1. A teachers guide to basic understanding of special education.

2. Congratulations and Welcome to SFDRCISD!
“The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. List of Included Documents
Acronyms and Common Terms
Notice of Procedural Safeguards
Guide to the ARD Process
Sample Sped Forms
Strategies and Accommodations
Staar Accommodations
Co-Teach Guidelines

4. List of Included Documents
IDEIA and Section 504 Comparison
A Teacher’s Guide to Section 504 (Q&A)
Notice of Rights under Section 504
Sample Section 504 Accommodations
Teacher’s Guide to Dyslexia

5. IDEA/IDEIA
IDEA – Individuals with Disabilities Education Act This Federal Law was reauthorized in 2004 and is now….
IDEIA – Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act
IDEA/IDEIA are used interchangeably when referring to the same law.

6. IDEA/IDEIA
This federal law grants children with disabilities the right to receive a “Free Appropriate Public Education” (FAPE).
IDEA lays out the minimum requirements that each state must meet in order to receive federal special education funds.

7. IDEA/IDEIA What are the 4 parts of IDEA/IDEIA?
Part A – General provisions, definitions, and other issues
Part B – Assistance for education of all children with disabilities
Part C – Infants and Toddlers with disabilities
Part D – National activities to improve education of children with disabilities

8. Special Education Process
Step 1. Request for evaluation
Step 2. Notice of rights
Step 3. Evaluation
Step 4&5. THE ARD/IEP meeting
Step 6. On-going assessment & data collection
Step 7. Examine data and make recommendations

9. Step 1 Request for Evaluation
This occurs when someone believes that a student has a disability AND needs special education or related services to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum.

10. Step 1 Request for Evaluation
What follows is a referral for an individualized initial evaluation that is initiated either because the child is:
a. Not developing at the same rate or sequence as other children
b. Experiencing unusual or prolonged difficulties with general education curriculum and instruction; varied interventions strategies have been tried (RTI) and documented before request is initiated.

11. What is Response to Intervention (RtI)?
An early intervention model for addressing the learning needs of all students through a continuum of services.

12. RtI RtI services should include:
High quality instruction and scientific, research-based strategies aligned with individual student need;
Frequent monitoring of student progress to help make results based academic or behavioral decisions;
Data-based school improvement
The application of student response data to make important educational decisions

13. RtI
Under IDEIA, students who are at risk should receive RtI interventions before a referral to special education can be considered.
Why??? To cut down on the number of referrals to special education for students who have NOT received adequate instruction in the general education setting. (NCLB)

14. Step 2 Notice of Rights
IDEA says the school must give parents a notice explaining the procedural safeguards available to parents (their rights) at least one time per year.

15. Step 3 Evaluation
The student is evaluated using a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, academic and developmental information, including information provided by the parent, that may assist in making a determination of……

16. Step 3 Evaluation
…whether the child meets the federal definition of a “child with a disability”
…the content of the child’s IEP, including information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum or, for preschool children, to participate in appropriate activities

17. Step 4& 5 ARD/IEP meeting
In Texas, we call the meetings that determine the special education supports and services of a student, an ARD. ARD is an acronym for Admission, Review and Dismissal. Other states call these meetings IEP meetings.

18. Step 6 On-going assessment/data collection
Instructional and related service providers collect data and maintain records of student progress as soon as the IEP is developed and continue until the next scheduled annual ARD/IEP review.

19. Step 7 Examine data and make recommendations
This step should begin at least 4 to 6 weeks before the next scheduled annual ARD/IEP meeting.

20. Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) Committee
This is the name of the team that meets at least annually to:
Decide if a student has an eligible disability
Determine whether special ed. and related services are appropriate and will be provided
Develop an individual ed. plan (IEP)

21. ARD Committee Meeting
Annual review of a student’s special education program includes a review of the following:
Student progress
Current IEP
And, the development of a new IEP for the upcoming year

22. Types of ARD Committee meetings
Initial Placement
DNQ
Dismissal
Annual Review
Re-evaluation / Triennial
Manifestation
Graduation
Temporary
Transfer
Brief
Failure

23. Who is invited to the ARD meeting?
Decision makers which include the following:
Parent
Adult student
Administrator
General ed. Teacher
Evaluation personnel
If necessary (LPAC Rep., AI, VI certified teacher)

24. What should a general ed. teacher bring to an ARD meeting?
Relevant information from other general ed. teachers
Progress reports in the gen. ed. Program
Behavior, grades, and attendance
Samples of modifications
Student work samples
Student’s educational levels in the gen. ed. setting

25. What should a special ed. Teacher bring to an ARD Meeting?
Relevant information from other Sp. Ed. teachers
Up-dated progress on objectives
Competencies (strengths/weaknesses)
Draft of a BIP if appropriate
Last progress report
Student’s educational levels
Work samples, TAKs or alternative assessment scores, current grades, attendance, informal assessment results, and other information necessary.

26. In order for an ARD to be duly constituted, it must include:
A campus administrator
Parent (invited with a 5 day notice)
At least 1 sp. Ed. Teacher (VI/AI)
At least 1 gen. ed. Teacher
Providers of relevant services (including related services)
A professional who can interpret evaluation results
The student, as appropriate

27. A highly effective ARD Committee:
Gets participation from all members.
Discusses important issues thoroughly.
Uses multiple valid measures of evidence to support decisions.
Assists the parent in understanding the discussion and in being an active participant.

28. What are some decisions made at an ARD?
Accommodations
Modifications
Assessment decisions

29. Accommodations
Practices and procedures that allow students with disabilities to learn, have access to, and be tested on the same curriculum as students without disabilities.

30. Accommodations
Accommodations do not change what the student is expected to learn but rather how he/she learns the curriculum.
Providing accommodations during instruction and assessment may also promote equal access to the general curriculum.

31. Accommodations
Practices that provide equitable access to grade-level curriculum during instruction and assessment.
Do not reduce learning expectations and do not replace the teaching of subject specific knowledge and skills in the TEKS.
May be needed more often at some grades than others.

32. Types of Classroom Accommodations
Presentation (Alternate Format)
Response (methods other than paper and pencil or machine scorable responses)
Setting (change the location or condition)
Timing and Scheduling (increase the standard length of time or change organization or test)

33. Monitoring accommodations
Is it important?

34. Modifications
A change in what the student is expected to learn that is different from the general education curriculum (TEKS).
Modifications are only for students with an IEP. Not all students with an IEP need modifications.
The curriculum is adjusted or reduced. The achievement standard is lowered.

35. Examples of Modifications
Teacher creates a separate test for student (remove some answer choices, abstract concepts removed)
Teacher chunks test for student in assignments and assessments
In accordance to the IEP, the teacher removes parts of the grade level TEKS that students’ disability keeps student from learning

36. Assessment Decisions
Do special education students participate in the Texas Student Assessment Program?
NCLB tells us that All students including those receiving special education services, must be assessed on grade-level curriculum.
NCLB calls for reasonable adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities

37. What does IDEIA tell us?
Requires participation in state wide and district wide assessments.
Requires necessary accommodations.

38. Alternate Assessments
STAAR is a general assessment that may also be administered to students receiving special education.
STAAR-M For only 2%
STAAR-ALT Only 1%

39. STAAR General Assessment
Same grade-level achievement standards for all students
Format change: larger font, fewer items on page
Same grade level and subjects for students.
SSI and exit level retest opportunities same as STAAR

40. STAAR-M An alternate assessment Modified achievement standards
Same grade level content as STAAR
Format: larger font, fewer items per page
Test design: fewer answer choices, simpler vocabulary and sentence structure

41. STAAR-ALT Alternate assessment Alternate achievement standards
Designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities
Format: not a traditional paper/pencil test
Administered using students primary language

42. What are the 13 eligibility categories identified under IDEIA?
AI: Auditorially Impaired
AU: Autism
DB: Deaf-Blind
ED: Emotionally Disturbed
LD: Learning Disability
MD: Multiple Disabilities
ID: Intellectual Disability

43. 13 Categories Continued NC: Non-Categorical OHI: Other Health Impaired
OI: Orthopedically Impaired
SI: Speech Impaired
TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury
VI: Visually Impaired

44. ACRONYMS, ACRONYMS
How many are there?
Will I ever remember them all?

45. Who can I ask for help?
If you are unsure about a student then ask your campus administrator or the campus special education diagnostician.
If the student is either receiving special education services or section 504 support make sure that you have a copy of the students accommodations.

46. What happens if I don’t follow accommodations?
Trouble
May have to go to ARD and explain to parents why they have not been followed.
Could result in a “HARD ARD”.
Could result in a Due Process Hearing due to denial of FAPE.

47. Districts Expectations
Know your students
Be an active and effective member of your students ARD Committee meetings
Make instructional and testing decisions based solely on individual student needs and eligibility requirements
Consistently follow and document accommodations for instruction and testing

48. Quote: Haim Ginott
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”