The Process to Special Education

 

Introduction to the Intervention Assistance Team

Your child has apparently been experiencing some difficulty in school. Perhaps the teacher has noticed this and made a referral to the Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) or you may have made the request for help. 

The Intervention Assistance Team, or IAT, is a group of people who come together to brainstorm some possible solutions to the difficulty your child is experiencing.  Since you, as the parent or guardian, know your child best, you are invited to be part of the team. The team may also include a building administrator; a guidance counselor; a school psychologist; current and former teachers; an intervention specialist; and/or other support personnel as needed. The ideas the team comes up with that might help solve the problem are called interventions or accommodations. 

A successful accommodation or intervention may turn out to be as simple as allowing extra time to do an assignment, or it may be more complex, such as offering specially designed picture schedules to the student. Usually, it is something that is not routinely offered to the whole class, but is intended as a unique help for a specific child. 

Before considering a strategy, the team should have a goal in mind. What is the problem and what do we want the improved behavior or situation to look like? The team may ask the following questions:

• What will be done?

• Who will do it?

• When (or how often) will they do it?

•  How will results be measured?

•  How do we know if the intervention is working? 

The intervention(s) should be put into place for a specific amount of time, usually at least several weeks. Then the team comes back together for a follow-up meeting to discuss whether the intervention was helpful or not, and if not, what to do next. 

When you leave the meeting, you should have a list of the interventions or accommodations that will be used, an understanding of how to know if they were successful, and a date when the team will meet again. 

If you are not able to come to the IAT meeting, you may want to write down your own ideas about what might help and then either deliver them to the IAT Chairperson or call her. She will see that your suggestions are taken into consideration at the meeting.  If you have any questions at all about the IAT process, you may call the IAT Chairperson at the specific building:

-Mills Lawn: Matt Housh, Principal, 937-767-7217
-McKinney/YSHS: Kari MacLennan, School Psychologist,  937-767-7224

Introduction to the Educational Evaluation 

Your child has been referred for an educational evaluation. This usually consists of some tests administered by the school psychologist, along with written observations from the classroom teachers, describing how your child is performing in class. There may also be some reports submitted by your medical doctor and/or various kinds of therapists, such as speech and language therapist, physical therapist, or occupational therapist.   Your input will also be requested in specific areas. 

Perhaps some interventions, or special strategies designed to help your child, have already been tried, and were unsuccessful. It may be that you, or the teacher, have noticed something that might indicate a disability of some kind. The purpose of the evaluation is to try to figure out if there is a disability and what affect it might have on your child’s education. 

The educational evaluation looks at a number of different elements that might contribute to the difficulty your child is having. Before the testing takes place, there will be a planning meeting to decide which areas  to specifically test. A list of possible factors that may be included on this plan--general intelligence; academic skills; vision; hearing; motor skills (movement and dexterity); communication; social and emotional status; behavior, etc. 

During the IAT process, the team may determine that your child should be referred for a multi-factored evaluation (MFE).  In order to begin the evaluation process, you, the parent, must give your signed permission. Within 30 days of the referral, the school must have your signed permission. Once the school has received your permission to test, they must complete the evaluation within 60 calendar days. 

When the testing is complete, you will be asked to attend a meeting to discuss the results. The group will go over the results together and will determine if your child has a disability. If the team decides that your child does have a disability, it will begin planning for the next step in the process, the Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. If you disagree with the results of the evaluation, you may request information for an independent educational evaluation (IEE).  If you have any questions about the evaluation process, you may contact our School Psychologist, Kari MacLennan, at 767-1303, ext. 303, or the district’s Special Education Supervisor, Terry Graves-Strieter, at 767-1303, ext. 337.  The Miami Valley Regional Center has a Family Consultant, Pat Gay, who can also answer questions about this process.  Pat Gay can be reached at 236-9965. 

Parents may always access additional information at the Ohio Department of Education’s website:  www.ode.state.oh.us

Additional information may be accessed at the following website: www.edresourcesohio.org

The Individualized Education Plan (IEP) 

Your child has gone through a Multi-factored Evaluation (MFE) and has been determined eligible for special education services. The next step in the process is to design specialized instruction that will help him to be successful in school. The official document that describes what that instruction will look like is called the Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. 

Just like in the Intervention Assistance or Evaluation Planning parts of the process, there is a team of people who work together to decide what goes into the IEP. The parent or guardian is always a part of this team. It is a good idea for you to become familiar with the IEP document and the process so that you can be a knowledgeable, contributing member of the team.  A helpful resource is the Whose IDEA Is This? booklet which you would have received when you consented the multi-factored evaluation (MFE).  You may also access that booklet online at www.ode.state.oh.us 

The IEP has a section called Future Planning.  This is where you talk about your hopes for your child’s future – what kinds of classes she might take in school and activities she might participate in, as well as social and community connections. If she is an older student, you can describe where she might live, whether you expect she will go to college, and what kind of job she might eventually have.  It is important that your child give input into this section.  S/he will be asked to participate even more in the IEP process as s/he reaches middle school and high school. 

At the top of each Goal Page is a place for Present Levels of Performance. This is a detailed statement about how your child is currently performing in school in specific areas such as academic, social, behavioral and other areas. It describes how he is doing compared with other children his age in that academic area. Usually, the Present Levels section discusses your child’s strengths, but also gives specific information about the kinds of problems he is having. This section is used to identify exactly what your child’s needs are, and how to plan instruction that responds to those needs, so that he can make progress in the school curriculum. 

The next section of the IEP identifies services that your child will be receiving.  It includes the Specially Designed instruction that your student requires in order to be more successful in school.  It will tell who will be providing the specialized instruction your child will be receiving; what it will look like; where the instruction will take place; and how often. This might be direct instruction by an intervention specialist, or from a therapist, such as a speech or occupational therapist.  The setting where the instruction will take place could range from one-on-one or small group instruction in a resource room to working with an intervention specialist in a regular classroom – this is also called “inclusion”. Some children are fine working independently and will be on their own in a regular classroom. The type of instruction and setting are dependent upon your child’s personal needs.