1. SPECIAL EDUCATION 101 What Do YOU Need to Know?
Presented by:
MaryLou Heron & Kristen Strong
Training and Consultation Staff
Introductions:
Mary Lou & Kristen
Target Questions:
Ask for show of hands regarding: Regular Education / Special Education teachers
Do you have students with special needs in your classroom this year?
Have you seen their IEP? or an IEP?
Have you ever been at an IEP meeting?

2. What do YOU know about Special Education?
What questions do you have about Special Education? (LIST ON CHART PAPER)
Our goal today is to answer these questions and surface more as we take a journey into Special Education.
Discuss today the “NEED” to know information related to Special Education for you as new teachers.
(HANDOUT) Refer to Preview on Special Education : Let’s see what we know right now about Special Education.
Give you a couple of minutes to fill in what you know right now. If you are unable to answer any specific questions, try to tune in and fill in these as we discuss these topics today.
We will then revisit this at the end of our session this AM to see what you may now understand about Special Education or what questions you still have.
What do you NEED to know?

3. SPECIAL EDUCATION Critical Events The Process Specially Designed
Instruction
Overview of today’s discussion on Special Education.
In answering your questions and discussing key information regarding Special Education, we will address these key areas.

4. Critical Events In History
(1954) Brown v. Board of Education
Right To Education Cases
(1972) PARC v. PA
(1972) Mills v. Board of Education
(1975) Education for All Handicapped
Children Act
(1982) Board of Education v. Rowley
(1990) IDEA
(1993) Oberti v. Board of Education
Critical Events refer to the history behind where we are today in Special Education
Most of these you have heard of some of these key events in one form or another in learning about education and its development
Today we are not going to go in depth into the historical legal cases and laws of Special Education
Looking at these events solely to develop a framework to understand where we are today in Special Education
Important that you know that these are the hallmark events of Special Education
Critical Events in History:
Brown V. BOE: Segregated public schools were inherently unequal and deprived students of equal protection of the laws.
Right To Education Cases
PARC v. PA : Exclusion of children with mental retardation from public schools.
Mills v. BOE: Practice of suspending, expelling and excluding children with disabilities from the District of Columbia public schools.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act: Effort to encourage states to develop educational programs for individuals with disabilities.
Board of Education v. Rowley: Individualized decisions based on the unique needs of each child were essential under federal law.
IDEA: Initial Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990
Oberti v. BOE: Upheld the right of Rafeal Oberti, a boy with Down syndrome, to receive his education in his neighborhood regular school with adequate and necessary supports, placing the burden of proof for compliance with IDEA's mainstreaming requirements on the school district and the state rather than on the family.

5. Most Recent Critical Events
(1997) IDEA Amendments
National Reading Panel (2000)
Learning Disabilities Summit (2001)
(2001) NCLB
(2001) President’s Commission on
Special Ed
(2004) IDEIA / PA Chapter 14
(2005) Gaskin v. PA
Class Action Law Suit
More Critical Events in the History of Special Ed:
IDEA Amendments as of 1997
National Reading Panel: Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. Resulted in Report compiled regarding research based findings in report
Learning Disabilities Summit: Office of Special Education Services in US Department of Ed. OSEP considered the concerns over the identification and assessment procedures for students with learning disabilities. They held a summit to review research findings to determine whether changes should be made to the procedures for evaluating children suspected of having a specific learning disability
President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education: 2001 President George Bush established this commission to collect information and study issues related to Federal, State, and local special education programs. The goal of recommending policies was to improve the education performance of students with disabilities.
IDEAIA: Individual with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act – Improve academic achievement for students in special education and increase accountability
Gaskin: Gaskin case produced Settlement Agreement that addresses inclusive educational practices for students with disabilities.
Established an advisory group to the Department of Education to address such issues.
The lawsuit involved 12 families of children with disabilities and the PA Department of Education.
Settlement is a class action lawsuit representing all children with disabilities in terms of educating them in the least restrictive environment.
Critical Events in History have focused on first Issues of Access then moving to Issues of Quality

6. Six Principles of IDEA Zero Reject Protection in Evaluation
Principle of IDEA
Requirement
Zero Reject
Locate, identify, & provide services to all eligible students with disabilities.
Protection in Evaluation
Conduct an assessment to determine if a student has an IDEA related disability and if he/she needs special education services.
(FAPE) Free Appropriate
Public Education
Develop & deliver an individualized education program of special education services that confers meaningful educational benefit.
(LRE) Least Restrictive
Environment
Educate students with disabilities with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate.
Procedural Safeguards
Comply with procedural requirements of the IDEA.
Parental Participation
Collaborate with parents in the development and delivery of their child’s special education program.
IDEA law has framed the Special Education law
It has provided the framework around which special education services are designed and provided to students with disabilities.
These are 6 key principles of IDEA:
Zero Reject: All students with disabilities are eligible for services
Protection in Evaluation: Assessment to determine if student has disability
FAPE: Develop & Deliver IEP
LRE: Inclusive Practices of educating students with disabilities with nondisabled peers
Procedural Safeguard: Procedural Requirements
Parental Participation: Requires schools to collaborate with parents

7. What Does IDEA (2004) Say About Discipline?
IEP Team must reconvene to conduct a Manifestation Determination when students are removed for disciplinary reasons for:
More the 10 consecutive school days
More than 15 cumulative school days
Any removal of students with MR
IDEA requires schools to carefully look at cases of discipline for students with disabilities.
Manifestation determination – refers to review meeting to determine whether or not the child’s behavior that led to the disciplinary infraction is linked to his or her disability.
LEA, Parent, and relevant members of the IEP team (as determined by the parent and the LEA) are involved in conducting the review.
This review is required under these circumstances as noted.
SCENARIO #2

8. The Process of SPECIAL EDUCATION:
Pre-Referral
Referral
Evaluation
IEP Development & Implementation
Reevaluation
The Process of Special Education refers to 5 main steps of Special Education.
Process and timeline determined by the law that we have reviewed.
Goal in mind for today is for you to get the information that you NEED to know about the Process.

9. Evaluation Pre-Referral / Referral Testing & Observational data
Evaluation team determines eligibility
The student must:
1.Fit into a Disability Category
2.Need Specially Designed Instruction(SDI)
Evaluation Report (ER)
Timeline: Completed within 60 calendar days from permission signed by parent
Evaluation
Referral – it is critical that you understand the referral policy that your school district follows in referring students for services.
*Need to know who you should direct your referral to – in most cases this may be principal, school psychologist, special education department or team compiled of all.
*Need to know steps of this referral policy such as interventions that must be implemented prior to referral.
*Document- Document- Document everything about your concerns, who you spoke to, interventions that have been implemented and DATE everything!!!
The Special Education Process is required under a legal timeline. (REFER to Process Timelines for resource)
Evaluation process involves careful analysis of testing and observational data about the student
Team including LEA, School Psychologist, Regular Ed, Teacher, Special Ed Teacher must consider this data and determine eligibility
*Team provides information to School Psychologist who compiles data and develops Evaluation Report
Eligibility dependent on 2 factors: Disability Category (Flip to next slide) & Need for Specially Designed Instruction
Evaluation Report tends to be thick document that summarizes these findings.
*Although the entire report is information that is valid and important- as a classroom teacher you need to understand what to look at when one of these documents crosses your desk.
(Bring up ER report) Note section 5 - SUMMARY OF FINDINGS/INTERPRETATION OF EVALUATION

10. Disability Categories for Eligibility
Autism
Deaf-Blindness
Developmental Delay
(for ages 3 through 9)
Emotional Disturbance
Hearing Impairment / Deafness
Intellectual Disability
Multiple Disabilities
Traumatic Brain Injury
Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impairment
Specific Learning Disability
Speech or Language Impairment
Visual Impairment/ Blindness
These are disability categories as we discussed for eligibility.

11. Individualized Education Program (IEP)
IEP Team
Special Education Teacher
Regular Education Teacher
Related Service Providers
Parents
LEA – Administrator
Student (if appropriate)
IEP Document
The What, Where, and How
of the student’s educational program
Timeline
Developed within 30 calendar days from ER
Implemented within 10 school days of IEP meeting
Reviewed at least annually
IEP = Individualized Educational Program Development
IEP team consists of these essential people.
IEP provides the WHAT / WHERE / HOW of the student’s educational program.
IEP is a legal document!
*Note Confidentiality: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) / Right to know
*Keep documents and personal notes on students in a secure and private location
*Confidentiality also applies to any discussion you may have when you reference student – teacher’s room / hallway / outside of school
*Information can only be discussed with that child’s teachers or other members of IEP team
Note Process Timelines
IEP also tends to be a thick and overwhelming document. This can be overwhelming!
*Although the entire IEP is information that is valid and important- as a classroom teacher you NEED to particularly understand the information that will be most important to you as a classroom teacher.
(BRING UP FILE OF IEP) (Focus group on handout – Suggest highlighter)
Go through IEP document:
*Focus on Section 2 – Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance
Section 6 – Program Modifications & Specially Designed Instruction

12. IEP: Progress Monitoring
Data is gathered throughout the year to:
See if students are on the right track toward meeting their goals
Adjust instruction
Make revisions to the IEP (if necessary)
Make planning decisions at the annual IEP review and for Reevaluation time
Report to parents
Progress Monitoring refers to the monitoring of the student’s progress towards IEP Goals on an IEP – Goals can be academic, behavioral, vocational, speech-oriented, etc.
This can be done through observations, checklists, and a variety of data collection techniques.
Data is gathered to :
*Determine if students are on the right track to meet their goals
*Adjust instruction through use of specially designed instruction and program modifications
*Make revisions to the IEP at last resort
*Make decisions regarding future programming for Annual IEP meeting or Reevaluation which occurs every 2 or 3 years
Progress Monitoring is required to be gathered regularly throughout the school year as noted in the IEP and provided to parents.
* Typically occurs quarterly and provided to parents in addition to report card.
Special Education teacher will typically coordinate these efforts but may ask for feedback from regular education teacher.
Data also forms the basis for information reported to parents (at least as often as report cards are issued to all students in the school). Having factual information to share with parents allows them to help to make informed decisions about their child’s progress as members of the IEP team.
SCENARIO #1

13. Reevaluation The IEP team:
Evaluates progress monitoring and assessment data on student
Determines if additional information is needed
Compiles Reevaluation Report (RR) to confirm student’s continued eligibility in special education
Reevaluation takes place every 3 years for most students and every 2 years for students in Early Intervention programs and for students with mental retardation or newly referred to as students with intellectual disability.
It may take place more frequently if requested by a parent or teacher. Parents and school districts may also agree that reevaluation is not necessary.
Reevaluation begins by taking a look at the progress monitoring data that has already been collected. The IEP team decides if a good enough picture can be painted of the student—where he is functioning, what his strengths and weaknesses are—by looking at what information has already been gathered. The team decides if further evaluation needs to occur.
*Regular Education teacher is asked for their input. This typically is in format as noted. (BRING UP REGULAR ED TEACHER INPUT FORM)
Reevaluation report is written based on the data that already exists or with the addition of new data.
Reevaluation Report is used to write a new IEP.
Report confirms student’s continued eligibility in special education

14. What Are Your Responsibilities?
Know your District’s procedures and expectations
Collect and present data regarding the student’s progress in the general education curriculum
Implementation of the IEP
Let’s review over your main responsibilities as a classroom teacher
The focus of your responsibility as noted by this list is to be an active IEP team member
Collecting and presenting data regarding the student’s progress in the general education curriculum.
Requires your understanding and knowledge in regards to IEP Implementation

15. Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
IEP Implementation
Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
Refers to the teaching strategies and methods used by teachers to instruct students with disabilities
Accommodations: Changes in HOW students access information and demonstrate learning
Modifications: Change in WHAT students are expected to learn
As we noted section 6 of the IEP frames the SDI and Program Modifications necessary for the student.
Let’s focus on SDI and what specifically is addressed in this section.
SDI refers to the teaching strategies and methods used by teachers to instruct students with disabilities.
2 Types:
Accommodations: Changes in HOW students access information and demonstrate learning
Modifications: Change in WHAT students are expected to learn
SCENARIO #3

16. Specially Designed Instruction
Maximizing Student Achievement
In discussing Specially Designed Instruction – our goal today is for you to understand what the general categories of SDI are and how to integrate these into your classroom for your students.
We refer to these 6 main areas of SDI consisting of :
Classroom Environment / Instruction / Assessment / Time Management / Materials / Equipment & Assistive Technology
This graphic demonstrates the goal of providing instruction to students to MAXMIZE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Specially Designed Instruction may target effective instructional strategies for all students
Difference is that when it is noted in the SDI section of an IEP – Required to be implemented for the student.
(DIRECT to Handout on SDI- Review over handout)
Break Out Activity for SDI

17. Questions or Concerns? Questions, Comments, Concerns ?
Lets revisit our questions on chart paper
Review our Preview Information Sheet
Any additional questions or concerns?
Thank you for your time this morning!

18. ACCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS
SPECIAL EDUCATION:
ACCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS
Some people see a closed door
and turn away
Others see a closed door, try the knob,
if it doesn’t open they find the key,
if the key doesn’t fit…
they turn away.
A rare few see a closed door, try the knob,
if it doesn’t open, they find a key,
they make one.
This quote identifies the reason all of us came into education – to help students learn.
Special Education notes what we can do as educators to provide Access to Education for All Students.