Special Education 101
A teachers guide to basic
understanding of special education.
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Congratulations and Welcome
to SFDRCISD!
“The secret of education lies in
respecting the pupil.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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List of Included Documents
1.
2.
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7.
Acronyms and Common Terms
Notice of Procedural Safeguards
Guide to the ARD Process
Sample Sped Forms
Strategies and Accommodations
Staar Accommodations
Co-Teach Guidelines
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List of Included Documents
8. IDEIA and Section 504 Comparison
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUE2pzFbF8&feature=fvwrel
9. A Teacher’s Guide to Section 504 (Q&A)
10.Notice of Rights under Section 504
11.Sample Section 504 Accommodations
12.Teacher’s Guide to Dyslexia
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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.
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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.
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IDEA/IDEIA
What are the 4 parts of IDEA/IDEIA?
1. Part A – General provisions, definitions,
and other issues
2. Part B – Assistance for education of all
children with disabilities
3. Part C – Infants and Toddlers with
disabilities
4. Part D – National activities to improve
education of children with disabilities
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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
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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.
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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.
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What is Response to Intervention
(RtI)?
An early intervention model for
addressing the learning needs of all
students through a continuum of
services.
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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
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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)
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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.
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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……
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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ARD Committee Meeting
Annual review of a student’s special
education program includes a review
of the following:
1. Student progress
2. Current IEP
3. And, the development of a new IEP
for the upcoming year
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Types of ARD Committee meetings
Initial Placement
DNQ
Dismissal
Annual Review
Re-evaluation /
Triennial
 Manifestation
 Graduation
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Temporary
Transfer
Brief
Failure
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Who is invited to the ARD meeting?
Decision makers which include the following:
1. Parent
2. Adult student
3. Administrator
4. General ed. Teacher
5. Evaluation personnel
6. If necessary (LPAC Rep., AI, VI certified
teacher)
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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What are some decisions made
at an ARD?
 Accommodations
 Modifications
 Assessment decisions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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Monitoring accommodations
 Is it important?
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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.
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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
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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
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What does IDEIA tell us?
Requires participation in state wide and
district wide assessments.
Requires necessary accommodations.
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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%
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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
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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
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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
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What are the 13 eligibility
categories identified under IDEIA?
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AI: Auditorially Impaired
AU: Autism
DB: Deaf-Blind
ED: Emotionally Disturbed
LD: Learning Disability
MD: Multiple Disabilities
ID: Intellectual Disability
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13 Categories Continued
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NC: Non-Categorical
OHI: Other Health Impaired
OI: Orthopedically Impaired
SI: Speech Impaired
TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury
VI: Visually Impaired
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ACRONYMS, ACRONYMS
How many are there?
Will I ever remember them all?
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.”