Baby Sign Language Classes

At Who's Learning Now, I am an educational consultant, special education advocate AND I teach American Sign Language.

I am so excited to be partnering up with Stork Ready, here in North Reading, MA, teaching a Baby Sign Language Class. Sign up now for a 4 week class.

Thursdays @11am -October 15, 22, 29, & Nov 5

Not sure you want to do it? Come to a FREE sneak peak on Tuesday, September 15 @11am.

For more information and to register go to Stork Ready's website.

Please feel free to share. Tell a friend!

http://www.storkready.com/

Special Education Timelines

How Long Does the School Have to Evaluate my Child?

According to Public Law 94-142, Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), there are very specific timelines that need to be followed from the referral stage to getting a child appropriate services and support. 

[Graphic Source: Federation For Children with Special Needs]

Referral:

Anyone can make a referral for a child to be evaluated for special education or related services. Anyone, means that this referral can come from a teacher or a parent. Best practice would be that the teacher and the parent have been talking and sharing their concerns for a while. This isn’t a shock or a surprise to either party.

The request needs to be in writing. This will be a letter stating your child’s age, grade, school and your concerns about their development and academic progress. (Please feel free to contact Who’s Learning Now.com if you need help in writing this letter.)

Helpful Hints:

• ·         Talk and discuss your concerns with you classroom teacher.
• ·         Talk and discuss your concerns with the special education director or school coordinator. Share your concerns and/or reasons why you are referring your child.
• ·         Talk and discuss your concerns with specialists: pediatricians, speech/language pathologists, therapists; then add additional evaluations, if needed

Consent:

Once the referral has been made in writing, the school has 5 school days to send a Consent to Evaluate request home for the parents to sign. This form should include all the evaluations or tests that need to be completed. It should be a comprehensive list of tests and surveys that will look specifically at the area of concern AND the whole child. 

Helpful Hints:

·       School days, means days that the school is open and in session. This does not include weekends, holidays and summer vacation.

·         Please sign and return this form as soon as possible. The testing and evaluations will not start until you sign and return this form.

·         In addition to signing the consent form, talk and discuss your child’s current program with the contact person on the consent form. Full disclosure IS A GOOD THING. You are not trying to hide anything or “surprise” with an outside report. All the information collected, as many professionals LOOKING at your child, helps everyone SEE your child as a whole child, with all of his strengths and weaknesses.

o   For example: Share with them, that your child only attends preschool 3 days a week, so they do not plan on doing a classroom observation on Tuesday, a day your child is not at school.

o   Tell them that you already have an appointment for your child to see the developmental pediatrician on a certain date. AND that you will get them the report when it’s available to you.

Evaluation:

The school has 30 school days from the date you signed the consent to complete all the evaluations. These evaluations, assessments, need to be completed by a credentialed trained specialist.

Evaluations should include:

·         Assessments should include looking at the child’s levels in academics, development and functioning.

·         Checklists or interviewing the parents. – You know the child best. How is he behaving at home?

·         Current local, state and classroom-based elevations. What were his scores on the MCAS/PARC, his current DRA reading level, what was his score on his math test from last week?

·         Observations and checklists completed by his current teachers and related service provider.

·         Classroom observations. How is he performing, functioning and behaving in his classroom with his peers and using the grade level curriculum?

Next Steps:

Within a total of 45 school days from the date of consent the following events must happen:

• ·         The Team determines Eligibility. See my last post on “Who is on the IEP Team”. The data determines if the child qualifies for special education and related services.
• ·         IF found eligible, the initial IEP is developed.
• ·         IEP placement, services and programs are determined.
• ·         The IEP draft has been created and given to the parents.

The parent has 30 calendar days to accept, reject parts or reject all of the proposed IEP.

Helpful Hints:

• ·         The parent is part of the team that is developing the IEP. You have final say on the program that is created. This is one of many reasons why it is so helpful to have a collaborative, positive relationship between all members of the team.
• ·         Special education services DO NOT start until the parents sign and agree to the initial IEP. So my advice, agree to parts of the IEP, to get services started. Then put in writing changes that you want to make on the IEP. 

As an educational consultant, I can support you throughout the timeline process:

·         Writing the referral letter with you.

·         Determining which assessments need to be added to the evaluation lists.

·         Completing Classroom Observations to give an objective insight to the child’s school day.

·         Looking at the data to help create meaningful IEP programs.

·         Attending Eligibility and IEP Meetings with you to help the collaborative process.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and Facebook post. I would love to hear from you. Please feel to leave a comment or ask questions. Also, please feel free to “like” and share my Facebook page, Who’s Learning Now, LLC.

Always learning,

Debbie

IEP Team Members

Who are on the IEP Team?

Many people ask me, who are the members of this team? When the law states that “the team will determine eligibility and create an Individualized Education Program (IEP)”, who are they?

Here is a visual of the team.

The members include:

·         Parents - This can be one or both parents, foster parents, or an appointed guardian.

·         General Education Teacher – This person brings the knowledge of the grade level standards and how the student behaves in the general education classroom with his peers.

·         Special Education Teacher – This person brings the knowledge of how to modify, adapt and make accommodations to the grade level materials so that the students can access (or understand) the curriculum.

·         Related Service Providers – Occupational Therapist (OT), Physical Therapist (PT), Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP), Counselors, and Adaptive Technology Therapists. This can be several members, depending on the student’s areas of need.

·         School Administrator –Someone from the school who can make monetary decisions.  

·         Additional Members – This can be ANYONE that the family invites to the meeting. Ideally, this person knows the student too. This can be a friend, relative, an educational consultant or anyone that the family wants to invited to help support them. Some families ask a friend or a relative to the meeting to take notes. This can be a fast, emotional meeting. Having someone to take notes is a great way to reflect afterwards. Some families want an educational consultant there to help them use their voice. Educational consultants have observed the student in their classroom, assessed the student, organized reports, analyzed existing data, and helped the parents create a plan – before the IEP meeting.

All members have equal importance, equal say, but different knowledge of the student. This is where is can become tricky. The General Education and Special Education teachers have data to “back up” their knowledge of the student. The parents have a lot too. Although, sometimes they do not feel as if their knowledge is enough. Parents really do know their child the best. They know the student as a whole child. What he likes and doesn’t like, his interests, his behavior in stressful and non-stressful situations, his learning styles, his progress over years, his strengths and needs, his vision, his hopes and dreams for his future.

The most important element on this team is the STUDENT. Notice that the student is in the middle of the circle. Every member brings an important element of this child to the table, to be voiced and heard. I always recommend a picture of the child be brought to the meeting. Literally place the picture of the happy child in the center, when the conversation gets heated or difficult to hear, there is the child, smiling at you, reminding you why you are there….for their future!

The student can actually BE there, at the meeting as well. For younger students this may mean that the parent interviewed them ahead of time, “what do you want to be when you grown up?” “How do you think you learn differently?” “What do you want the grown-ups in your life to know?” For older students, I think it’s ok for the student to be present at the meeting for a couple of minutes or for the whole time. Some topics that are discussed at the meeting can be hard to hear. “The child is in 6^th grade, reading at a 2^nd grade level.” This is when parents use their discretion. Decide how much they can handle and let them be a part of the meeting. It may simply be a few minutes at the beginning or end of the meeting to say, “This is what I want school to look like for me.”

In Massachusetts, students with special needs will start transition planning at age 14.  What will their life look like after high school? This can be another blog topic. But what’s important is that it’s never too early to start the student being his own advocate. “I learn differently, and that’s ok. This is what I need to help me succeed.” Having the student become self-aware and be able to verbalize it, is a great skill.  Not only for students with special needs but for ALL children!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and Facebook post. I would love to hear from you. Please feel to leave a comment or ask questions. Also, please feel free to “like” and share my Facebook page, Who’s Learning Now, LLC.

Always learning,

Debbie

Response to Intervention (RTI)

This is just one model of intervention that happens every day in our schools. It is also referred to as Mass Tiered System of Support, for those of you in Massachusetts.

What is it?

It is a multi-tiered approach to teaching that provides each student with services, support and interventions so that they can understand what is being taught. You might have heard the words “access the curriculum”. Well this is one way that students can access or understand the curriculum. This is my (and many other teachers) whole belief system in teaching. If the child does not understand WHAT we are teaching them, then we, as adults, need to change HOW we are teaching them.

Tier 1

This is teaching that exists in the general education classroom. It is teaching the whole class, based on evidence based practice. It involves differentiated instruction using many modalities. Meaning the general education classroom teacher introduces the skill in many ways and asks the students to show their knowledge in many different ways. Sharing or writing their ideas, building a model or maybe even using technology to show their understanding. This tier includes constantly reflecting as a teacher, reviewing data and assessments for everyone. Teachers are sharing their findings with parents through progress reports, report cards, assessment (test) results, emails and/or phone calls.

Tier 2

When students are “just not getting it”, good teachers ask for help. There are specialists in the school that have additional training and sometimes just more time to spend on teaching a student a skill. The student is still in general education, just receiving extra help, services,  involving more intensive, relative, short-term interventions. Progress monitoring happens, meaning that data is collected to see if this short term services are helping. Teachers are sharing their findings with parents through progress reports, report cards, assessment (test) results, emails and/or phone calls.

Tier 3

When the student continues to struggle and additional services are needed. Long-term interventions MAY lead to receiving special education services. Teachers are sharing their findings with parents through progress reports, report cards, assessment (test) results, emails and/or phone calls. The interdisciplinary team, the teacher OR the parents can request a referral for evaluation for special education services at this time. Basically, when teachers have tried many different strategies, given it time to work and the student is just not making progress. Data has been collected along the way to support all this hard work. Then, yes, let’s evaluate the child to see if there is a learning disability that needs to be identified.

                                         Response to Intervention  (RTI)

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and Facebook post. I would love to hear from you. Please feel to leave a comment or ask questions. Also, please feel free to “like” and share my Facebook page, Who’s Learning Now, LLC.

Always learning,

Debbie

Two of my beliefs

I have two strong beliefs that I want to share with you today.

1) Special Education is a service, not a place.

In the past, students with special needs were sent to separate schools, buildings and even separate homes. We have come a long way in how we see, treat and educate people with special needs. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal special education law originally passed by Congress in 1975. It has been amended several times, most recently in September 2011. 

IDEA basically states that all children with disabilities have the opportunity to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) just like other children. There are many other parts of this law. I will explain them in another blog post.

This statement has been interpreted many different ways over the years. People’s beliefs and expectations have evolved. One belief is that students with disabilities should not be “sent away”. They should not go somewhere else to learn or to live. Even though most people agree that children with special needs do not need to go anywhere. The way people talk needs to reflect how people feel. 

So we no longer say, “She is in special ed.”

We now say, “She is receiving special education services.”

     2) Person First Language

A person is a person first and then any descriptions come after that.

We would NOT say “the orange hat man”,

We WOULD say “the man with the orange hat.”

Knowing this. Then this belief is true as well. A child is a whole child first, then any descriptions.

We would NOT say, “the Down Syndrome boy” or “my Autistic daughter”.

We WOULD say, “the boy with Down Syndrome” or “my daughter with Autism”.

Simply changing HOW we say things, can change HOW we view things.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and Facebook post. I would love to hear from you. Please feel to leave a comment or ask questions. Also, please feel free to “like” and share my Facebook page, Who’s Learning Now, LLC.

Always learning,

Debbie

About me...

As an educational consultant I bridge the relationship between the school and the parents during the special education process.

~ I am a special education teacher. I understand the special education laws and the special education process.

~ I am a general education teacher. I know what really happens every day in the classrooms. I know how to modify curriculum, implement IEP goals and differentiate instruction for all students.

~ I am a parent. I understand that parents want what is best for their child but not always know how to go about getting it.

I empower parents by teaching them how the special education process works and how they are true members of the team. I support the school and the parents through collaboration. I can share ideas on how to implement the goals created on the IEP that is following the parents’ vision for their child.

Welcome to Who's Learning Now!


More to come, stay tuned!