Deciding When a Need Is a Disability

• Analyze unmet needs• Communicate your observations• Try your own interventions• Obtain special services• Consider student problems

Analyzing Unmet Needs

• Specific examples• Chronic pattern(s) that negatively impact

learning • Unmet needs that become more serious over

time• Behavior significantly different from peers• No pattern can be found

Communicating Observations and Trying Interventions

• Contact parents• Contact colleagues• Try simple interventions• Document the unmet need

The Decision-Making Process

for Special Education

Referral through Placement Process

• Multidisciplinary team (MDT) activated• Parents notified, rights explained • Components of assessment are considered• Procedures for assessment are decided• RTI data assessed

Decision Making for Special Services

• Team decision about student eligibility• Preparation of IEP with team decisions about

services needed• Team decision about the location in which

student will be educated (placement)

Parent approval of IEP and other decisions made

Services delivered as plannedMonitoring via annual review of IEP

and re-evaluation every three years

Eligibility v. Placement Decisions

Monitoring and Review Process

• Annual reviews• Three-year reevaluations• Additional reviews (when progress not seen or

no new info available) • Due process and mediation

Annual Review

• Progress toward goals is reviewed• IEP is changed or updated as needed• Check that student’s best interests are being

protected

Three-Year Reevaluation

• IDEA permits existing information to be used• Does not require new assessments• With parent and team agreement, no new

assessment required• Parents must be informed about three-year

reevaluation but consent is not required

Additional Reviews

• IDEA says an IEP must be reviewed when lack of progress is noted

• IDEA says parents of students with disabilities have the right to progress reports as often as other parents

• This means that formal communication about student learning progress often occurs after each grading period

Due Process and Mediation

• Set of procedures to resolve disagreements between school and parents

• Both school and parents are entitled to protection

• IDEA requires mediation be provided at no cost

• Mediation is not allowed to cause delay in a due process hearing

• If mediation is not successful a hearing is conducted

• Decision can be appealed