Understanding the Special Education Process

Understanding the Special Education Process, Recent Changes in the Law, Your Parental Rights, and the Procedural Safeguards Available to Parents of Students with Disabilities

• Special Education Definitions and Explanations
• Referral Process
• Parental Consent
• Evaluations
• Reevaluation
• Unilateral Placement by Parents of Students in Private Schools
• Graduation
• Manifestation Determination Review (MDR)
• Determination that Behavior was not a Manifestation of Disability

Special Education Definitions and Explanations

Eligibility:
Establishment of eligibility for special education and related services must be based on the results of a properly completed evaluation. The evaluation data considered by the IEP team members must affirm all of the following:

1. Does the student have a disability?
2. Is the disability having an adverse effect on the student's educational performance? and
3. Does the student require special education and related services to benefit from education?

Therefore, if a student has a disability but the IEP team cannot document an adverse effect in the school environment the student is not eligible for special education and related services.

Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development:

The development of the IEP starts with documenting the student's present levels of performance, areas adversely affect by the disability and progress in the general curriculum. Goals and objectives/benchmarks are developed to address the student's needs. Services and service providers/implementers must be documented. Only after completing all other areas of the IEP, can the team determine the appropriate placement required to implement the IEP.

Referral Process

Any concerned person may initiate a referral, including the parent, private professional, or member of the school staff. It must be done in writing to the person designated by the district. The date of referral is defined as the date on which written parental consent is obtained. The school must either conduct an evaluation or give parents written notice of refusal, the reason for refusal, and of the parents' right to request a hearing, or request their own hearing. The evaluation and IEP meeting shall be completed within 60 school days of the date of referral or application for admission to public school.

Parental Consent

The local district must obtain written parent consent using state-mandated forms before conducting an initial case study evaluation, any re-evaluations, and prior to the initial placement of a student with a disability in special education.

Evaluations

Once parental consent has been obtained, the IEP (Individual Education Program) team will review existing information on the child to determine what assessment components and procedures are needed, and which of the child's "domains" that need to be assessed. The domains that must be considered in designing an evaluation include: health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, intelligence, academic performance, communication status, and motor abilities. While the IEP team MAY conduct its review without a meeting, the IEP team SHALL include the child's parents.

Reevaluation

Once eligible, a child must be reevaluated every three years, or sooner, if requested by the parent or teacher or conditions warrant, except if the IEP team, including the parents, determines there is no change which would warrant reevaluation. If the parents want the reevaluation, it will be conducted. A reevaluation must be conducted before any termination of eligibility, except if due to graduation with a regular education diploma or aging out.

Unilateral Placement by Parents of Students in Private Schools

A local district is not required to pay for the cost of education, including special education and related services, of a student with a disability at a private school or facility if the district made a free, appropriate public education available to the student and the parents instead elected to place the student in the private school or facility.

Graduation

The district must provide notice to the parent and the student one year prior to graduation that services end following the granting of a diploma. The parents must also be notified that they may request a review of the recommendation for graduation. 

If a student graduates with a regular high school diploma or its equivalent, the district no longer is required to provide that student a free, appropriate, public education.

An eligible student who has not graduated, but requires continued public school education to facilitate his/her integration into society, shall be eligible for such services through the age of 21.

Manifestation Determination Review (MDR)

If disciplinary action described above is contemplated by school personnel or a hearing officer, or if disciplinary action involving a change of placement for more than 10 days is contemplated for student with a disability who has engaged in behavior that violated any local district rule or code of conduct that applies to all students, then:

1. The parent must be notified of that decision and all pertinent procedural safeguards not later than the one on which the decision to take that action is made; and
2. Immediately, if possible, but in no case later than 10 school days after the date on which the decision is made, a review must be conducted of the relationship between the student's ability and the behavior which resulted in disciplinary action.

The review of the relationship between the student's disability and behavior is to be conducted by the IEP Team and other qualified personnel. To determine that the student's behavior was not related to his/her disability, the IEP Team must:

1. First consider all information that may be relevant to the behavior that resulted in the disciplinary action, including:

• Evaluation and diagnostic results, to include relevant information supplied by the student's parent;
• Observations of the student;
• The student's IEP and placement; and

2. Determine that:

• With regard to the behavior that resulted in the disciplinary action, the student's IEP and placement were appropriate and the special education services, supplementary aides and services, and behavior intervention strategies were provided in a manner consistent with the student's IEP and placement; and
• The student's disability did not impair his/her ability to control, and to understand the impact and consequences of the behavior that resulted in the disciplinary actions.

 

Determination that Behavior was not a Manifestation of Disability

If it is determined that the behavior of the student was not related to his/her disability, pertinent disability procedures may be applies in the same manner they would be for students without disabilities -- except that students with disabilities must continue to receive a free, appropriate public education if suspended for more than 10 days or expelled from school.

If the local district initiatives pertinent disciplinary procedures that apply to all students, the district must ensure that special education and disciplinary records of the student with a disability whose behavior resulted in the disciplinary action are transmitted for consideration by the person(s) making the final determination about the action. 

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