Tag: <span>Special</span>

Special Education Certificate of Attendance – Does it End Special Education Services?

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on April 20, 2023 @ 8:02 am

Do you have a 17 or 18 year old with a disability receiving special education services? Have you been told that your 17 or 18 year old with autism or a learning disability, will be given a certificate of attendance? Have you also been told that your child will no longer be eligible for special education services, if they receive a certificate of attendance? This article will discuss a new tactic by some special education personnel to convince parents that their child is no longer eligible for special education. The tactic is certificates of attendance and will be discussed.

Several months ago I heard from a parent in Pennsylvania that had this tactic used on her. She contacted me and asked me what I thought about this issue.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states the following: The obligation to make a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available to all children with disabilities does not apply with respect to the following: Children with disabilities who have graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma.

The truth is that a Certificate of Attendance does not make a child ineligible for special education services. IDEA also states that children with disabilities have the right to be educated from the age of 3 years to 21 years. As long as the child does not accept a regular education diploma, they are eligible to receive special education services.

Another thing that parents must keep in mind is the importance of functional skills as well as academic skills. When IDEA was reauthorized in 2004 Congress added a section about functional skills. A child’s IEP must now include present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. Make sure that your school district is testing your child in the area of functional performance.

For children over 13 years of age I recommend the Scale of Independent Behavior. It is performed by parent survey, which means that the parent answers questions about what their child can do and cannot do. This scale covers: activities of daily living, communication, functional skills, job skills etc. Awesome measure of a young persons functional ability.

Also the purpose of IDEA is to: prepare children with disabilities for further education, employment, and independent living. If a child who is 17 or 18 years old and is not ready for post school learning, a job, or independent living they may need additional years of education. Parents often overlook functional skills when advocating for their child’s education.

If your school district tries to tell you that a Certificate of Attendance ends your child’s right to further special education services, consider filing a complaint with your state board of education. In my experience the more parents stand up to special education personnel who are not truthful the less they try and get away with. Do not let your child’s life be ruined by deceptions from some special education personnel. Good Luck-keep up the fight!

Source by JoAnn Collins

21 Dec

Special Education – Placement, Is Inclusion Best?

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on December 21, 2022 @ 6:08 am

The IEP is written and now there should be some discussion about placement. What options are there and what is best for your child? Those are the questions for the team. Like the IEP, the placement decision is very important to the success of your child. IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is very specific about what should be provided to students with disabilities. IDEA says that your child should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE) where they can make effective progress. Below we will look at some of the options available for placement of students with disabilities.

LRE – Least Restrictive Environment

What does that mean? Well, historically kids with disabilities were segregated from attending school with their typical peers. They were either kept at home or sent to “special schools” or they were put in basement classrooms and weren’t allowed to socialize or participate with everyone else. Plus, they weren’t taught what everyone else was taught, like math and science. Education Reform changed that and subsequently IDEA was reauthorized in 2004. IDEA says that students should be educated in the least restrictive environment with the services and supports necessary for them to make effective progress. Whenever possible children should be with their typical peers and attend their neighborhood schools. They are to be provided with the same curriculum and are required to maintain the same standards for academic requirement. The terms mainstream, integration, and inclusion, are the new catch phrases to define when kids are provided LRE.

Inclusion

There are many placement options, so what does that mean for your child? When you start to talk about placement, the first potential option should always be the class where your child would be if they didn’t have a disability. The team should consider what accommodations, services, and supports your child would need to be successful in that environment and then provide for them on the IEP. If it is determined that your child will not make progress in the regular education classroom, other options can be considered. The goal should always be full inclusion. Inclusion is not a specific place but the pursuit to include students in classrooms and in environments with typical peers to the maximum extent possible through out their school day.

Partial Inclusion

Some students will be provided with what is termed partial inclusion. Perhaps they attend some regular education classes but go into a separate classroom for math or reading. Maybe they attend a resource room or academic support class once a day to assist with all academic subjects. Whatever it looks like, it should provide for the students needs and assist with their effective progress.

Substantially Separate
Some students will need to be in classrooms with small number of students and specialized teachers. This is a substantially separate setting. The goal should be to transition or integrate out of that classroom and into the regular setting as much as possible. The benefits of socialization and peer interaction experiences in a regular setting have to be balanced with the benefits of academic success and progress in the smaller setting. A lot of IEPs have a mix of both to allow for the unique needs of students with learning disabilities but need social experiences to develop socially.

Out of District

Some students attend school in private schools or collaborative schools that specialize in working with students with specific disabilities or sets of needs. This should always be considered a last resort and only when all other options have been tried and been unsuccessful. It is important to balance the needs for a student to be provided with what they need as well as the opportunities they miss by not being educated in their neighborhood school.

Source by Lynne M Adams

21 Nov

Types of Special Education Schools and Classrooms

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on November 21, 2022 @ 5:50 am

There are a variety of special education schools and programs in both a private and public settings. Since every child has unique requirements, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. With proper planning and support, your child’s education can be a positive and successful experience.

Full Inclusion Classrooms

In this type of setting, a special needs child will learn right alongside other children that do not have a learning disability. The child is not singled out as being different, since none of the other students know about his or her special needs. There is usually a special education teacher present in the classroom right alongside the regular teacher. The teachers will share tasks and instruction – helping all students.

Inclusion classrooms allow each student to learn at their own level and pace. Even children who don’t qualify for special services, but are struggling to keep up, will benefit from this type of classroom. Although this type of learning works well for most children, some will have trouble dealing with the stimuli of a regular classroom full of students.

Self-Contained Classrooms

Self-contained classrooms are separated so that a special needs child can receive more one-on-one instruction. These types of classrooms usually group together a small number of children with similar learning needs. Depending on the size of the school, the ages and levels of the children within the class can vary.

Most education experts feel that spending time with peers is an important part of learning. Because of this, some special-needs children enrolled in self-contained classrooms will share equal time in a regular classroom each day. Depending on the child, a Paraeducator may accompany him or her while in the regular classroom.

Children who need one-on-one help in order to keep up with grade-level work, but do not need the structure of a self-contained classroom, may benefit from a resource room placement.

Out-of-District Placement

In cases where a special-needs child requires a higher degree of classroom structure and instruction, an out-of-district placement may be the best option. These types of classrooms can be in residential, private, or public special education schools. In order to participate with funding from the State Board of Education, the family must go through an application process first.

Private Special Education Schools

Private specialized day programs and residential programs are generally for children who are not succeeding in any of the other types of special education classrooms. Although, sometimes education services in the private sector will also serve infants, toddlers, or even adults.

Before choosing a private school program for your special needs child, you should visit and spend time there. This will allow you to get a genuine, first-hand feel for the school in order to decide if the atmosphere, activities, courses, opportunities, and provisions will meet your child’s needs.

Other things that you may want to consider are staffing, facilities, healthcare services, visitation policies, meals, and how well supervision is handled.

Your special needs child deserves the best education available to him or her. Don’t forget to ask for your child’s input during your research and planning process. Once placement into one of the special education schools has been made, continue to monitor and be involved in your child’s education and care. And remember, you can always make changes if something is not working out.

Source by Andrew Stratton

28 May

Special Education Inclusion

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on May 28, 2022 @ 12:01 am

Special education inclusion signifies the participation of special education students in regular education classrooms and provision of support services to these students. The main objective of inclusion education is that all students in a school, regardless of their strengths and their weaknesses in any area, become part of the school community. Every student develops a feeling of belonging with other students, teachers, and support staff. In segregated special education, children will not learn how to function in a non-disabled world. For instance, children who are disabled in terms of communication and are emotionally distressed would not communicate and might remain in a more emotionally disturbed state in segregated settings. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) holds it mandatory for schools to educate children with disabilities in general education classrooms.

The prime advantage of special education inclusion is that both disabled and non-disabled students are brought together in an environment of togetherness. Children learn to accept individual differences in inclusion education and this would lead to the development of new friendly relationships. Inclusion education also enables active participation of parents in their child’s education. The law also states that students with disabilities have a legal right to attend regular classes and receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. Although the advantages are many, inclusion education creates an uncertainty regarding the roles and responsibilities of regular classroom teachers and special education teachers. However, researches show that inclusion education can be made effective by a healthy collaboration of special education teachers and regular teachers. With the assistance of services that would be available from the health department, physical education department, occupational therapists, speech therapists, etc., the school administration can aid the teachers to develop active lesson plans for inclusion education. Thus schools can create a cooperative learning environment and promote socialization.

Source by Ken Marlborough

27 Apr

Special Education and the Importance of Collaboration

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on April 27, 2022 @ 10:45 pm

Collaboration means working with an individual or a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Its importance is most visible in education. Every day, teachers work together with their peers, school counselors, and other staff for the success of each student. And when it comes to special education, collaboration becomes the single most important thing for a teacher.

A teacher for special education has to collaborate with school administrators, general education teachers, school therapists, psychologists, and parents and guardians. Students with mild disability have now been included in regular classroom teaching, according to the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act. This has led to general and special education teachers working together, often with the help of the best fun educational apps. The role of the educator in a general classroom, involves teaching the curriculum and assessing and evaluating special children. It’s important that a the educator brings in a set of personal skills to enhance student learning. Skills of both the general teacher and the special educator should come together to help a student.

A special educator has to work closely with the school management. It’s a vital part of the job. Working with the management will help the special teacher follow the necessary laws and procedure, work with individualized education plan (IEP), and make sure that special children are accommodated in the appropriate classroom. It’s always important to forge a strong relationship with these people for ensuring the success of a special student.

Working with parents is a major challenge for all special education teachers. It’s important to make strong and regular contact. It’s a nice idea to allow parents come and volunteer in the classroom, so that both the educator and the parent can help the children. A special child can obviously relate more to a parent. If parents explain the use of the best fun educational apps for kids, it’s likely to be more believable to the children.

Working with school therapists and psychologists is another key collaboration of a special educator. A therapist can inform the educator about the limitations of a special child. He/she may even recommend the best fun educational apps for kids so that special children pick up social skills faster. The educator, on his/her part, can update the therapist on how a child is progressing. The therapist is also responsible for diagnosis of a special child.

The work of the school psychologist is also largely similar. They too test children for disabilities and ensure that the IEP is being properly followed.

Collaboration is an important part of a special educator’s job, regardless of which part of school education he/she is involved with. Whether it’s working with the school administration, other teachers, parents, guardians, counselors, or therapists, a special educator has to work as part of a team for the betterment of special children. The needs of a special child are much different from that of a neuro-typical. Besides, each child is different. The best fun educational apps can keep the child engaged besides imparting important social skills.

Source by Kevin Carter

27 Jan

5 Qualities of a Good Special Education Advocate

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on January 27, 2022 @ 8:47 pm

Are you the parent of a child with autism that is having a dispute with school personnel, and would like some help? Are you the parent of a child with a learning disability, or another type of disability, that could use an advocate to help you in getting an appropriate education for your child? This article will give you 5 qualities that make a good special education advocate

An advocate is a person that has received special training, that helps parents navigate the special education system. In some cases the advocate is a parent of a child themselves, but this is not always the case. Before you hire an advocate check on their experience, and also make sure that the advocate is familiar with your child’s disability, so that they are able to advocate effectively

Qualities:

1 A good advocate must be familiar with the federal and state education laws that apply to special education, and be willing to use them, when needed. This is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), State rules for special education (how they will comply with IDEA), and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The advocate does not have to memorize the laws, but should have a basic knowledge of what is in them. The advocate must also be willing to bring up the laws, at IEP meetings, if this will benefit the child.

2. A good advocate should not make false promises to parents. If an advocate tells you. that they will get the services that you want for your child, be leery! Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in special education, and advocates should not promise things that they may not be able to get. An experienced advocate who knows the law and your school district, should have a sense about what can be accomplished.

3. A good advocate should be passionate about your child, and the educational services that they need. Advocacy sometimes takes a lot of time. If the person helping you is not passionate about your child, they may not be willing to help you for the length of time that it takes to get your child an appropriate education.

4. A good advocate must be willing to stand up to special education personnel, when they disagree with them, or when the school personnel tell a lie. If the advocate you pick, has every quality, but is not willing to stand up to school personnel, he or she will not be an effective advocate for your child.

5. A good advocate is detail oriented, and makes sure that any services promised by special education personnel, are put in writing. A good advocate will read the IEP before they leave the meeting, and bring up any changes that should be made. Sometimes the little details are what makes for success!

By keeping in mind these 5 qualities, you will be better equipped to finding an advocate that will be able to help you, get an appropriate education for your child.

Source by JoAnn Collins