have a locker, please tell your child the code for their lock and show them how to use it.

·        Make sure to speak with your child’s teacher, case manager, and people who come to your child’s IEP meetings and know the dates for the next IEP meeting.

·        Please make sure you and the teacher are present. The IEP meeting should be scheduled, completed, and updated as soon as possible.

·        Make sure you and the case manager are noticing progress or growth with your child, and if you have any concern, speak with the case manager and teacher.

·        You, case manager, and teacher will talk about if compensatory services are needed.

·        Once information for your child has been reviewed, including regression information, speak with the case manager to make sure your child is getting compensatory services.

 Questions to Ask

·        What are the dates of my child’s next IEP meeting?

·        Who all is involved in my child’s IEP meeting?

·        What does my child need to be more successful this school year?

·        How can my case manager and I work together to support my child?

Assessment Specialist (Testing Specialist)

An assessment specialist is a person that gives test to students to show levels of growth and development.  Students are given many different kinds of tests to check all areas of development.

Things to Think About

·        Assessment Specialist must complete any evaluations, reevaluations and yearly meetings as soon as possible.

·        Assessment Specialist should keep a record of any communication that they have with parents.

·        Assessment Specialist must share test results with lead teachers and parents.

·        Assessment Specialist should write down and keep a record of any time that the students’ evaluation has been delayed. A note should be sent to the parent as well.

·        Any person that provides a service for your child should share an updated schedule with the principals and teachers.

Questions to Answer

·        How many assessments or test are needed for a reevaluation?

·        What types of assessments or test are given? 

·        During Covid-19, my child will be working online. How will they be reevaluated (tested)?

 

Best Practices/ Guidelines
Parents, the virus changed the school year. If you ask the school for your child to say goodbye to a favorite teacher, and celebrate 2019-2020 school year, it may help reduce your child's worry about moving into the new school year.

If your child has a hard time with changes, they may need more help getting ready for the new school year.

Things to Think About

        Here is a Story Book for "When I return to school?" https://www.socialstories4kids.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Returning-To-School-During-COVID-19.pdf

        If your child is blind or has trouble with vision, ask their teacher if your child can get into the school building a day before school starts to get used to where everything is in the building again. 

        Ask your child's teacher for a daily schedule for your child before first day of school.

        You may want to talk about what your child did during the virus with your child's teacher.

Things to think about when talking to your child’s teacher

        Was my child sleeping the same hours like on school days?

        Were there any changes in my child’s energy? More? Less?

        Did my child follow a schedule five days a week?

        Were there any changes in medicine?

        Other than the virus, were there any big changes at home?

        Did my child use their communication tool every day?

        Did you helping your child paying attention? Did you help your child with their feelings?

        How much did my child talk with friends?

Questions to Ask

·        What will my child’s schedule look like?

·        Can my child come to the school early to school to get used to the layout?

·        What supports is your classroom offering to help my child not be worried about returning to school?

 

 

Supporting Mental Health and Behavior Concerns

When students return to school there may be feelings that need to be talked about with the Team. Parents and/or guardians are the best people to let teachers know if students need help.

Things to consider

·        If a student needs “Counseling” services, a meeting should be requested.

·        Know your student’s teachers and talk with them when you need to.

·        Know your students case manager.

·        Discuss any emotional or behavior changes with your student’s team.

Questions to Ask:

·        If a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) needs to be finished, will they be completed soon?

·        If my child stays in school, what would be the behavior plan?

·        If my child is virtual, what would be the behavior plan?

 

Pre-referrals

As we restart the school year, this time off may have affected our children. The Tennessee Department of Education has come up with a checklist to help highlight any concerns you may have.

Things to consider:

Preschool

 • Regressive behaviors – for example, noticing more screaming, pushing, and biting.

 • decreased speech - not saying words that they once used.

 • increased anxiety - the child might be extra loving to a person or object; the child may be afraid or nervous of others.

Elementary

 • Poor attention/concentration

 • Does not want to go to school

 • Short-tempered, little things bother them that normally wouldn't.

 • Clinginess – Unusually loving toward family or objects such as toys, stuffed animals.

 • Acts out through yelling, pushing, hitting, and biting.

 • Complains about trouble breathing, aching muscles or bones, or other physical pain.

 • Trouble sleeping because of fears and anxiety that cause bad dreams.

 • Does not want to play with peers; would rather play alone, away from others.

Middle and High School

 • Has trouble sleeping or wants to sleep too much. The same with food, skipping meals, or overeating.

 • Nervousness; Handwringing, foot-tapping, or nervous ticks.

 • Becomes angry with peers, argues and acting out more, pushing, shoving, hitting.

 • Physical complaints; complaints about stomach aches, headaches, muscle pains, etc.

 • Delinquent behavior; skipping school, talking back, disrespecting authority figures.

 • Poor concentration

Questions to ask:

·        How will these behaviors be addressed?

·        Will my child have support to address their needs?

·        What will happen if my child acts out at school?


Referrals, Initial Evaluations, and Re-evaluations
At the beginning of school intervention plans should be in place and started as soon as possible. Referrals should be reviewed by a team of teachers. The teachers should study all of information about the students in order to make a correct decision about a disability.

Things to Think About

·        Initial Evaluations, students that were being evaluated before school was closed will be able to pick up where they left off. The timeline will be extended to make sure it is correct.

·        Reevaluations, Case Managers should let parents know within 60 days after school has reopened, if your child needs to be re-evaluated. Parents will be asked to share information about their child that will be used during this process.

·        Parents may request an evaluation your request should be taken care of swiftly.

Teachers that give test to evaluate students should complete these evaluations and reevaluations and yearly meetings as soon as possible.

Questions to Answer

·        Will my child need a reevaluation if I just want to make changes to their IEP?

·        My child’s initial or first evaluation was not finished before my school closed, what are my next steps?

 

Compensatory Services
If a Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE) was not given to your child, but WAS given to the general education students, your child can get services to make up for the services that were missed. What should happen?

Things to think About

·        The IEP team will find out if the school did not give the needed services to your child while other students were learning.

·        Your child's performance should be checked.

·        A plan that determine how much skills were lost because of Covid-19 should be created.

·        The IEP team must write decision on a form called Compensatory Service Plan.

·        The service plan must say how the choice was made.

·        The service plan must be kept it in the student’s file.

·        Your child may receive remediation services if regression because of lack of instruction instead of compensatory services if your child were getting learning services

 

Questions to ask

·        What was my child performance before and after?

·        What services will my child receive?

·        How often will my child receive the services?

·        Where and when will my child receive the services?

·        Can I receive a copy of the decision on the form?

 

Supporting English Learners (EL) Students in the Classroom

It is important to help the teachers, the students, and parents to give the students as much help as

possible when going back to school. Letting them know when school plans to restart and getting

them back into that early morning routine will help begin the process by reducing stress and fear

of going back.

Things to consider:

       Go over school routines such as the start and end of the school day.
        Review class schedules, when and where to be when bells ring.
        Address daily routines like break times, breakfast, and lunchtimes.
        Review bus routes and the time that the bus will arrive.
        Set up a buddy system to help move around the school grounds – using social
·        distancing, masks, etc.
        Provide daily schedules in classrooms that are visible to students.
        Go over the classroom rules and student expectations for the day.

Questions to ask:

        Will my child have extra time for transitions?

        What will it look like for my child on the bus?

        What will the classroom look like?

        How will my child work with their EL staff?

 


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