SPECIAL EDUCATION PRACTITIONERS’ MANUAL
INDEX OF
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Chapter A: Child Find
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When did the requirements for RtI take effect? ............................................. A-G-2
Who is responsible for implementing and/or monitoring the
interventions at each tier? .............................................................................. A-G-2
What is an Evidence-Based Intervention? ..................................................... A-G-2
Will RtI delay identification of students as eligible for special
education services? ........................................................................................ A-G-3
Is RtI only for reading? .................................................................................. A-G-3
What if a parent does not want to go through the RtI process
and insists on a special education evaluation? ............................................... A-G-3
What does RtI have to do with SLD Eligibility Criteria? .............................. A-G-4
Where can I get more information about RtI? ............................................... A-G-4
Can a teacher initiate an initial evaluation of a child? .................................. A-G-4
What happens if a parent brings up a private psychological
evaluation during the RtI/FLEX process?...................................................... A-G-4
How does a student move from RtI to evaluation? ........................................ A-G-4
Must the parent provide consent for EIS process? ........................................ A-G-6
Must the parent provide consent for the RtI/FLEX team to refer
a child for consideration for IDEA eligibility? .............................................. A-G-6
What happens to students who have been found ineligible as
students with disabilities under IDEA or whose parents refuse
to consent to initial placement?...................................................................... A-G-6
Chapter B: Evaluations and Reevaluations
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How much time does the agency have to complete
evaluations?.................................................................................................... B-G-8
What happens if a parent refuses to consent to a requested
re-evaluation? ................................................................................................. B-G-9
How does a parent’s revocation of consent for evaluation
impact an evaluation that has already started? ............................................... B-G-9
How should the agency document failure to cooperate with
an evaluation? ............................................................................................... B-G-9
Is consent necessary before administering a simple
achievement test or other simple instrument (like the
Brigance)? ...................................................................................................... B-G-10
Must the public agency rely on a private evaluation
provided by the parents? ................................................................................ B-G-10
Who decides what evaluations need to be conducted? .................................. B-G-10
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What if, in response to the public agency’s request for
consent to evaluate, the parents attempt to limit the scope
of the evaluation by agreeing only to test certain areas of
eligibility, or agreeing only to certain testing instruments or
tests by certain evaluators? ............................................................................ B-G-11
What does “upon consideration of reevaluation” mean? ............................... B-G-11
What is a “special evaluation?” ..................................................................... B-G-11
Must an evaluation be delayed if a child has not had a
recent or has not passed hearing and vision screening? ................................. B-G-12
What if a student needs but doesn’t have glasses or a
hearing aid? .................................................................................................... B-G-12
How are evaluations addressed for students already
receiving special education services and experiencing
additional difficulties? .................................................................................. B-G-12
What is the purpose of an FBA? .................................................................... B-G-13
Is an observation an evaluation for which parental consent
is necessary? What about an FBA (functional behavioral
assessment)? .................................................................................................. B-G-15
What kind of information should evaluators present to the
M-Team for either eligibility or educational planning
purposes?........................................................................................................ B-G-16
Do parents get copies of evaluation reports? ................................................. B-G-16
What if the team does not think that the student requires
any testing? .................................................................................................... B-G-17
Are evaluations required to get testing accommodations? ............................ B-G-17
Chapter C: Eligibility Determinations and Categories of Eligibility
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Why are the federal and Colorado categories different?
Which should the agency follow? .................................................................. C-G-4
What is the difference between a Multidisciplinary team
and an IEP team? ........................................................................................... C-G-5
How do practitioners determine the “adverse affect on
educational performance” criteria for students with SIED? .......................... C-G-5
What if, after a finding that the child is eligible for special
education and related services, the parents deny consent for
initial placement? ........................................................................................... C-G-6
What if the parents are seeking special education and
related services, but the evaluations and other information
do not support a finding of eligibility? .......................................................... C-G-7
What if the parents ask the agency to reconsider the finding
of ineligibility 6 months or a year later? ........................................................ C-G-7
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Does a doctor’s diagnosis of a condition such as ADD or
ADHD confer special education eligibility on a child? ................................. C-G-7
What if the parents do not agree with the eligibility
category? ........................................................................................................ C-G-7
If a child is not eligible for services under the IDEA, can he
or she be referred for services under Section 504? ........................................ C-G-8
At what age does a student’s eligibility for services end,
such that the student “ages out”? ................................................................... C-G-8
If a student has one of the qualifying disabilities under the
IDEA but the IEP team determines that the student requires
only a related service, but not special education, is the
student a “child with a disability” entitled to services? ................................. C-G-8
Chapter D: Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
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What if the student’s parents insist on a particular
placement that the educators do not feel is appropriate? ............................... D-G-2
What if the parents are insisting on their choice of
placement because it is better than the placement offered by
the public agency?.......................................................................................... D-G-2
The parents do not disagree with the goals and objectives or
the placement offered by the IEP, but are insisting upon a
particular instructional methodology. The public agency
staff want to employ a different methodology that is
appropriate. What should we do?.................................................................. D-G-3
The parents have insurance coverage that could cover the
cost of some of the services or therapies included in the
IEP. Can we insist that they obtain payment from their
insurance company for IEP services? ............................................................ D-G-3
How much educational benefit is enough? .................................................... D-G-3
If the student fails to achieve all the goals on the IEP or
doesn’t seem to be making much progress, does that mean
that the public agency denied the student FAPE? .......................................... D-G-3
A behaviorally impaired student is making appropriate
educational progress in school and in the classroom, but is
having difficulty at home. Does the IEP team need to offer
services that will allow the child to make progress in the
home as well? ................................................................................................ D-G-4
Does earning a GED end a student’s right to FAPE? .................................... D-G-4
What rights do students with disabilities have to participate
in field trips? ................................................................................................ D-G-4
What are some examples of “parent training” that a public
agency might be required to provide as a related service? ............................ D-G-5
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Chapter E: Individualized Education Programs (IEP
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How often must an IEP meeting be convened? ............................................ E-G-13
What should occur if the team members who show up for
the meeting are not the individuals listed on the IEP notice? ........................ E-G-13
How much notice of an IEP meeting must parents receive? ........................ E-G-13
How should parents receive notices, IEPs and PWNs? ...... ...... ...... ............. E-G-13
What if the parents request that we invite every one of the
student’s teachers? ......................................................................................... E-G-14
What do we do if parents want to bring private evaluators,
attorneys, or advocates to their child’s IEP meeting? .................................... E-G-14
Should I list the parents’ private evaluators, attorney, or
advocate on the IEP notice of meeting? ........................................................ E-G-14
How is the agenda for an IEP meeting different when the
parents request a meeting to address concerns they may
have? .............................................................................................................. E-G-14
What do we do if a parent wants to record or videotape the
IEP meeting? .................................................................................................. E-G-15
What if parents want to bring a reporter to an IEP meeting? ........................ E-G-15
What if I have a question for other members of the IEP
team during a meeting? Is it okay to ask the parents and
their advocate to wait outside the room? ....................................................... E-G-15
What if a parent clearly indicates to the IEP team that
he/she does not want the team to address a particular
service, such as mental health or occupational therapy? ..............................E-G-15
The parents came to the IEP meeting, but then got angry
and left early because they didn’t like the IEP that was
being developed. Should we adjourn the meeting and
reschedule to finish the IEP?.......................................................................... E-G-16
At the end of the IEP meeting, the parents refuse to consent
to the IEP proposed by the IEP team. What do we do? ............................... E-G-16
Is it okay to prepare an IEP in advance of the meeting? ............................... E-G-16
We scheduled two hours for the meeting, but we are not
finished. What do we do?.............................................................................. E-G-17
How soon can we begin to implement an IEP? ............................................. E-G-17
How are IEP provisions, including accommodations and
modifications, communicated to service providers? ...................................... E-G-17
Why do we have to prepare two forms of progress reporting
for students with disabilities? ........................................................................ E-G-17
For transfer students to receive IEP services, do we need to
secure Initial Consent for Special Education and Related
Services? ........................................................................................................ E-G-18
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Chapter F: Placement and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
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What does “upon consideration of reevaluation” mean? ............................... F-G-4
Why is it best practice for any significant change of
placement to be done in an IEP meeting? ...................................................... F-G-4
The IEP team recommends that a student with a disability
be educated in a special class that provides the intensity of
services that the student requires. The parents want the
child to be educated in a regular classroom, and insist that
the child can be served by a dedicated 1:1 aide who
provides the student with instruction. Does the LRE
requirement mean that we have to provide the services
requested by the parents? .............................................................................. F-G-4
If a student has the academic ability to be educated in the
regular classroom with supplementary aids and services,
but has disciplinary or behavioral problems that cause a
disruption in the classroom, does the LRE requirement
mean that the child cannot be assigned to a separate class or
an alternative school? ..................................................................................... F-G-5
What are the programming considerations for students with
SIED? ............................................................................................................. F-G-5
What responsibilities may a paraprofessional have for
implementing a student’s IEP? ...................................................................... F-G-6
Does the LRE requirement mean that a student has to fail in
a less restrictive setting before the IEP team recommends a
more restrictive setting? ................................................................................. F-G-6
The parents of a student with a disability want the student
to be educated in the regular classroom with the provision
of supplementary aids and services. The IEP team is
concerned that the student will take up so much of the
teacher’s time that the teacher won’t be able to devote
enough time to any of the other students. Does the LRE
requirement mean that the IEP team must nonetheless place
the student in the regular classroom? ............................................................. F-G-7
How much should the IEP team weigh the social benefits of
participation with nondisabled peers in making the LRE
determination? ............................................................................................... F-G-7
We place all of our students with autism in a special class
specifically designed for students with that condition. If a
student has been diagnosed with autism, is it OK for us to
place him in that special classroom, given his diagnosis? ............................ F-G-7
How are referrals to centralized programs made? ......................................... F-G-8
When is a hospital or homebound placement appropriate? .......................... F-G-8
How do we calculate the student’s time in general
education to determine the educational environment setting
code? ............................................................................................................. F-G-8
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How do we calculate time in a “co-taught” class? ........................................ F-G-8
How do IEP teams comply with the rule to discuss all
educational options for deaf and hard-of-hearing students
while still making clear the team’s recommendations and
offer of placement? ........................................................................................ F-G-9
Do any other unique factors impact the placement
discussion of students who are deaf hard of hearing?.................................... F-G-10
How do the communication needs of a student with hearing
disabilities impact the placement discussion?................................................ F-G-10
Chapter G: Transition and Graduation
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What are the agencies that might be invited to participate in
transition planning, and what services do they provide? ..............................G-G-5
At what point may the public agency determine that the
student will benefit from outside agency services (e.g., the
student scores as primarily independent on the agency’s
transition programming rubric) and therefore the public
agency is not obligated to provide transition services until
the student reaches the age of 21? ................................................................. G-G-5
What if the representative from another agency that may be
responsible for providing or paying for certain transition
services does not show up to the meeting? ................................................... G-G-6
What do we do if another agency agreed to provide
transition services, but then fails to do so? ................................................... G-G-6
How does graduation affect a student’s right to transition
services? ......................................................................................................... G-G-6
Does earning a GED end a student’s right to FAPE? .................................... G-G-7
Chapter H: Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information
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Who keeps student files? ............................................................................... H-G-2
How are student’s records transferred from one teacher,
service provider, or building to the next? ...................................................... H-G-2
How are student test protocols treated? ........................................................ H-G-2
What if I need my records later, such as in the case of
litigation? ....................................................................................................... H-G-3
Are parents entitled to copyrighted test protocols? ....................................... H-G-3
Are parents entitled to teacher or service provider emails,
attendance records, and therapy notes? ......................................................... H-G-3
What are the consequences for failing to produce all
education records in response to a parent’s request? .................................... H-G-3
Do non-custodial parents have the right to request student
records? ......................................................................................................... H-G-3
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What should the public agency require to verify a person’s
identity and ability to access records? ........................................................... H-G-3
A parent asks permission for their private evaluator,
advocate, or other non-public agency individual to observe
the student’s class or prospective class. What do we do? ............................ H-G-4
What happens if the parents disagree with something in
their student’s records? ................................................................................. H-G-4
We have just received a records request from a parent and
we have an IEP meeting scheduled for next week. Can we
proceed? ........................................................................................................ H-G-4
What do I do if a parent of an incoming student requests
that we do not get records from the student’s former district
or refuses to sign a release? .......................................................................... H-G-5
What do I do if I receive a subpoena or am contacted by a
parent’s attorney or advocate? ....................................................................... H-G-5
Chapter I: Dispute Resolution
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What is a resolution meeting? ........................................................................ I-G-3
What role does the IEP team have in dispute resolution? ............................. I-G-3
What do I do if I believe that a conflict has arisen or is
about to arise? ............................................................................................... I-G-4
If parents raise an issue or complaint in an IEP meeting,
mediation or a due process request, aren’t they limited to
raising only that issue? .................................................................................. I-G-4
At the end of a recent IEP meeting, the parents indicated
that they disagreed with the public agency’s proposal and
that they wanted to “invoke stay put.” Does that mean that
the new IEP cannot be implemented? ............................................................ I-G-4
We have a student with a behavioral/emotional disability
who is in a “stay put” placement in a self-contained class
where the teacher is pregnant and thus physically
vulnerable. The student has been physically aggressive
towards this teacher, and in order to protect her, we want to
move the student to another self-contained class. Do we
need to get the parents’ agreement or permission to do so? ......................... I-G-5
The Multidisciplinary/IEP Team has determined that a
student qualifies as a student with a disability and is
eligible for special education and related services. The
parents, however, refuse to consent to the IEP that the
public agency developed and have requested a due process
hearing claiming that the public agency’s proposed IEP
does not offer FAPE. What is the “stay put” placement? ............................. I-G-5
Chapter J: Parent Rights and Participation
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How much notice is a parent entitled to receive before an
IEP meeting? Before implementing the IEP? ............................................... J-G-8
The parents came to the IEP meeting, but then became
angry and left early because they didn’t like the IEP that
was being developed. Should we adjourn the meeting and
reschedule to finish the IEP?.......................................................................... J-G-8
At the end of the IEP meeting, the parents refuse to consent
to the IEP proposed by the IEP team. What do we do? ............................... J-G-8
What if the parents object to only one service provided by
the IEP, but agree with the remainder? .......................................................... J-G-9
The parents are demanding a placement or service for their
child that the educators on the team do not believe is
appropriate. What do we do? ........................................................................ J-G-9
What do we do if a parent tells us that they want to revoke
consent for special education and related services? ...................................... J-G-9
The parents are reporting that they have seen the child
demonstrate mastery of certain skills at home, but this
contradicts the observations of the classroom teachers who
work with the child. Should we include data in the IEP that
reflects mastery of goals even if the teachers or service
providers have never seen evidence of it? ..................................................... J-G-9
What role does the IEP team have in dispute resolution? ............................. J-G-10
We have been trying to schedule an IEP meeting with the
parents for ages, but they fail to give us dates when they’re
available or respond to our scheduling efforts. What should
we do? ........................................................................................................... J-G-10
May a public agency provide parents with PWN or their
procedural safeguards via e-mail? ................................................................. J-G-10
Chapter K: Discipline and Attendance Issues
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When does discipline for a student with a disability under
IDEA differ from general education? ........................................................... K-G-1
When must the agency convene a manifestation
determination meeting? .................................................................................. K-G-1
When the student gets close to ten days of suspension in a
school year, should the student’s team convene a
manifestation determination meeting? ........................................................... K-G-1
What is the sequence of events for assigning discipline and
conducting manifestation determination meetings?....................................... K-G-2
How soon must a manifestation meeting take place? .................................... K-G-2
What role does the student’s IEP team play in a
Manifestation Determination meeting? ......................................................... K-G-3
Who must attend manifestation determination meetings? ............................. K-G-3
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What role does local administration play in manifestation
determinations? .............................................................................................. K-G-3
How can a school team strengthen the legal defensibility of
its discipline practices for students with disabilities? .................................... K-G-4
What happens if the student’s conduct is determined to be a
result of the student’s disability or the failure of the public
agency to implement the student’s IEP? ........................................................ K-G-4
What happens if the student’s conduct is determined NOT
to be a result of the student’s disability or the failure of the
public agency to implement the student’s IEP? ............................................. K-G-5
What happens to a student with disabilities if there is no
agreement on whether the behavior was a manifestation of
the student’s disability? ................................................................................. K-G-5
Are students with disabilities who are suspended or
expelled entitled to services during the exclusion period? ............................ K-G-5
Who determines where a student will attend school or
receive services during a period of suspension or
expulsion? ..................................................................................................... K-G-6
If the student is not allowed on campus, where can the
services be provided? .................................................................................... K-G-6
How are those services documented? ............................................................ K-G-6
After a student committed a serious disciplinary offense,
his parents told us that we should have known the student
was eligible for special education. What do we do now? ............................ K-G-6
Do students whose parents have revoked consent for
special education services still receive the additional
discipline protections? .................................................................................. K-G-7
Does in-school suspension count towards the ten days? ............................... K-G-7
Does bus suspension count towards the ten days? ......................................... K-G-8
Does the agency need to conduct a manifestation
determination when the disciplinary offense involves a
weapon, drugs, or serious bodily injury? ....................................................... K-G-8
Does the law limit the public agency’s ability to contact
law enforcement regarding the behavior of students with
disabilities? ................................................................................................... K-G-8
When a student is suspended or expelled, how are the
absences counted? ......................................................................................... K-G-8
Chapter L: Private Schools and Out-of-Home Placements
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What if parents who have placed their child in a private
school want to access some, but not all, of the IEP
proposed for a student? ................................................................................. L-G-5
What is the purpose of requiring parents to provide ten days
written notice of their intent to privately place the student? ......................... L-G-5
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Chapter M: Restraint
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What is the difference between holding and restraint? ................................. M-G-1
What training program may public agencies use? ......................................... M-G-1
When may restraint be used? ......................................................................... M-G-1
Who may restrain students? ........................................................................... M-G-2
Who should be trained? ................................................................................. M-G-2
How often should the trained person be retrained? ...................................... M-G-2
Do parents have to consent before restraint can be used on
a child? .......................................................................................................... M-G-2
What must the public agency do internally in response to
each incident of restraint? ............................................................................. M-G-2
What do parents need to know about each incident of
restraint? ......................................................................................................... M-G-3
Are there any other documentation requirements? ....................................... M-G-3
What is the current effect of CDE’s time-out and seclusion
guidance? ...................................................................................................... M-G-3
What is “time-out” and when can it be used? ................................................ M-G-3
Chapter N: Section 504
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Who is OCR? ................................................................................................. N-G-8
What is the difference between special education under
IDEA and 504? .............................................................................................. N-G-9
When students are in the RTI process, should we also be
considering if the student qualifies for a 504? ............................................... N-G-9
What documentation is needed to establish eligibility for
Section 504? ................................................................................................... N-G-9
Must a public agency have a medical diagnosis in order to
qualify a child for a 504? ............................................................................... N-G-9
How can a public agency be responsible for collecting the
documentation that a student has a disability? ............................................... N-G-10
Is 504 a safety net or for problems that are happening now?
We have had people bringing forward health issues like an
allergy to cleaning supplies or diabetes; however, the issues
are not affecting the student right now. ........................................................ N-G-10
What about questionable diagnoses such as “vision tracking
problems?” ..................................................................................................... N-G-10
What do we do when a student brings in a private
psychological evaluation that indicates a student has low
processing speed or working memory impairment and
recommends a 504 plan based on that alone? ................................................ N-G-10
What should we do if the family brings in outside
evaluations?.................................................................................................... N-G-11
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If students with diabetes are doing fine on a health plan,
should we automatically convene the 504 process anyway? ......................... N-G-11
What is the difference between a health plan and a 504 plan
for the purposes of standardized testing like the ACT? ................................. N-G-11
If a student is not reading on grade level, is partially
proficient on the CSAP, or qualifies for an ILP, is the
student substantially limited in the major life activity of
reading? .......................................................................................................... N-G-11
Who should attend the 504 meeting? All of the teachers or
just select? ..................................................................................................... N-G-11
If the student requires changes to the curriculum, why
would the student not be referred for IDEA eligibility? ............................... N-G-12
When would a 504 be used to prompt a change of
placement? .................................................................................................... N-G-12
Doesn’t 504 allow just accommodations and not services?........................... N-G-12
When is an accommodation unreasonable? ................................................... N-G-12
Are students able to use service animals as an
accommodation on a Section 504 plan?......................................................... N-G-13
We have always been told that we cannot put “at student
request” on a 504 plan because the plan is supposed to state
what the school is going to provide for a student. Can you
please clarify? ................................................................................................ N-G-13
What is the procedure/documentation to take a student off a
504? ................................................................................................................ N-G-14
Who needs to be informed when a student goes on and
comes off a 504? ............................................................................................ N-G-14
Are students who have a disability but do not require
special education services under IDEA eligible for services
under Section 504? Are students automatically eligible for
Section 504 after being staffed out of IDEA? ................................................ N-G-14
Are 504 students excused from compliance with attendance
policies? ......................................................................................................... N-G-14
A student is receiving services that the public agency
maintains are necessary under Section 504 in order to
provide the student with an appropriate education. The
student's parent no longer wants the student to receive those
services. If the parent wishes to withdraw the student from
a Section 504 plan, what can the public agency do to ensure
continuation of services?................................................................................ N-G-14
A student has a disability referenced in the IDEA, but does
not require special education services. Is such a student
eligible for services under Section 504? ........................................................ N-G-15
How should a public agency view a temporary impairment? ........................ N-G-15
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Must a public agency develop a Section 504 plan for a
student who either "has a record of disability" or is
"regarded as disabled"? .................................................................................N-G-15
What is a recipient public agency’s responsibility under
Section 504 to provide information to parents and students
about its evaluation and placement process? ................................................. N-G-15
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Chapter O: Promotion and Retention
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How is promotion from grade to grade (or retention)
handled for students with disabilities who are being
educated using modified curricula, or whose disabilities
prevent them from being on “grade level” with their
typically developing peers? ........................................................................... O-G-1
May a student with a disability participate in graduation
exercises even if he or she has not graduated with a regular
diploma? What about if the student is still receiving
transition services? ........................................................................................O-G-2
May a student with a disability who has not achieved his or
her IEP goals be graduated with a regular high school
diploma? ......................................................................................................... O-G-2
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