SPECIAL EDUCATION: What You Need to Know Some of the Basics

1. SPECIAL EDUCATION:What You Need to KnowSome of the Basics The Training Institute on Disability Rights

2. What does Equip for Equality (EFE) Do? Offers People with Disabilities and their families: • Information • Support • Resources • Legal services • Trainings

3. Equip for Equality’s Special Project with Cook County Juvenile Court • Provide free legal representation and training to children with unmet special education needs involved in the Cook County Juvenile Court system (this includes children diverted from court) • Work with special education students involved in court system who are currently not in school and need to be enrolled

4. Equip for Equality’s Special Project with Cook County Juvenile Court • Work with students in court system whose schools are not implementing their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to get schools to implement plan • Work with these students to improve IEPs that are not appropriate • Help students in court system find appropriate alternative schools and special ed support there

5. Equip for Equality’s Special Project with Cook County Juvenile Court • Provide legal representation to students at IEP meetings, mediations, due process hearings, expulsion hearings • Provide trainings to public defenders, probation officers, other interested parties who come into contact with children with disabilities involved in court system • Fact sheets on special education law

6. What clients can you refer to EFE? • Make sure and follow your own internal procedures (I.e. referral to Educational Advocacy Unit) • Only children involved in the juvenile justice system should be directly referred to me • You may refer other clients with special education issues to EFE’s Special Education Helpline at (866) KIDS-046 • Other people with disabilities who need help 312-341-0022 (or 800-537-2632) • IMPORTANT: WE CANNOT ACCEPT EVERY CASE

7. What clients can you refer to EFE? • If you have a client in court system whom you know has a disability and is not receiving appropriate special education services • If you have a client in court system whom you suspect has a disability and needs special education • If you have a chronically truant client involved with court and you suspect the student may not be attending because classes are too hard

8. What clients can I refer to EFE (cont)? • Examples of clients you may wish to refer: • Client has been in and out of school and is far below grade level in her coursework • Client has very few credits and you suspect a disability • Client who cannot read • Clients with social-emotional problems who may benefit from counseling at school • Often these clients may not be identified as having a disability but may have one

9. How do I refer a client to EFE? • If in court diversion program or otherwise involved in juvenile court – • Can call (312-895-7308), email (rachel@equipforequality.org) or fax me (312-341-0295) directly • Can have parent or student call me • If not involved in juvenile court, parent can call 1-866-KIDS-046

10. What will I do when you make a referral? • Call the client and get necessary information re client’s disability and school situation • Provide referral to client if I cannot accept the case • In select cases, I will get the client’s records and work with school district to secure appropriate special education services for the client • In select cases, If client does not want to stay at that school, explore alternative schools with client.

11. What will I do when you make a referral? • Provide parents and student with assistance over the phone • when appropriate • Attend IEP meetings • File for due process • Attend mediations • Work with students to set up appropriate transition plans for leaving high school • CAVEAT: We get a lot of cases and cannot accept them all. We provide all interested parents with brief assistance over the telephone, at the least.

12. Pro Bono Support • Since October 2007, we have been working with some pro bono attorneys at large Chicago-area law firms • Attorneys take our cases and Equip for Equality supervises

13. Special Education Laws • Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004 (IDEA) • Section 504 • No Child Left Behind (NCLB) • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Act(FERPA) • State Laws and Regulations

14. Special Education Laws Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004 (IDEA): 20 USC 1400 • 1400 purpose • 1401 definitions • 1412 child find, LRE,FAPE • 1414 evaluations, consent, eligibility, IEP, Placement • 1415 Procedural Safeguards

15. Special Education Highlights • Free Appropriate Public Education • Request • Consent • Case Study Evaluation • MDC – Multidisciplinary Conference • IEP-Individualized Education Program • Services – FAPE • Re-evaluation • IEE – Independent Educational Evaluation • Conflict Resolution Options

16. SPECIAL EDUCATION RULE IF IT’S NOT WRITTEN DOWN IT DIDN’T OR WON’T HAPPEN

17. Purpose of Special Education Purpose To ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living

18. Special Education: Who Needs It? • Does a student have difficulty in school? • Does a student need tools or services to understand materials or teachers in school? • Does a student need help to get into the school or use school equipment? • Does the school staff understand students’ needs?

19. Special Education Services 1. Request • Written Request by Parent, State agency, or school may initiate request for initial case study evaluation • Keep a copy with date and time it was delivered and to whom it was delivered • See handout

20. Special Education Services 2. Consent • Parent can include consent in request letter or • School must provide parent consent form within 14 days of request

21. Special Education Services 2. Consent for Case Study Evaluations • Parental Consent not referral, starts the Case Study Evaluation (CSE), which must be done within 60 CALENDAR days (IDEA) – a different timeline may be set by the state. (IL Admin Code: 60 SCHOOL days from Consent)

22. Special Education Services • Request • Consent • Case Study Evaluation (CSE) • Eligibility Meeting –MDC • Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting

23. Special Education Services 3. Case Study Evaluation • Variety of assessment tools must be used • Testing must be done in the “language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.”

24. HYPOTHETICAL 2 • Your client is sixteen years old, has been diagnosed with ADHD and has forty misconduct referrals from CPS for behaviors ranging from physical altercations to verbal threats to students and teachers. You believe your client may be in need of special education services. What do you do? Can CPS choose not to evaluate your client?

25. School Based Problem Solving • CPS name for Response to Intervention (RTI) • SBPS (and RTI) is an intervention process for students experiencing academic or behavioral problems. • SBPS focuses on attempting interventions, tracking the results, and making decisions based on those results.

26. School Based Problem Solving • Law does NOT require schools to conduct SBPS before conducing special education evaluation • The Illinois State Board of Education Special Education Policies and Procedures specifically states that School Based Problem Solving activities will, “under no circumstances . . . preclude, or delay, the full and individual evaluation of any child referred by a parent, unless the district has officially considered such request and has determined the request not to be in the best interest of the child because the child exhibits satisfactory educational performance.” http://www.isbe.net/spec-ed/pdfs/policies.pdf (p.27)

27. HYPOTHETICAL 4 • You believe your client requires special education services. CPS tells you that the school staff first must try School Based Problem Solving. Is this true? How can you convince CPS to evaluate your client for special education?

28. Special Education Services • Request • Consent • Case Study Evaluation (CSE) • Eligibility Meeting –MDC • Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting

29. Special Education Services 4. Eligibility Meeting –MDC Team of qualified professionals and parents decide Whether child is a child with a disability (1401)(3) 1. Disability – mental retardation, hearing impairment, speech or language impairments, visual impairments, serious emotional disturbance (emotional disturbance), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments (OHI), or specific learning disabilities (LD or SLD): AND 2. who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services

30. Emotional Disturbance defined • Must meet four specific conditions: • Exhibit one of the five listed symptoms (next slide) • “over a long period of time” • “to a marked degree” • that the condition adversely affects the student’s educational performance

31. Five Factors listed in ED definition • An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors • An inability to build or maintain satisfactorily interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers • Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances

32. Five factors listed in ED definition • A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; OR • A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems

33. ED definition cont… • The term ED includes schizophrenia. • The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance 34 CFR 300.8(b)(4)

34. Emotional Disturbance • Note: A child does not need a medical or psychiatric diagnosis to be classified as an emotionally disturbed student.

35. Specific Learning Disability • “The term means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.”

36. LD definition cont… • The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. 34 CFR 300.8 (b)(10)

37. Mental Retardation • Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance • IQ below 70 • 34 CFR 300.8(b)(6)

38. Other Health Impaired defined • Other Health Impaired means having a limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that ---

39. OHI definition cont… • Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia and Tourette Syndrome; AND

40. OHI definition cont… • The chronic or acute health problem(s) adversely affects a child’s educational performance. 34 CFR 300.7(b) (9)

41. Traumatic Brain Injury • Acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

42. Traumatic Brain Injury Cause impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual and motor abilities; psycho-social behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech.

43. Traumatic Brain Injury • TBI label does NOT apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma

44. Special Education Services 4. Eligibility Meeting –MDC Team of qualified professionals and parents decide Whether child is a child with a disability (1401)(3) Educational needs of the child Parents given Copy of evaluation report Documentation of determination of eligibility

45. Special Education Services • Request • Consent • Case Study Evaluation (CSE) • Eligibility Meeting –MDC • Individual Education Program (IEP) meeting

46. IEP MEETING Procedural Safeguards 1415 School gives a copy of procedural safeguards to parents • At least once per year

47. Special Education Services 5. Individual Education Program (IEP) meeting – who is part of the IEP team? • IEP TEAM • Parents • Not less than ONE regular ed teacher (if child IS or may be participating in regular education) • Not less than ONE special ed teacher, or where appropriate…special education provider of such child

48. IEP Team Continued • Representative of local education agency • Qualified to provide or supervise special education • Knowledgeable about general curriculum • Knowledgeable about availability of LEA resources

49. Special Education Services 5. Individual Education Program (IEP) meeting • IEP TEAM Continued.. • An individual who can interpret the instructional implication of evaluation results • Other individuals who have “knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related services personnel as appropriate”: and • whenever appropriate, the child with a disability

50. IEP Team members excused IEP TEAM requires specific Members But they can be excused from attendance if • written consent • Member’s area of curriculum or services is not being modified or discussed OR • Parents and school agree • Member provides written IEP input to parents and school prior to meeting