Thursday's TIP: * PARENT CONSENT *

A quick bullet list for parents! Every school must get informed *written* parental consent as follows:

• Before conducting an initial evaluation. School cannot conduct an initial evaluation of a student to determine whether he/she is eligible to receive special education and/or related services without first obtaining parent consent. If your student is referred for an evaluation, the school must ask for parent consent to the evaluation within five school days. 

• Before school can provide special education and related services to your child for the first time (once determined eligible for by the IEP team)

• Before making an initial placement of your child in a special education program.

• Before conducting a reevaluation of your child

• Before changing services for your child

• Before changing your child’s placement 

• Before initiating extended evaluation services

• Before the excusal of an IEP team member

A parent writes, “I have requested to observe my child in her classroom and the school told me I am not allowed?” 

In Massachusetts, parents have the right to observe any program(s) proposed for their child if their child is identified as eligible for special education services. To allow parents to participate fully and effectively as equal IEP team members, “… a school committee must, upon request by the parent, provide timely access to parents, parent-designated independent evaluators and educational consultants for observations of a child’s current program and proposed programs. This includes both academic and non-academic components of the program. Parents (and their designees) must be given access of sufficient duration and extent to enable them to evaluate a child’s performance in a current program and the ability of a proposed program to enable such child to make effective progress. School committees shall impose no conditions or restrictions on such observations except those necessary to ensure the safety of children in a program or the integrity of the program while under observation or to protect children in the program from disclosure by an observer of confidential and personally identifiable information in the event such information is obtained in the course of an observation by a parent or a designee.” [emphasis mine.]

Let’s break this down: This right extends to parents, parent-designated independent evaluators, and educational consultants. Some observation requests may require more planning depending on the complexity of your child’s needs, the program(s) observed, the program schedule, and the parent’s availability. It is recommended that schools determine observation requests on an individual basis, and work with the parent as a Team to find access to observe in a timely manner.  In addition, schools may not restrict or place conditions on observations unless they are necessary to address specific concerns about the impact of the observations on the program itself or the children in it.  Some schools may argue observations interfere with the class program, but without merit, this cannot be a basis for denial or restriction from your child’s classroom.  A common argument schools cite is the violation of confidentiality of the other children in the program. While confidentiality of all children is paramount, parents are often invited into a student’s room daily for a variety of reasons - mystery reader, volunteer in math centers, Holiday parties, the list goes on. School staff must simply take measures to remove any materials that are a part of another student’s record from the observer’s view. Observations are an important resource that provide invaluable input not only for future program recommendations, but helpful insight into your child’s social and learning environment. 

Regardless of your research and team construction of well-written goals, without proper services, a student will regress and cannot receive an appropriate education. The service grid lists all the services your school must provide in order for your student to reach his or her goals.  The Service Delivery Grid has three sections: A, B, C, referred to as “the A Grid”, “the B Grid”, and “the C Grid.”

IEP meetings are confusing, but the service delivery grid can cause some parents panic. What does A mean? Why are there so many numbers? Who is “Staff”?  When we think about services in special education, we specify whether the student receives service in the classroom with general and special education students combined, or whether the student receives service in a setting outside of the general education setting.  

The A Grid: The A grid corresponds to teacher/provider/parent support, training, or consultations.  It can be as simple as two teachers having a 1X20 consult a week, or a parent’s consult with the teacher/provider. 

The B Grid: This describes your student’s services IN the GENERAL education setting.  If your child has a provider in the general education class, or has “push in” service, you will find the information here (academic support in the class, SLP “push in” service, Math support via the Math teacher).

The C Grid: This describes services OUTSIDE of the general education setting. Typically, school will refer to this as “pull out” services, or services spent with providers in their various other settings (OT room, SLP service 1 on 1, resource room, Reading specialist, etc). 

Under A, B, and C, you will find 6 columns: focus on goal, type of service, frequency and duration/per cycle, start date, and end date.  The first column, Focus on Goal #, corresponds to your child’s measurable goal # in the IEP. Some services will correspond to one goal, whereas some services may correlate to several goals.  Regardless, if a service is on the grid, it must relate to a goal. The second column is Type of Service.  This is the service or subject area of your child’s IEP. This can be academics, counseling, speech, OT, or ANY area of need that is identified and has a correlating goal.  The third column is Type of Personnel. This will be a separate blog topic, but for now, you must pay attention to this column to see which member is responsible for the service. Does it say Staff? Does it say SPED Staff? Does it say Aide? Does it say Math Staff? ASK who is providing the service and what are the qualifications of this provider? If your child's service grid has SPED as the provider, this could be done by an assistant or any person on the special education staff. There is no obligation to provide a certified or highly qualified staff to provide services unless it is written in the service delivery grid or IEP. The fourth column is Frequency/Duration (Per cycle). This is an important section to review, as well, because it is very easy to miss the fact that duration or frequency of services could be an inadequate amount of time to cover material per class time (think Middle School transition and time blocks). You may have a laundry list of services on your grid, but if the time is minimal and infrequent, your child will not progress as you hope. The fifth / sixth column refer to start and end date of services. Typically, this corresponds with your IEP meeting, signifying the beginning of new goals, and the end of the IEP period. As with anything you discuss regarding your IEP - concerns, edits, additions - make sure you do so in writing, AND it is written in your IEP! As always…written, or it didn’t happen! 

At this point in the school year, all parents should receive an email regarding parent teacher conferences for your children. This also signifies that report cards are soon approaching. But, for parents of children who have an IEP, it should also remind you that you must receive a progress report!

Both Federal and Massachusetts State regulations provide that written progress reports for eligible students shall (shall means MUST) be submitted to parents at least as often as report cards or progress reports for students without disabilities. Meaning, if your school district has a trimester report card system, your student must also receive three separate progress reports (report Card does not equal Progress Report). Therefore, with each report card, you must also receive a progress report.

What are progress reports? Progress reports are based on data collection strategies outlined in the child’s IEP (referring to every goal and benchmarks/objectives) and the format will look like this). Progress reports include written narrative (based on the data collection!) on the student’s progress toward the annual goals in the IEP.  

Progress reports are an important part of the IEP process because they provide all of your service providers one single platform to document and share the progress your child is making toward their goals. It is essential for parents to receive these reports because it allows you to closely monitor your child’s data and potential progress, and then ascertain whether or not progress is expected by the end of your IEP period. Progress reports also provide a written, tangible document of whether the goals are appropriate or effective. If you believe your child is not progressing, you may convene the team (at any time!) and review the goals to ensure your child is receiving appropriate supports, interventions, and services.  Conversely, if your child is mastering goals ahead of schedule, the team should reconvene to evaluate the appropriateness of the goals. It is important to remember that goals are discussed and formulated at your annual IEP, so it is possible that present levels of performance may not accurately reflect current goals. Do not wait for the year to pass to discuss your concerns! And, as always, if you have any concerns, do so in writing! (*email works great! Remember: Always send communications in writing because… written, or it didn't happen!*) 

Parent Tip for this rainy week! 
The phone rings and you see ______ School Calling. 
Deep Sigh. "Hello, Mrs. So&So? Your son's behavior is terrible (again) today and I'm sorry, you must come pick him up from school!"  
Long silence. 
This is when most parents do the dance - confused what is going on at school, frustrated, scrambling to leave work, wondering if you will lose your job after the 5th time receiving this same phone call, and panic you are not doing enough to help your child who is obviously struggling at school. When you receive this call, it is time to start saying, "Thank you so much for calling and letting me know his IEP is obviously not meeting his needs and I would like to request the following things: I would like a FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment) to figure out the cause of the problem behaviors, I would like a BCBA to do a classroom observation in order to develop proper goals and behavior interventions, an IEP meeting convening the team to discuss his needs and address these behaviors affecting his day, and I want to implement a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan) based on the FBA. These are the dates and times I am available, please let me know when you can convene the team for this meeting so we can work collaboratively and help my son! And, as always, I will follow up this conversation with a written letter, as well!" (*email works great, parents - always send your communications in writing - written, or it didn't happen!*) 
Happy Friday!

The beginning of the school year is filled with many “to-do’s” for parents: packing lunches, buying required school supplies, filling out teacher paperwork, updating school health forms, attending open house…the list goes on! However, for your children, the only back to school thoughts they are having are the never-ending options of after-school activities, sports, classes, and clubs! Cue the carpools and late night dinners. Extracurricular activities are an important component of an overall education program. Participation in extracurricular opportunities provide important health and social benefits to all students, particularly those with disabilities. Many students, however, do not attend these extracurricular activities and parents are often led to believe that special education services are not provided for these activities because they are not “academic” or not within school hours. 

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 nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, school districts 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.  

Now, what does this mean to you, the parent of a child who cannot manage extracurricular activities alone or needs certain accommodations or services to access the life of the school?  Perhaps, it is first grade after-school flag football, or a recreational class organized by the school? Maybe he or she wants to join the chess club held at the school library, or try an art class taught by the school Art teacher? Or, your child wants to participate in school council but has a 1:1 aide, or would love to be cast in the school play, but has dyslexia and cannot read the scripts? The school district must take steps, including supplementary aids, services, and accommodations, determined appropriate and necessary by the IEP Team, to provide nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities as they would for non disabled peers. This means schools must provide disabled students with the help they need to be involved in these activities, and these activities, as well as the supplementary aids and services, must be in your child’s IEP. 

Now, simply because a student is a “qualified” 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 your child’s IEP team, including any and all school staff involved in after-school programs, to discuss your child and the supports and services necessary for success. Team collaboration is the key to this success. All students must have access to any activity or program sponsored by the school. 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, then as determined appropriate and necessary by his or her team, the school must provide an aide for the extracurricular program. It is not uncommon for a school to inform parents that a child cannot attend a program unless the parent accompanies the child. This is not true! There is no requirement that a parent must accompany a child, and the school cannot prevent a student from attending for that reason. 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 the life of the school! 

A parent asks, "Some of my child's IEP goals are no longer relevant to his current performance levels. Over the summer, he was in social groups three times a week, met with his speech therapist two times a week, and OT one time a week. He worked on a few of his IEP goals and has mastered two out of five. I told the teacher, but she wants to give it time and see how he is doing for herself. What can I do?"

Over the summer, many of us experience the "summer slide," and this is expected by the IEP team and teachers. It is their focus to get your child up to par and learning! However, IEP changes may also be necessary should your child experience growth or development over the summer.  Perhaps he or she learned a new skill? Mastered an IEP goal? Many children have more hours to see a therapist or attend social groups/camps. This should be addressed with your team so you are attaining proper, measurable goals! You don't want to be working on goals you have already achieved! 

Review the IEP, and send a written letter to the school (special education chair, IEP Team facilitator, etc.) regarding your new information and request to convene the IEP Team. It is helpful to be as specific as possible and include all current data from outside therapists. You can't deny data! By law, the school must meet with you annually to review your child's IEP, but the team can convene and alter the IEP at any point throughout the year. And, as with every IEP, you do not have to sign the IEP at the meeting. Review the IEP to ensure that the document is complete. Do you need help writing a letter to your IEP TEAM? Please contact me and I can help you! Have a question you want answered? Email me at jen@maseradvocacy.com! 

School has begun, and hopefully students are acclimating to their new classroom, teachers, and friends. But, you still have a nagging feeling about last year and your IEP. One misconception about special education is that its purpose is to help students (with a disability) who are only "failing." This is untrue! Your child qualifies and services are provided when his or her disability adversely affects his or her education performance, and this is not purely academics! Emotional...social...behavioral issues all play a part of the student's preparation for post-secondary education, employment and independent living. (See MA: 603 CMR §28.02(17); (See Federal: 34 CFR §300.320).

(17) Progress effectively in the general education program shall mean to make documented growth in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, including social/emotional development, within the general education program, with or without accommodations, according to chronological age and developmental expectations, the individual educational potential of the student, and the learning standards set forth in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and the curriculum of the district. The general education program includes preschool and early childhood programs offered by the district, academic and non-academic offerings of the district, and vocational programs and activities.

Also important to note: the last sentence! Your child's "life of the school" also includes, "programs offered by the district, academic and non-academic offerings of the district, and vocational programs and activities." More on this subject in a later blog post! DM me with any questions and I am happy to assist you!