Special Legislative Session Bills related to Education

 

Common Special Education Terms

 These are common Special Education terms and definitions. If you are trying to learn more, we are here to help!

 

Disability: A condition recognized by the law. To qualify for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), students must have a disability that falls under one of the 13 categories listed in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):  IDEA is a federal law that guarantees all students with disabilities access to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. 

https://fespedtn.blogspot.com/2020/11/breaking-down-idea.html

Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) - The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA ) guarantees the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for kids with disabilities. That can include kids with learning and thinking differences. FAPE is one of the most important legal rights your child has.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE):  IDEA says that children who receive special education should learn in the least restrictive environment. This means they should spend as much time as possible with peers who do not receive special education.

Individualized Education Program (IEP): An IEP outlines the needs and goals of a student receiving special education instruction, supports, and services needed to make progress academically and socially to thrive in school.

504 plan: A 504 plan supports a student with a disability by removing barriers. It gives the student equal access to learning in the general education classroom. Students with 504 plans tend not to need specialized instruction, but do need accommodations at school like a student with disabilities.  504’s can be short term or long term and can include supports for students with mental health needs and physical needs.

Accommodation: Accommodations help students learn and show what they’ve learned by removing barriers. For instance, students who take longer to answer questions because of learning differences might be allowed extra time to take a test. Even with accommodations, students are expected to learn the same content as their peers.

Modification: A modification is a change in what a student is expected to learn and demonstrate. For example, a teacher might ask the class to write an essay that analyzes three major battles during a war. A student with a modification may only be asked to write about the basic facts of those battles. Modifications are different from accommodations.  Modifications may also impact whether the student is awarded a ‘credit’ in high school classes.

Related Services: Related services are any support services a student needs to benefit from special education such as Transportation, Speech, Occupational Therapy, etc.

Annual Goals: The Annual Goals in the IEP are a list of the academic and functional (every day) skills the IEP team thinks a student can achieve by the end of a school year. These goals are geared toward helping students take part in the general education curriculum.

Present Level of Performance (PLEP): PLEP is a description of a student’s current abilities, skills, challenges, and strengths at the time the IEP is written. PLEP describes academic skills (like reading level) and functional skills (like making conversation or writing with a pencil). The PLEP should include what assessment is being used to measure current performance and the score of that assessment, as well as, when it was given.

Student Lead IEP: Student Lead IEP’s are meaningful opportunities for students receiving Special Education to take leadership roles in the creation and implementation of their plans.

Response to Intervention (RTI): RTI is a systematic way of identifying struggling students and providing extra help. Teachers assess the skills of everyone in the class to see which students need evidence-based instructional interventions.  A student receiving RTI intervention is still eligible for Special Education supports.

Transition Plan: This part of the IEP lays out what a teen will learn and do in high school in order to gain skills needed for employment as a young adult. The IEP team, including the student, develops the plan together.  The Transition Plan should be in place by a students 14th birthday.

Assistive Technology (AT): Assistive Technology is any device, equipment, or software that helps students learn, communicate, and function better in school. AT ranges from simple tools (like highlighters) to high-tech software (like apps that read text aloud). 

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is a proactive, schoolwide approach used in some schools  to promote positive behavior and improve school safety. PBIS creates a school culture in which all students learn about behavior and use a common language to talk about it.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP): A plan designed to proactively teach and reinforce positive behavior. Typically, the plan uses strategies to prevent and address behavior that gets in the way of learning. It may also include supports and aids for the student.

Extended School Year Services (ESY): Special education services provided outside of the regular school year, such as during the summer or, less commonly, during extended breaks like winter break.  ESY is determined by the IEP team for students who may need support maintaining skills previously learned.  Supports and services should be part of the ESY plan.

Supplementary Aids and Services:  Supplementary aids and services means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.

 

If you have any questions or concerns about this topic, please reach out to specialeducation@thearctn.org.

Resources:

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/ieps/iep-terms-to-know

Summary of Facebook Live Q&A: IEP Questions

 1/6/2021 Facebook Live

Kate Martin, TN Dept of Education, Senior Director of Special Populations

https://fb.watch/2TcoZWwPdE/ 

Jen: Thanks everyone for joining the first Facebook live of 2021. She explains this is a recurring event on Wednesdays at 12:00 noon. This is an opportunity for parents to ask questions to the Department of Education regarding Special Education to different experts in the department. Jen then introduces Kate Martin as Senior Director of Special Populations in the Department of Ed.

Kate: Kate explains how she and her team focus on eligibility and evaluation for Special Education and Instructional programming for students with disabilities. The ages serviced on her team are from ages 3-22. School Psychology services, behavior, and academics for students with disabilities are some of the areas her team cover.

Jen: Asks Kate how long she has been at the department

Kate: “I came to the department at the beginning of 2017, as an Intervention Specialist to the Special Populations team. I was brought on to focus on move forward the work for access to instruction. Also focused on intensive intervention, for our children with disabilities. Making sure our children have access to Tier 1 as well as the supports and services they need in Special Education”. At the end of that year she moved into her current role. She continues to provide services she continues to do the work she previously did, while supervising and working with a team of professionals. She and her team also work on evaluation and eligibility in pre -school and behavior low incidents and autism and Speech language and related services.

Jen: “I ask this of everybody. What are the biggest challenges you are noticing in special populations in the time of COVID-19?”

Kate:  Highlights two things. She notices technology has been a challenge for everybody. She hopes that in the future that some things we have done in COVID can continue after COVID pandemic. She would like to see parents have the option to attend virtual IEP meetings, so they will not have to miss as much time from work. “I hope we can use what we have learned to become stronger “.  Kate also notices that it has become clearer that students with disabilities need access to Tier I instruction and communication and access with their peers and access to services and support available to them.

Kate also mentions that she plans to prevent at the PIE conference this month. The topic is, “Access beyond the pandemic”. The goal is to take heightened awareness revealed from the pandemic to try and make positive changes.

Jen: Thanks everyone for sending in their questions and starts to read some of the questions for the families.

Question: “My child’s annual IEP was scheduled for Spring 2020 but was canceled due to COVID. The IEP team finally met in September, but nothing was signed at that time, because there wasn’t enough data for the goals at that time. What is the timeline for when the IEP will need to be finalized and what are my next steps as a parent to get the IEP completed and signed off”?

Answer: “There has not been a waiver of any requirements in IDEA surrounding IEP development or IEP timelines. Essentially, if the IEP is passed due, then it’s passed due. The team should meet as soon as possible to finalize a new annual IEP. There is not anything to get you out of those timelines. The law is you have a new IEP every 365 days if not more often. That’s still in place”

 Question: “What happens if a parent doesn’t sign the IEP”

Answer: “Parent rights remain the same. If as a parent you disagree with the IEP, you have a right to file an administrative complaint. You have the right to ask for mediation, and you certainly have the right to file for a due process. You also have the right to call another meeting and do what you can to come to an agreement with the IEP team. We encourage you to work with the school district as much as you can. “

If after the meeting the rest of the team agrees, and the parent does not agree, that can not be implemented for 14 days. That gives the parent the opportunity to file for due process. If the parent wants to say they do not agree. If the parent does not file due process, the IEP goes into place after 14 days.

Question: “Are the COVID cases per school listed anywhere? I feel like if I could see that information then maybe I could have made the call myself to keep my child home, and he wouldn’t be sick right now.

Answer: Every school district was doing there on thing. It may be a good idea to reach out to district administrator. There was a school reopening dashboard that was launched in September. The purpose was to provide information on Tennessee cases in schools. Here is a link.

https://www.tn.gov/education/news/2020/9/9/covid-19-district-information-dashboard-launches-today.html?fbclid=IwAR1VBi2nwB9TCe1OvWX9WTKI0dgxHImuOuNCevGb552nZQnHcbiTn6RIXqo

Question: “What do you do if a child with a disability is not learning from virtual learning?”

Answer: “The best thing to do is to schedule a meeting with your child’s IEP team. It’s the place where everyone can put their heads together and see where are, we, where are we trying to go, and how can we get there. The IEP team is like the problem-solving team. They can do a couple of things. They can make changes to the IEP document, finalize that, and put that document into place.

The IEP team can also create a contingency plan that is used on a short -term basis for virtual learning periods, on a short-term- basis.  When that is no longer needed, you will go back to the original IEP. Contingency plan is a side bar plan for when the child is remote. Also, bring solution that is working for your child at home.

Question: “What if a student is not receiving the support they need for successful virtual learning?”

Answer: Schedule a meeting with your child’s IEP team and talk about supports in the IEP and what is and is not working in the virtual setting. If there was a particular support that worked in the classroom what is kind of an equivalent in the virtual classroom. Discuss the supports in the IEP and what is working and what is not working. Also encourage IEP teams to go the goals of IEP and see what can be done to get the goal met. This should spark creativity.

Question: What do you do when schools are on virtual and there is not much time to prepare or have a game plan?

Answer: “There is nothing to say you can’t get together with the IEP team and create this contingency plan proactively. Let’s say, you see the cases rising and think that virtual learning may be coming. That way if you move to virtual you have a plan. This can also be done afterwards. A lot of districts may have included this in their Contingent Learning plan.

Question: “How do you prepare for student’s with IEP’s to be ready for virtual learning?”

Answer: “What I don’t want to do is make this sound easy. It has a lot of challenges in some way. I do think there are a lot of opportunities within those challenges. It goes back to knowing the student and knowing what they need to access general ed and knowing what their annual IEP goals really are. When I know the student and I know what they need to access instruction, I know what supports and services they need, it makes it a little easier for me to think outside of the box. Ask what that looks like in a virtual setting.

An example “If a child has a service for inclusive support during English, the big question is, why? What supports did they need? The supports they needed had to do with X or Y or Z and I know that, then I can think about how to do that virtually. It really goes back to knowing the student.

Question: “If a child needs a one on one paraprofessional and has one, and the parent is unable to step into the role of the paraprofessional, is there any creative solution? There is fear the IEP team may want to just remove one on one.

Answer: “Maybe the IEP plan creates a contingency plan and they don’t change the IEP, until there becomes a reason to change the IEP. That alleviate the fear a little bit. It’s not about that IEP. It’s about the current short-term condition” That’s the answer to the last part of that question.” I would also go back to what was the purpose of the one to one. There could be a wide variety. Was the purpose of the one to one to manage some difficulties with peer interactions? If that is true, those peer interactions have changed a lot. Those interactions are now comment sections or chat boxes or break out rooms. How can those be supported? Look at what the purpose was and see how that can be supported in a different environment. “

Also, “Whatever the one on one was supposed to be accomplishing for that child, hopefully to build independence, be more of a self-advocate, become more self-reliant, maybe this is an opportunity to think about why they are there, and how the student can continue to build on these skills in this environment, and still give them the supports they need.

Question: “Are there any districts any districts letting students meet their paraprofessional while everyone else is at home?”

Answer: It is very district specific. Some districts are allowing it, and it was in the districts Contingency Learning Plan in the fall for some districts. Contact the IEP team, specific school and districts for a direct answer.

Jen: Thanked everyone for joining and reminded everyone of the Facebook live next week with to Assistant Commissioner Theresa Nicholls 

Meaningful Inclusion- What Does it Mean?

 

If your child receives Special Education services, you have more than likely heard the word INCLUSION. In this post we are going to discuss ‘inclusion’ and how to make sure your student is included with typical peers in the regular classroom. 

Inclusion offers students with disabilities who receive Special Education services opportunities to learn with their non-disabled peers in regular education classrooms.  Accommodations and modifications can help make learning more accessible for them.

Another tidbit about the word inclusion is it is not mentioned in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that tells how Special Education is provided. The wording used in IDEA is ‘Least Restrictive Environment’ (LRE). If your student is receiving Special Education services, those services should be provided in the Least Restrictive Environment. When a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed, the services are to be provided in the Least Restrictive Environment where the student can make progress in the general curriculum. For most students that is the regular classroom. The IEP Team, which includes the parent, will determine what accommodations and/or modifications the student needs to be successful as they access the general curriculum. The term “least restrictive environment’ means the environment where the student can make progress in the general curriculum with the least restrictions.

As a parent, it is important to remember, “Special education is not a place. It is the most intensive intervention along the continuum of service defined by individual need, services, and placement. Strong leadership at every level is the foundation of a collaborative and inclusive environment that supports ALL students. All students are regular education students first.”  (“Special Education.” Tennessee State Government - TN.gov, www.tn.gov/education/student-support/special-education.html.)

 

Some questions parents can ask at IEP Team meetings to ensure there is a good understanding of least restrictive environment are:

·       What tools does the school have tools to help implement inclusion?

·       Do General Education & Special Education teachers have shared planning times?

·       What does the school do to help the school staff see the importance of inclusion?

·       What practices are in place and working at the school to help make inclusion more successful?

Inclusion is a concept that schools continue to work through and understand.

Least Restrictive Environment is in the IDEA – the federal law that governs special education.

Things to consider when discussing the Least Restrictive Environment:

·       Keep the focus on the student

·       Find what works best for your student to help them make progress in the general curriculum

·       Communicate often with your child’s teacher about what is or is not working for your child

https://www.tn.gov/education/student-support/special-education.html

Video discussing a perspective on inclusive settings:

 https://mn.gov/mnddc/kathie-snow/kathie-snow-06.html

https://inclusiveschools.org/together-we-learn-better-inclusive-schools-benefit-all-children/