If you are concerned about your child's progress and you took the time (and spent the thousands of dollars) to have your child evaluated (privately) and you are now going through the process of ELIGIBILITYplease read. School is REQUIRED to determine Eligibility from that outside evaluation! REQUIRED. I had several discussions about this during consultations this month. This is in our state regulations. As in legal requirements that clarify/ elaborate your child's special education rights and the District's responsibilities set forth in the MA statute (M.G.L. c. 71B), the Federal statute (20 U.S.C. §1400), and the Federal regulations (34 CFR §300). Your District CANNOT PROLONG eligibility determination (and/OR the potential development of an IEP)... in order to do their own testing. "Well, we would like to do XYZ testing now..." NO. Read about this here: https://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr28.html?section=05 (28.05(2)). When you are going through INITIAL eligibility, the Team MUST determine eligibility. The Actual Quote: "The Team shall (this means MUST, REQUIRED) examine the evaluative data, ***including information provided by the parent,*** (as in YOUR private evaluation) and make one of the following determinations..." Eligible. OR Not Eligible. If eligible, they can draft a Full OR partial IEP, but they cannot just *skip* this requirement as they suggest "we want more testing...". Likewise, they cannot deny programs or services determined to be necessary by the Team! They are REQUIRED to make a decision based on the evaluation and if they develop a partial IEP, you would convene, again, and review the additional evaluations and consider the findings and decide (AS A TEAM) whether or not the new data should be implemented in the IEP. INITIAL eligibility is not "consider." It MANDATES the determination of eligibility. Please read this link to understand your rights! It is December and if you let the District do this, you are looking at a End of February to MARCH meeting. Please understand what they are doing when this happens and take a hold of your rights. #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducation #IEP #iepeligibility #teammeeting #FAPE #dyslexia #ADHD #pwn

Let's talk Prior Written Notice (PWN). In MA, you may hear the term N1 (the notice of proposed school district action) or N2 (notice of school district refusal to act). Here is what it looks like: https://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/iep/forms/english/n1.docx and https://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/iep/forms/english/n2.docx.

Every single time there is a proposal or rejection, the Team is required (formally- with cogent, logical explanations) to either accept or reject ANY suggestion, request, and proposal that an IEP Team member makes (*this is you*!).

📌This MUST include in writing via the forms above📌

1. A description of the actions PROPOSED or REFUSED by the school district / you (!)

2. An explanation of WHY the action was proposed or refused

3. A description of EACH assessment procedure, record, or report the school used as a basis for the proposal or refusal

4. A statement that parents have protection under the procedural safeguards

5. Sources for parents to contact to find help in understanding the provisions of PWN

6. A description of other OPTIONS that IEP team considered AND the reasons the options were rejected; and

7. A description of any OTHER FACTORS relevant to the action proposed or refused.

‼️TAKE ADVANTAGE of the PWN and the #'s above. Before your meeting, ✅set your Agenda and send to the Team. ✅Email all requests/proposals for each and every item you want to deliberate in the meeting. ✅Repeat these proposals verbally in your meeting. "Based upon the findings and recommendations in ___’s report, we are formally proposing Johnny receive ____ (ex: 5x60 minutes of OG provided by an OG Certified Reading Instructor.) Do you agree or disagree?" (Wait for answers and follow the forms). This proposal must be in the PWN and it must describe your proposal and follow the PWN requirements above.

❓But, what if their PWN does not account for this proposal or isn't accurate of what occured? Notes are only as good as the notetaker (in this case, their N2). Do not let it stand; do not wait. CORRECT the inaccuracy/ies.

❓How? Write your own PWN to the school! Keep it factual. Dear Mrs. So-and-So, Thank you for meeting on ___. We would like to clarify what occurred at ___ meeting and what the Team agreed to/disagreed with regarding our proposal. We proposed (#1 __description of proposal). We proposed this because (#2, ex: reading 2 levels below grade level). This proposal was based and supported by the ___(#3 explanation of why you proposed __). During the meeting you stated Johnny did not need OG. You did not provide data or evaluations. You stated Johnny appeared to be reading "at grade level" in the classroom. The Team did not provide a description of any evaluation, assessment, record or report used as a basis for refusing our proposal. We, however, provided the team documentation in the form of (#3 why you proposed, giving an explanation of each evaluation, assessment, record and report). This ___ contradicts your observation of Johnny in the classroom, however the Team did not provide a logical explanation for refusal of this proposal. In addition, there were no other considered options provided by the Team. (and so forth with your account of the meeting, keeping it factual and brief). Correcting the inaccuracies provides you with written documentation should you decide to take next steps via your procedural safeguards (due process, state complaint, etc). Take a hold of your rights! And never stop learning - Here are some links to learn more! https://www.wrightslaw.com/.../iep.disputes.popup.resp7... PWN to follow in a meeting. I use a form similar to this (PDF and word doc). https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/tips/bonnell.iep.attach.htm Model PWN Form: https://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/law/model.pwn.form.pdf Sample Letter Requesting Notice https://www.askresource.org/.../Sample_Letter_Requesting... Sample Letter Correcting PWN from School https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/pwn.throw.flag.htm#letter Federal Reg to see content of notice: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.503

#priorwrittennotice #iepeligibility #iepmeeting #iepteam #FAPE #dyslexia #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducation #specialeducationlaw #IEPforms #N1 #pwn

Parent Question: Nonacademic and Extracurricular activities

Participation in extracurricular opportunities provide important health and social benefits to all students. Some students, however, do not attend these extracurricular activities because parents are led to believe that special education services are not provided for these activities because they are not “academic” or within school hours.

🏈It could be 3rd grade flag football.

🏃‍♂️High School Cross Country.

🌟The after school recreational class run by the school PE teacher.

📚Interest in Joining chess club?

🎨Try an art class, or participate in school council?

🎭Or, does your child love drama, but has Dyslexia and cannot read the scripts?

The Federal regulations provide a list of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, which include sports, counseling services, transportation, health services, recreational activities, or clubs / groups sponsored by the school. Further, the Massachusetts regulations state that all students receiving special education must have an equal opportunity to participate in non-academic and extracurricular programs of the school. When discussing these nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, your school must ensure that each child with a disability participates with nondisabled children in extracurricular services and activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of that child. And, the school must ensure that each child with a disability has the supplementary aids and services determined by the child's IEP Team to be appropriate and necessary for the child to participate in nonacademic settings. This means schools must provide your student with the help he or she needs to be involved in these activities, and these activities, as well as the supplementary aids and services, must be in your child’s IEP.

To note: because a student “qualifies” as a student with a disability does not mean that the student must be allowed to participate in any selective or competitive program offered by a school district. Schools may require a certain skill level or ability in order to participate in a competitive program. So long as the selection or competition criteria are not discriminatory, your child is required to tryout/audition like all students. Your student does, however, have the right to tryout with *needed* supports.

Meet with the IEP team, including any school staff involved in the after-school program, to discuss your child and the supports and services necessary for success. If an after-school or before-school program is run by the school, then all students must have access. If a student has an aide during school as specified in his or her IEP, the school must provide an aide for the extracurricular program. Do not let the school tell you that you child cannot attend a program unless *you* accompany your child. Likewise, do not let the school inform you their obligation is over when the school bell rings. Every student with a disability, and this means a student on an IEP OR a 504 plan, has the right to access not only the school curriculum, but has the right to equal opportunity to the non-academic and extracurricular programs of the school. �#FAPE #IEP #iepmeeting #dyslexia #autism #ADHD #extracurricularactivities #504plan #schoolsponsored #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducation #returntoschool See: 603 CMR §28.06(5); 34 CFR §104.37 (a)(1); 34 CFR § 300.117; 34 CFR § 300.107; 34 CFR § 300.42 https://www2.ed.gov/.../ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.pdf

I’m frustrated. I sat in two meetings this week with 1, the same scripted arguments and 2, data provided at the meeting despite parent’s requests for data prior to the meeting. Common Scenario: student identified as needing specialized reading services. This student is multiple years behind. This child is dyslexic. This child also (now) exhibits impulsivity, anxiety or certain behaviors in addition to reading challenges.

In the meeting, members of the team state they use explicit, multisensory instruction, but do you - the parent - know the program? The teacher’s level of training? How progress is/will be monitored? The scope and sequence of the lesson plan/s? Does the team provide this data? Do they provide the data regularly? Do you know how mastery is measured? Is it by mastery of sight words or fluency speed /words per minute? Perhaps, they tell you small group work / reading level?

It is difficult sitting in meetings and listening to Teams discuss guided reading and balanced literacy as “instruction” and an indicator of progress. I hear, “she is reading at “Level K” and she increased “10 words this month.” Do you even know what this means? Or, can the team explain? It means nothing more than simply “your child is reading at Level K.” It does not explain deficits. It does not tell you what skills are missing or what level of support is needed to improve decoding or fluency. And, it does not tell you if the program is delivered with the fidelity and intensity required to close the gap on both skill and grade level. Substantive, diagnostic reading assessments (in conjunction with this information) will help you understand your child’s grade level and skill deficits. And, if the team determines your child requires a certain program due to these deficits (because evidence-based means there is science and testing to corroborate the effectiveness of the methodology) and they provide this data IN a meeting, then it can and should be named in the IEP. An IEP is individualized for your student. And, multisensory, explicit, systematic programs vary in scope, sequence, and level of training. Methodology drives the “I” in your child’s IEP. And, if that is not reason enough, it is written in black and white language. “There are circumstances in which the particular methodology that will be used is an integral part of what is "individualized" about a student's education and in those circumstances will need to be discussed at the IEP meeting and incorporated into the student's IEP.”

What can you do? Ask specific questions, get answers, and enforce well-written goals that truly measure progress with appropriate (and discussed) data collection plans. The most effective argument you have regarding your child’s progress is that your child did not meet his or her IEP goals. Because, time and time again, Teams present data (typically, contemporaneously while IN your meeting, *also see below) showing what depicts “improvement.” If goals are based on tools IN and from the intervention and correlate to diagnostic scores with confined timeframes, you will have standards that measure these components of reading. (*Teams, please stop this practice. If you have a scheduled progress meeting or IEP reconvene, this data was obviously prepared ahead of the meeting. Please provide material to the parent which will be presented in a meeting PRIOR to the meeting. Parents are not only part of the Team, they are the most important (and only consistent) members of the Team. Parents cannot provide meaningful input if they are viewing a Zoom Google Slide presentation of reading data for the very first time while IN the meeting.) #IEP #iepmeeting #iepgoals #SpecialEducationAdvocate #specialeducation #specialeducationlaw #dyslexia #dyslexiaawareness #ADHD

Monday's Parent Phone Call: Did you disagree with the District’s evaluation/results? Did you request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)?

When this parent disagreed with the school’s findings, the District - paraphrased - replied over the course of TWO weeks with the following questions:

4 days after request: “What do you disagree with?" (Parent kindly responds).

8 days later: “What exactly are you looking for?” (A: More testing to rule out Dyslexia).

9 days after 2nd email: “Well, we disagree with your request. We see nothing wrong and will not fund an IEE.”

Does it end here? Answer: No.

If parents disagree with an initial or re-evaluation findings by the District, parents may request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. The IEE is an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is NOT an employee of the public agency, i.e. the District. When a District receives this request, it must, within five school days, either agree to pay for the IEE or file a Hearing Request with the BSEA in order to establish that its evaluation was comprehensive and appropriate.

When presented with an IEE request by a parent who does not meet the income eligibility requirements under Massachusetts law or declined to disclose their financial information, the District has two choices: file for a hearing within 5 days OR consent to the IEE. When a parent requests an IEE, the school *may ask for reasons why you object to the District’s evaluation/findings. The parent in this scenario was polite by doing so, however you are *not required* to provide any explanation other than you do not believe/agree that the findings adequately describe the difficulties your child has and/or does not enable your Team to develop an appropriate IEP. The school is free to email and call you with questions and concerns. However, the District’s questions and emails cannot unreasonably delay either providing the IEE at public expense or filing a due process complaint to defend their evaluation. Emails and phone calls do not “restart” the timeline.

The Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards is (should be) provided at every IEP meeting and Special Education community humor is that Parents could “wallpaper a house” with this document, however it truly does contain many informative nuggets for Parents. Here is the link (IEE found pg. 5-6 (Question 4), pdf also provided below. This information can be confusing and overwhelming - I get it! Please do not hesitate to call. I am happy to take any phone call or answer any email. Likewise, there are so many fantastic and helpful Advocates, Attorneys & Advocacy Agencies in our State providing help and I am happy to provide recommendations! #iephelp #IEE #specialeducationadvocate #SPECIALEDUCATION #iepgoals #specialeducationlaw https://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/prb/pnps.docx

Parents: Are you in the process of eligibility? Did you provide the school with an outside evaluation? Did the school respond, “now we have to evaluate?” If so, please read. 

Why?

1. Schools are not allowed to prolong your child’s eligibility determination or potential IEP development to further test. The District is required to hold an IEP eligibility meeting within 10 days of receipt of the private evaluation. *Note: The District can OFFER to do additional / more testing to supplement your outside evaluation/s, but this occurs AFTER you meet as a TEAM! (And no, this meeting is not the same as the phone call from the Team Chair when he or she tells you the school must test first).

2. “Within 10 school days from the time the school district receives the report of the independent education evaluation the Team shall reconvene and consider the independent evaluation and whether a new or amended IEP is appropriate.” (See Image 1 below). The language is pretty clear. The Team shall (must) review the report and make a determination: your child is eligible, and If so, the Team develops an IEP ( full or partial). “NEW” denotes eligibility determination (and therefore a full or partial IEP) and “AMENDED” denotes the modification of an existing IEP based on data. If, AFTER the Team convenes to review your outside report, the TEAM (and this includes you) finds that this report is not sufficient to determine initial eligibility, the District is required to offer a consent form to evaluate (and this is where the *note ties in from above).

I have received three calls on this topic this week. It upsets me that your child, who may need specialized services and/or related services to access the curriculum, is sitting in IEP tandem while the school claims they cannot meet until they have “their chance to test.” As a timeline example: If you sent your outside report to the District on September 7th, the Team would have met by September 18th. Instead, your Chair called you on the 10th to say, “Now we get to evaluate.” They send a consent form. You sign, return, and best scenario, they receive it by September 18th. Evaluations commence and the Team convenes within the 45 school days. This brings our hypothetical Team to finally meet to discuss your child on/by November 23rd, which (you guess!) includes the same outside evaluation you sent the Team on September 7th.

Please feel free to reach out! I am always happy to answer questions! There are so many great Advocates, Attorneys, and Advocacy Groups in our State.

Mass Advocates: https://www.massadvocates.org/contact

Federation for Children with Special Needs: https://fcsn.org/about-us/contact-us/

Parents: As we enter our 5th week of learning in Massachusetts, for most students, this equates to *8* days of in-person learning. For students who may need additional academic supports, schools can choose to implement what is referred to as multi-tiered system of supports, like RTI (Response to Intervention). It is important to note, however, RTI or any system of support does not preclude a parent (or whomever) from requesting an initial evaluation at any time to determine if a child is a child with a disability. If a student is suspected of having a disability, and as a result of the disability(ies), he or she is unable to progress effectively in the general education program without the provision of specially designed instruction (OR is unable to access the general curriculum without the provision of one or more related services), RTI may not be used to delay or deny an evaluation request! #specialneeds #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducationlaw #RTI #FAPE #iephelp #iepgoals #iepmeeting #evaluation #Eligibility #reading #dyslexia #ADHD #autism jen@maseradvocacy.com

Parents: Regardless of your district’s model, ALL students, including those learning remotely, MUST receive at least the minimum amount of required instruction for the 2020-2021 school year. This is:

- 850 hours for elementary schools (or 5 hours/ day over 170 days)

- 935 hours for secondary schools (or 5.5 hours/ day over 170 days)

(See: Image 1). Throughout the school day and week, students learning remotely should experience a combination of instructional activities, such as: live, synchronous instruction; small group or individual academic support; and asynchronous, independent work time; and have access to teachers or staff members at a regularly scheduled time to monitor ongoing progress and needs. With family input, schools should create and adhere to a consistent schedule of synchronous and asynchronous learning time. The minimum structured learning time requirement must be reached EACH day (See: Image 2 and 3 for Grades K-2, 3-5 Minimum Recommended Time Ranges). I urge you to look at this document and look at the examples for student schedules. Your child must receive the minimum structured learning time, regardless of age OR need! If your District is not adhering to this, send them the link and request your new schedule! #IEP #IEPhelp #specialeducation #remotelearning #COVID19 #iepgrid #FAPE #teammeeting #DESE #specialeducationadvocate #specialeducationlaw jen@maseradvocacy.com http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/remote-learning/...

IEP Meeting Notes & N1: Just because a Team Chair or Special Education Administrator took notes during your meeting does not mean the notes are 1, accurate or 2, truthful. When you receive the notes, read them and the N1 LINE BY LINE. Document ALL inaccuracies or any potential falsehoods. Draft your own notes and your N1 and state you want them as part of your child's educational record. The only way to hold this "practice" accountable is to document *everything* and respond accordingly. There should be zero issue with amending the notes or N1 to reflect what occurred in your meeting. If they tell you no? See: 603 CMR 23.08. You have the right to add information, comments, data, or any other relevant written material to the student record.You have the right to request in writing the deletion or amendment of any information contained in the student record. #IEP #teammeeting

The School should fully implement your child’s IEP, regardless of remote, hybrid or in-person learning. This doesn’t mean a few, or some, or one service. This means the District must fully implement ALL of your child’s services. You should anticipate hearing from your child’s Team regarding if and how your child may receive these services differently, however please remember: YOU are a member of the IEP team. The District is not the Team. The District cannot unilaterally implement an IEP (or tell you how they will implement services) without parental input and meaningful participation regarding your child and what he or she needs for FAPE. This type of decision requires meaningful participatory discussion which includes the consideration of parental input and data - data you collected as a member of the Team for over 6 months. Do not underestimate your seat at the table. You know your child best! You can find this letter in its entirety at: Back to School Letter for Families (September 2020)