Week 5 Early Childhood IEP’s, Secondary Transition Plans, Eligibility Categories, Adverse Effect, Need for Specially Designed Instruction

Changes Our syllabus states we will discuss SLD and CLD this week. This will be moved to Weeks 7 and 8.

Q & A What do I do when a student is consistently 2 hours late for school? What is the transportation policy regarding boundaries?

Early Childhood IEP’s 3 through 6 years of age (Kindergarten) Early Childhood Outcome Ratings occur at entry, each annual review and exit (transition to kindergarten) All IEP goals fit into 1 of 3 categories

Early Childhood IEP’s Outcome 1: Positive Social-Emotional Skills, including social relationships Outcome 2: Acquiring and Using Knowledge and Skills, including communication and early literacy Outcome 3: Taking Appropriate Action to Meet Needs

Early Childhood IEP’s Kindergarten Transition Process Waiting for more guidance from the state regarding Early Childhood IEP’s for kindergarteners – Question answered Yesterday – WE DO NOT HAVE TO COMPLETE ECO’S IEPS FOR NEWLY IDENTIFIED KINDERGARTNERS See example in TERA

Secondary Transition Plans New Forms Must begin the IEP year a student turns 16 May begin earlier Examples

Eligibility - Summary The Evaluation Team Assessment Summary summarizes the findings and documents various forms of assessments used to determine a present level of performance. Assessment data may include observations, interviews, medical reports, developmental history, and data regarding the effects of general education accommodations and adaptations, interventions and other formal and informal data. The SDE DOES NOT recommend, “re-writing” the eligibility report here. The SDE recommends only summarizing the important criteria used to meet criteria (or not meet criteria on an exit) in this summary.

Eligibility - Summary Reminder: The SDE cautions districts against using technical jargon and requests that reports and all other information/documents be written jargon free and using parent friendly terminology. Please keep this in mind when writing documents.

Eligibility - Summary Ima scored at the 1st percentile on the Goldman Fristoe test of Articulation, a standardized assessment measuring a child’s ability to produce speech sounds. Ima frequently substitutes sounds for sounds he has difficulty producing and shows the most difficulty with /f/ and /v/ and /sh/, /ch/, and /j/. Ima struggles to produce these sounds alone and in combination with other sounds. Ima also shows difficulty accurately producing many age level sounds when having a conversation. Ima also demonstrated that her ability to use proper grammar was below the level of her peers.

Eligibility - Summary According to Dr. McGoo Ph.D., Ima is diagnosed with cognitive disorder, Epilepsy and ADHD combined type. Testing by the MDT also indicates Ima’s verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills are in the low average range. Her full scale IQ is 78 which is in the borderline range. Her academic testing also indicates her skills are below grade level. Ima’s speech and language skills are in the average range and her motor skills are in the low average range for her age.

Eligibility - Summary Note: The SDE cautions about making statements such as the following: “Ima does not meet eligibility criteria for speech and/or language impaired at this time.” --or— “Ima does not meet criteria to receive speech and/or language therapy at this time.” Making these types of decisions here or in the reports above is premature.

Eligibility Documents – Adverse Effect To fully address the adverse effect on educational performance, this statement should include a consideration of all facets of the child’s disability that have a harmful or unfavorable influence on the child’s performance in academic areas (reading, math, communication, speech, etc.) or non-academic areas (daily life activities, mobility, social adaptation, self help skills, etc.)

Eligibility Documents – Adverse Effect Do not use statements such as: Ima may have difficulty expressing herself in class or students with XXX disability often have difficulty…. Your adverse effect statements must pertain directly to the difficulty the specific student is experiencing.

Eligibility Documents – Adverse Effect Ima’s decreased language skills impact her ability to ask and answer questions, have conversations with peers, work in groups and write complete sentences. Her speech skills affect her ability to be understood by classmates and teachers. Ima often gets frustrated when she is not understood and sits with her head down.

Eligibility Documents – Adverse Effect Andrew’s slower processing of visual information is affecting his ability to keep up with classmates when transferring written information from the board to his notepaper. His visual processing weakness affects his ability to accurately write specific math details to correctly solve a basic math skill and/or problem. His slower processing speed affects his ability to quickly retrieve information as needed for quizzes and tests and work at the same pace as his peers.

Eligibility Documents – Need for Specially Designed Instruction To fully address the need for specially designed instruction, this statement should include a clarification of what adapted content, methodology, or delivery of instruction is needed to ensure access to the general education curriculum and to address the unique needs of the student that result from the student’s disability. The adapted content, methodology or approach is the intensive instruction that a child will need in addition to and to supplement general education curriculum. (i.e. Direct, explicit instruction to build sight word recognition, direct instruction on the use of a visual schedule, language therapy to build vocabulary, etc.)

Eligibility Documents – Need for Specially Designed Instruction Ima needs direct speech and language instruction in order to improve her communication skills. Ima needs direct, frequent speech instruction with repeated practice to learn to produce speech sounds correctly. She also needs intervention that focuses on speaking and writing in grammatically correct sentences.

Eligibility Documents – Need for Specially Designed Instruction Andrew needs direct instruction in math to help him acquire information presented in the general education classroom which he may have missed due to his slower processing speed. He needs direct instruction in math calculation skills. He needs concepts re-taught at a slower pace and broken down in steps to assist him to organize and visualize how to attack the problem.

Eligibility Categories Autism Cognitive Impairment Deaf-Blindness Deafness Developmental Delay Emotional Disturbance Health Impairment Vision Impairment Hearing Impairment Specific Learning Disability Multiple Disabilities Orthopedic Impairment Speech Impairment Language Impairment Traumatic Brain Injury

Eligibility A student can not be identified as a student with a disability if the primary reason is: A lack of instruction Limited English Proficiency Environmental or Economic Disadvantage Frequent change of schools, absences

Eligibility Must meet the 3 prongs Criteria for the eligibility category Adverse Effect Need for Specially Designed Instruction

Autism Diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (Caution with school based diagnosis) Consider academic, cognitive and adaptive scores/skills

Cognitive Impairment Full Scale IQ Score at or below 70 Deficits in Adaptive functioning in at least 2 areas Adverse Effect Need for Specially Designed Instruction

Developmental Delay Ages 3-10 (must be changed prior to 10th birthday At least 2 standard deviations below the mean in one area or 1.5 in two areas Student does not clearly meet the criteria for any other category

Emotional Disturbance Exhibits one or more of the following over a long period of time and to a marked degree: Inability to learn not explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors Inability to build or maintain relationships Inappropriate behavior or feelings Pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression Physical symptoms or fears At least 6 months, more than one observer, more than one setting, frequency, duration, intensity Does not include students who are socially maladjusted NSD REQUIRES an ED PORFOLIO (Social History is an important piece)

Health Impairment Student exhibits limited strength, vitality or alertness/heightened alertness…due to chronic or acute health problems Student has been diagnosed by a physician (School psychologist can determine ADD/ADHD but our district uses this option with CAUTION) Not all students with ADD/ADHD or other diagnosis are eligible

Multiple Disabilities Two or more co-existing severe impairments One of which is a cognitive impairment (IQ below 70) Such as Cognitive Impairment and Blindness, Cognitive Impairment and Orthopedic Impairment, etc.

Speech Impairment Articulation Disorder At least 2 procedures to assess Expressive and/or Receptive Language One must produce a standard score 1.5 Standard deviations below the mean The 2 procedures should support the same conclusion or additional measures should be used Additional Speech disorders include fluency disorder and voice disorder

Language Impairment At least 2 procedures to assess Expressive and/or Receptive Language One must produce a standard score 1.5 Standard deviations below the mean The 2 procedures should support the same conclusion or additional measures should be used

Specific Learning Disability The student does not make sufficient progress in response to effective, evidence based instruction and intervention for the child’s age or to meet state-approved grade level standards in one or more of the following areas: a. Oral expression; b. Listening comprehension; c. Written expression; d. Basic reading skills; e. Reading comprehension; f. Reading fluency g. Mathematics calculation; or h. Mathematics problem solving,

Specific Learning Disability AND The student demonstrates low achievement in the area(s) of suspected disability listed above as evidenced by a norm-referenced, standardized achievement assessment. For culturally and linguistically diverse students, the preponderance of evidence must indicate low achievement.

Specific Learning Disability AND The student demonstrates a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in psychological processing skills that impact learning.

Specific Learning Disability AND The student’s lack of achievement is not primarily the result of: a. A visual, hearing, or motor impairment; b. Cognitive impairment c. Emotional disturbance d. Environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage e. Limited English Proficiency f. A lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including the essential components of reading; g. A lack of appropriate instruction in math.

Specific Learning Disability AND The disability adversely impacts the student’s educational performance and the student requires specially designed instruction.