Special Education 2012-2013SPED Referral and IEP Process GuideGinger Alonzo & Emily Disbennett

Purpose of Special Education• To provide to each student that qualifies under the

WAC “instruction that is more urgent, more intensive, more relentless, more precisely delivered, more highly structured and direct and more carefully monitored for procedural fidelity and effects”

• Quote from James M. Kauffman, Exceptional Learners: Introduction to Special Edcuation, by Daniel P Hallahan and James M. Kaufman

Child Find• “An ongoing process to seek and identify

individuals, aged birth to 21, who are eligible to receive special education services”

• From: Implementation of Special Education Services (ISES), August 2012, by Everett Public Schools Special Services Department

Initial Referral• Generally students who present with

communication, motor or behavioral difficulties, or academic concerns of parents or teachers, are first brought to the attention of our Student Staffing Team (SST) at HMJHS through the student’s counselor.

• However, if a parent makes a referral for special education evaluation, it does begin the referral process, but the student will still go through our SST for review.

Decision to Refer or Not• The SST may then recommend a referral after

reviewing the following to assure they have occurred:• Pre-referral activities that identify the problems and

indicate documented strategies in which the student was an active participant and tried to correct the difficulty • Strategies would include, meeting with student before

or after school and noting results; referral to POI; any accommodation of reducing work or providing test accommodations that are documented with results

• The information presented supports the referral and does not indicate other significant problems such as absences

Decision to Refer or Not (cont.)• The information on the referral does not indicate

that the student may have some other type of problem that could be corrected within the regular education program with support from other specialists (think POI)

• A current teacher may wish to withdraw the referral from a previous teacher due to implementing strategies that are working

• Documentation exists that the difficulty does not adversely impact academic performance, rate of progress compared to peer groups and supports the absence of a suspected disability

Decision to Refer• The student goes to the Multi Disciplinary Team

that is minimally composed of: • evaluation case manager• special education teacher• related service providers• *parent participation is not required, however, as equal

participants their active involvement should be encouraged at meetings related to referral

MDT• The Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) will review the

SST’s recommendations as well as any other information and make the final determination whether to refer the student for a special education evaluation

• If not referred, the parents are notified in writing• If referred, the parents are notified in writing

This means:• General Ed Teachers are involved in working with

students and documenting outcomes of interventions in areas of concern prior to a referral or as part of a referral

• General Ed Teachers are not involved in the meeting where the team decides to assess

What is Documentation?• Notes that indicate the intervention, date, and

result.• For example: Terry has been struggling on tests and

quizzes in your math class. You met with him over several weeks after school for additional tutorial. His test scores don’t improve. Then you refer him to POI for additional support. Several weeks later, his test scores are the same. In this case, you would want to have been keeping notes on progress prior to the interventions, the dates you met and referred to POI, and the progress post tutorial and POI referral. Now you can take this documentation to the SST to discuss next steps towards evaluation.

Evaluation Team• Once the parents are notified in writing that a

referral has been accepted, an evaluation team plans the evaluation

• The Evaluation Team is minimally composed of • Parent• Special ed teacher• General ed teacher who serves the student• Administrator• Evaluation case manager(s) • School psychologist

Evaluation Team (cont.)• The evaluation team will plan what will be

included for the evaluation, who will do which parts of the evaluation and seek parental permission.

• From the time of parental signature giving permission to assess, the team has 35 school days to complete the initial evaluation or a reevaluation.

Disability Determination• The evaluation team will decide if the student has

a special education disability under the WAC. • Note: While a student may have a physical or

mental health diagnosis, the student must meet the WAC guidelines for a special ed disability, which are different than diagnostic guidelines. However, outside information is always considered

Qualification for Special Education• If the student does not qualify, the parent is

notified. It is possible that a recommendation from the evaluation team would be to refer to the 504 Team for consideration.

• If the student does qualify, then the parent is notified and the IEP team has 30 calendar days to write the IEP and begin to serve the student.

IEP• The IEP is based on the evaluation results.• The IEP team decides program placement, goals and

amount of time of service; decisions are to be made by the IEP team at the IEP meeting.

• The IEP team minimally consists of:• School administrator• at least one of the student’s general ed teachers (preferably

the general ed teacher who teaches the subject of concern)• special ed teacher• one or both of parents or guardians• student at age 15 or older• related services staff if appropriate• interpreter if applicable

IEP Process• Parent must give consent for initial placement• At least 3 separate attempts within the IEP

timeline must be made to have parent attend the meeting

• The school district MUST offer services in all areas in which the student qualifies

• Accommodations are developed as a part of the IEP and are to go to each of student’s teachers

Accommodations, etc.• Teachers are required by law to provide the

accommodations to the student; if a student refuses the provided accommodation, i.e. you have arranged for the student to take a test in a separate location per the accommodations, and the student refuses, document this

• If a student is also on a Behavior Intervention Plan, you should also have a copy of this plan which should describe the positive strategies to be used and how to evaluate those strategies

Thanks. Any Questions?