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Hi. Welcome to today's presentation of Basic Rights in Special Education.
at Rhode Island Parent Information Network.
The Rhode Island Parent Information Network is a non-profit organization
that serves as a state designated parent center in Rhode Island.
We work with families, individuals, and professionals helping them achieve
their educational and health goals. The program that I'm directly involved with
educates and supports families, students, and professionals
as they navigate educational systems, specifically for children with disabilities.
The following workshop you're about to see is our most requested training.
Basic Rights in Special Education specifically focuses on Rhode Island's
special education system and regulations.
We hope you enjoy this presentation and if you have further questions
or need additional information please contact our Resource Center at 401-270-0101.
So, let's get started!
As I said, today's presentation is Basic Rights in Special Education.
And, we are going to have a pretty hefty agenda that starts with
the referral process, evaluation, eligibility.
We're gonna move into the IEP a little bit; not so much the form itself, but,
just a little bit about that process. Ending with procedural safeguards.
And, we're also gonna talk about dispute resolution.
But more information/more details will show up in the rest of the workshop.
So, first I wanted to start just a little bit with IDEA.
And, for those of you who don't know what IDEA is, it's the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
It was originally enacted in 1975 and it's a federal law that governs
special education. It is an entitlement law, which means
that the government agrees to give states funding if they meet
the requirements of that law. When IDEA was reauthorized in 2004...
This workshop is going to actually reflect those changes.
Rhode Island law is what we're going to be talking about specifically today.
A little bit more information... The IDEA was reauthorized to align
with what was once called the No Child Left Behind Act,
which really focuses on accountability. And, that became a really important
piece of the new regulations. There was a time when children...
My son is 28 years old, and when he was first diagnosed
and went into the school system people weren't making sure that he
was learning how to read, write, learning math.
There was no, there was no data collection for that.
So, a lot of times those kids were left out of those programs.
Now with those changes, it really has assured that all of our children
are being accounted for and that there's high levels of standards that they are
hopefully able to reach.
So, let's start with the very beginning of this process.
The referral process... And, what does someone do
if you feel your child may need special education support
if they have a disability.
So, anyone can request or put in a referral for a child to be tested
to find out if, yes, they do have an underlying disability.
Every district, though, has a different process.
So, in Rhode Island, we have over 30 school districts
and it's important for that parent to have conversations
within their school to find out where exactly they need to make that referral.
The most important part of this... you're gonna hear me say this a lot
throughout the presentation... especially when we talk
about timelines, is putting these actions in writing.
So, at the very beginning of this process it's going to be very
important for a parent to put a letter in writing requesting
that evaluation. And here's an example why...
We had a call...I remember a couple years back...in the fall, from a parent
who said...called our resource center... and said,
"You know, I've been telling the school and telling the school. My child's
failing and I want them to test her for special education."
And so, we asked for the question... So, how long...did you...has been going on?
And the mom said, "Well, I started talking to them last March."
And our question was, did you put anything in writing?
And she said, "Well...no."
And, so even now, she's been talking about it.
The school really doesn't have that level of responsibility to actually
take an action and start that process. So, we had to really start her
at that point from square one getting that letter written.
And, unfortunately, you know, five/six months had passed.
So, it really becomes a very important part
and parents should be very, very aware of that.
When we start with that first letter, that paperwork, we start
the time line process, which really is the basis for a lot
of the protections that parents have under the special education.
So, when we start that that process, when a family writes that letter
the school has 10 days, at that point,
to come sit down and talk about that. What are we gonna do with this?
Simply, it doesn't mean we automatically get an evaluation.
A team of people need to get together. And that team
includes professionals and families.
parents need to be at that table. Again, 10-15 years ago,
schools only needed to invite parents to the table.
But now, by law, by these new regulations, schools are required
to make sure that that parent voice is at that table.
The next piece that happens is if there are evaluations that are needed,
at that point, there's another piece that parents
now...they need to sign parental consent.
So, the schools can't go and start evaluating
a student with out that parent writing, making sure
that they have signed and that they understand what they're
signing before they can actually go and do any of that
any those evaluations. Now, this whole process,
which we're going to talk about more, could take anywhere from
two and a half to three months before
that child could be getting special education services.
So, it is really important to stay ahead of the timelines.
And, as we say to parents,
we want them to understand this because we want them to not go
into a kind of a wait and see and then wait for something to break.
And now, you know, we go in and say hey, you know,
you were supposed to do this in such and such a time.
We want parents to go and have that meeting,
talk about those evaluations, sign consent,
and maybe have that parents sign up or follow up with a note that says
"Thank you for the meeting. I understand that we are now
supposed to get together again
or this evaluation is gonna take place in another 10 days."
So, it helps parents to really be part of the process as opposed to the ones
kind of being the police. You know, when it breaks down
they're jumping in.
So, it really is important to understand how this rolls out.
So, when must those evaluations begin? Well, they need to start no later than
10 days after parental consent. So once you've signed off on that,
that you're okay, you understand what it is, what evaluations
they're actually going to be doing on that student,
it shouldn't begin more than 10 days after that.
But what happens if a parent doesn't sign for consent?
And, believe it or not, we do have families that sometimes
don't want to go through this process. But the schools have the responsibility
to the student. Not to the family, but to that student.
So, if the student...if the if the school comes forward and says to the parents
"We really think there's something else going on. We really would like to take
gather some more data and do some evaluations. Would you sign for consent?"
then that parent refuses, well, within that first five days
the school needs to show that they have made attempts
to reconnect with that parent, have more conversation around that.
Because, again, the school has the same rights in this case
as the parent does. We need to make sure the focus
is on that student. Schools need to be able to show that,
yes, they have tried to make contact.
And after 15 days, school days, if the parents still hasn't signed
consent, technically, a school could request that the parent
maybe participate in mediation or could even, in very rare cases,
take the parent to due process hearing. You know, those are very rare
that would...There would certainly be situations where the student was
either failing or in danger in certain ways and it does happen.
We have lots of families out there. They're, you know, that they're
very scared and very concerned about the special education process.
So again, it really keeps the focus back on the student.
Now, when we talk about consent, and I just want to, you know,
focus a little bit on this, it's important what consent means.
And consent means that that parent has been fully informed of all the
information, give a clear understanding of what it is that the school
is trying to gather.
They also need to understand that it's a voluntary process.
And, that what activity is actually going to be taking place.
Sometimes parents sign, may nod their heads.
they go ahead and kind of do what they think the school
wants them to do. But they don't always have a clear
understanding. It's very important that schools
make sure the parents do understand that.
So, in this slide, this is our times our timelines kind of
chart to kind of get a better idea. So, within 60 calendar days from the
receipt of parental consent, so the child needs to be evaluated,
a written report needs to be put together from the evaluation team.
And then, at that point, either eligibility or not eligibility
has been determined. So, already we're talking about
two months and that can be a long period of time.
Now sometimes that'll take place a lot sooner than that
but it should not take place more than sixty days.
After that, if the child is determined eligible, an IEP
needs to be developed within 15 school days.
So, again, now it's there's another three weeks after we've determined,
okay, this child is a child with a disability.
They need some kind of special education supports and services.
And, the school has three weeks to sit down with the family
and develop that IEP. And then the last piece of that timeline
is once that IEP is developed, there is 10 more school days before
it's actually implemented. So, when you look at this period of
time, it really is important for parents to kind of stay ahead,
understand what those timelines are and make sure they happen
because it can be quite a bit of time before that child
is getting the support they need.
So what happens...sometimes kids don't qualify for special education.
That's not the worst thing in the world. Not every child needs specialized services.
But you, as a parent, need to know what your options are if
that does happen. Probably the most important question
that we want parents to walk away with, to go back and ask the school,
"So if my child isn't eligible for special education
and we've been putting in some interventions all along and he's
still not being successful, what other interventions is the school
going to put in place?
How are you going to help my child, um, be successful?
Because if we're shutting this door, I'm assuming that we're not saying
this is it, this is all we can do."
So, it's important to, again, kind of go back very nicely.
Ask that question. The response may come back
around the conversation about Response to Intervention, or RTI,
as they call it. And, although we're not going
to get into a big conversation about RTI, Response to Intervention is a
very important part of the process of gathering data for a student.
Now, if things are going well, this information, this Response to Intervention
for many kids should already be taking place.
The data that we gather on a daily basis is really important to determine whether,
again, this is a child with a disability and what those supports might be.
But it shouldn't necessarily be the time to start Response to Intervention,
but it certainly should be part of that conversation.
And again, recognizing that there are a lot of people in a school
they need to help students. Not every, not all of them have to be
special educators in order to be able to support that student.
But, lastly, a parent can also turnaround and say,
"I disagree with those evaluation results.
I just, I don't agree at all. I've got my home data.
I may even have outside information from my doctor.
But, I don't agree and therefore I'm requesting an independent educational
evaluation to be done at the school's expense."
Now, we'll talk a little bit more about the IEE a little bit later.
But, at this point in the game,
it is, those are the things that we want to be considering.
So let's review those timelines really quick.
So here's what we've learned. The referral process 10 days to review,
sit down, talk, parents professionals together,
10 days from written consent to get that evaluation done.
Eligibility determination and that process
can take up to 60 days no later. If that child's eligible
should be another 15 school days to develop that IEP.
And, lastly once that IEP is developed it should be another 10 days.
No longer than 10 days before it actually implemented.
So, that again, just kind of summing up what we just talked about.
Next, we're gonna move into having more of a conversation about
the evaluation process.