Orientation to Special Education

Orientation to Special Education From Referral to Eligibility

Corrections and information from Week 1 • Kim (KJ) Wood – kjwood@nsd131.org 468-4635 or extension 1070 • Darlene Wethered – dwethered@nsd131.org Is available EVERY Tuesday and Wednesday at the tech center from 2-4 …additional hours by appointment

Documents Required The following Documents will be required for new referrals as well as 3 year re-evaluations • Invitation to referral/consent meeting • Procedural Safeguards • Referral • Written Notice (Built into consent if proceeding) • Consent for Assessment • Invitation to eligibility meeting • Eligibility • Written Notice

Step 1 Invitation to Referral Meeting When a parent, teacher or other person makes a referral… We have 10 days to honor a request for a meeting.

Key Points to Remember • Honor request in timely manner • Invitation should include all team members who will be attending the meeting • Rule of thumb: DOCUMENTATION of 3 attempts using 3 different methods to include parents (mail, e-mail, phone, note home, etc.)

Step 2 Offer parents a copy of their Procedural Safeguards Referral Document This is the document the team uses to discuss what information they have and what additional information is needed.

Page 1 – Referral Document Gathers information regarding: reason for referral, interventions and exclusionary factors.

Intellectual/cog. Functioning Academic Performance Communication Motor Development Hearing/Vision Developmental Medical History Results from state/district assess. Emotional/soc. Behavioral Dev. Vocational/Occupational/Transition Assistive Technology Page 2 - Referral DocumentGather’s information regarding each area of concern The team signs this document indicating participation in the discussion

Step 2 ContinuedWritten Notice If the team chooses not to proceed with a special education evaluation a written notice must be completed. This option is discouraged when a parent requests an evaluation (As a rule of thumb we do not choose this option) Data must be provided to support the decision of the team not to proceed with evaluation Lack of RTI data can not be used to postpone a referral

Step 3 Consent for Assessment Document If the team chooses to proceed with assessment, the written notice is built into the front page of the consent document.

Step 3Consent for Assessment Document P. 2 Indicate Each Area to be evaluated including reports to be reviewed. Each and EVERY area indicated on this document MUST be evaluated and reported in the eligibility document.

Step 3Consent for Assessment Document P. 3 Parent signs to indicate consent for assessment (or declines consent for assessment) Re-evaluation may proceed if parent does not respond Consent to bill Medicaid 60 day timeline begins **Inform specialists consent has been signed and begin testing

Step 4 Comprehensive Evaluation Team begins evaluating each area of concern (Each area indicated on consent for assessment)

Step 4 Comprehensive Evaluation • Academic assessments available within the district http://orientationtospecialeducation.weebly.com/documents.html • Who can assess? • Standardized assessment vs. Curriculum based measures

Step 5 Invitation to a Meeting Provide parents reasonable notice of eligibility meeting (10 days). Schedule early in case the meeting needs to be re-scheduled.

Step 5 What Happens if a parent to doesn’t show up for a meeting? What happens if the 60 day timeline is about to expire? What happens if the 3 year re-evaluation date is about to pass?

Step 6Eligibility Document Cover Page • Required Team Members: Parent, General Education teacher, Administrator, all members who evaluated the student (Must use Excusal from 630 if member will be absent) • Held Prior to 3 year re-evaluation date or • Held within 60 day timeline.

Step 6 Eligibility Document Parent strengths and needs statement Reports from each area of concern Reports should contain: description of assessment tool, validity statement, scores, summary and recommendations

Step 6 Eligibility Document You must include all evaluations, medical diagnosis, etc. that will be used to support your eligibility decision. (Example: if student is Vision Impaired don’t leave out the eye dr. report)

Step 6 continuedEligibility Document Summary Summarize all assessment results from body of eligibility document. Pay special attention to results related to area of suspected disability. Be careful not to re-write report or cut and paste – simply summarize DO NOT USE JARGON

Step 6 continuedEligibility Document Adverse Effect Describe the Effect the disability or areas of weakness have on the student’s ability to make progress. This is a good place for the general education teacher to provide information

Examples of Adverse Effect • Ima struggles to work in groups, sits silently, does not volunteer to answer questions, plays alone with others on the playground and gets frustrated when she’s not understood. • Ima avoids reading aloud in class, reads much more slowly than her peers and requires more time to complete assignments which require reading.

Step 6 continuedEligibility Document Need for Specially Designed Instruction Describe the instruction and supports the student requires to access and make progress in the general education curriculum

Examples of Need for Specially Designed Instruction • Ima needs explicit instruction to increase her vocabulary, increase her phrase length and increase her sound production. Ima also needs supported practice with peers in social settings as well as small group direct instruction. Ima requires visual/picture supports to prompt her use of language.

Step 6 continuedEligibility Document Category Choose the Eligibility Category that best describes the students disability. Criteria for Eligibility categories are provided in the State Special Education Manual in Chapter 4 You may also use NSD Basis for Committee Decision worksheets found on spec. Ed. online handbook Or you may use this document created by the SDE

Step 6 continuedEligibility Document • Link to NSD131 Basis for Committee Decision Worksheet http://nsdweb/specialeducation/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx • Link to SDE Worksheet http://orientationtospecialeducation.weebly.com/documents.html

Step 7 Written Notice Inform parents using separate written notice indicating whether or not the student was found eligible for special education and under what category. If found eligible, proceed with writing an IEP

Step 7 Written Notice The following Options were considered and rejected because: Document all decisions made by the team. Include all important discussions/decisions indicated in the meeting notes. The Written notice is the legal document summarizing the meeting and decisions made in the meeting.

When Process is Complete • Finalize all Documents in TERA • Make sure you send Becky Priest Copies of all pages containing signatures and copies of reports summarized (referred to) in the Eligibility document but not entered completely.

Additional Information State Compliance Check list links http://idahotc.com/continuous-improvement-monitoring-system/Documents.aspx

Additional Information • What about a culturally and linguistically diverse learner? • What about SLD (Specific Learning Disability)? • http://idahotc.com/specific-learning-disability/Documents.aspx

Orientation to Special Education