Interested in becoming an IEP or Special Education Advocate? Here's what you need to know about advocacy training, salary, skills, jobs, and how to get started.
Related Bonnie LandauBonnie Landau is a licensed professional clinical counselor and educational consultant in Ventura County, California. Her goal is to help parents of neurodivergent individuals find strategies and solutions to help their children succeed in school and in life. Bonnie is also the author of Special Ed Mom Survival Guide: How to Prevail in …
Let's talk about the special education referral process and building a child's individualized education plan (IEP).
If you are a school counselor, special education teacher, school psychologist, admin, or parent (or anyone else working with students!) wanting to prepare a student with a 504 Plan to better understand their support plan for their transition to college (or just for their own knowledge), this is for ...
Self-advocacy does not mean “doing it all yourself” without the help of others. Characteristics of Self-Advocacy Students with disabilities require self-advocacy characteristics and skills for a su…
Interested in becoming an IEP or Special Education Advocate? Here's what you need to know about advocacy training, salary, skills, jobs, and how to get started.
disability awareness, special education, disability awareness day, autism, downs syndrome
Find out what FAPE requires schools to do (and what it doesn’t require schools to do) for kids who qualify for special education services.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted by the federal government to ensure that all children with disabilities are provided with “equality of [educational] opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.” Originally adopted in 1975 and amended in 2004, the IDEA aims to curb educational problems associated with low expectations and insufficient
How to be friends with a special needs mom | Here are 10 easy ways to encourage and be a supportive friend to your friends whose children have special needs | How to encourage a special needs mom (when you aren't one)
Download these Free Special Education Planner Inserts to create your own IEP binder. Perfect for parents and teachers handling IEPs.
I so wish I had a magic wand to get schools to say yes when the child clearly needs services but the schools are obviously manipulating the situation to make sure they can say no. Special education advocates know that the law is the way to get schools to change their mind. The following questions …
8 suggestions for promoting awareness, acceptance and advocacy during Down Syndrome Awareness Month - and why it matters!
The IEP process can be a very daunting task. Even though I feel very comfortable with all of the paperwork I sometimes forget the "timeline". I have put together timelines and procedures for Initial Referrals, Annual Reviews and 3 year re-evaluations that we use in my district. These may be different than your district so be sure to double check. I just thought it would be good to share :) Here are the PDF versions of these forms. Feel free to print and use for reference. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Teaching students strong self-advocacy skills sets them up for a life that is filled with self-confidence, courage, and appropriate boundaries.
What is Self Advocacy? 73 measurable IEP goals and objectives to address self-advocacy and self-determination skills, including asking for help IEP goals.
Here are some examples of modifications. Remember, that a modified lesson in an inclusive classroom is a lesson where the objective and/or learning materials have been changed to meet the needs of a special learner. However, the overall concept or activity remains the same so that the learner can experience the curriculum alongside his or her classmates. This math sheet has been easily modified by providing alternate questions. Photo from www.teachingtoinspirein5th.blogspot.com. This math sheet can be modified by having the student complete alternate math operations with the numbers on the page. This Grade 8 science vocabulary activity has become a YES/NO activity. An alternate activity is provided for the student using the same handout as the rest of the class. Photo from www.whalenmom.blogspot.com. Alternate text can be placed over the original text in a class novel. In addition, you can modify a lesson by using the following strategies: Tracing Matching Fill in the Blank Word Banks Multiple Choice Illustrating Highlighting Reduced work Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, feel free to share any modified activities you may have!
When providing an IEP, least restrictive environment (LRE) is an important concept for parents to understand. It relates to where they put your child for the daily classroom, and how much structure there is in your child’s educational day. IDEA defines the LRE as: “To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public …
I knew when I wrote my original Getting To Know You: Special Needs Student Resume post that I would need to revise it as the years went by, because our kids have this sneaky habit of growing up and changing on us. So here we are again, staring down the start of a new school year. Most of us are have a shiny new pile of fears about how our kids will handle the transition to new schools, new teachers, new aids, new therapists, new classmates. Heck, I wasn't sure how mine would handle needing a new backpack (pause to thank the Powers That Be for Angry Birds Star Wars)! Each year we face the daunting task of communicating who they are and what they need to new instructors, plus updating familiar staff on how their needs have changed. But we accept the challenge because we want everyone in their lives to understand what wonderful people they are, and what they need to thrive. For our part, my older son is moving from his Gen Ed placement with a 1:1 to an outplacement at a school with a dedicated curriculum for autistic students, which we are both happy and sad about, for all the predictable reasons. And we're in EI transition planning with my younger son, which means moving him into the district in which my older son has been crashing and burning. So no worries there, right? He'll be getting his own version of this resume just in time for the dreaded 3rd birthday. All of this is why I developed the special needs student resume. And why I decided to share it with all y'all. And since I get most folks would rather chew off their own arm than write a resume, why I also created a free template to make it faster and easier to make your own. Go forth and advocate! View and download a PDF of this 3 page sample special needs student resume (1st Grade) View and download a PDF of a 2 page sample special needs student resume (Kindergarten) Download a dotx Word template for creating a Special Needs Student Resume Socials I pinned this post to my Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder board. "Introduce your Special Needs child to school staff with free student resume template by @ShesAlwaysWrite - http://bit.ly/1rdzCPd #Autism" Tweet this!
I so wish I had a magic wand to get schools to say yes when the child clearly needs services but the schools are obviously manipulating the situation to make sure they can say no. Special education advocates know that the law is the way to get schools to change their mind. The following questions …
We all know that in the world of special education, if it isn’t in writing, it may not have happened. As Special Ed Parents, we need to remember that all requests and responses need to be done via email or printed letter. Optimally, multiple people will be copied to help inform the team and to …
The special education referral process can be overwhelming for educators and parents alike. The process can be broken down into a few steps.
It's not your imagination. Here are 8 ways the Special Education System really is stacked against parents. Knowing what you are up against may help you strategize.
How to talk to your child about disabilities
My favorite tips for how to create accessible PowerPoints for low vision and print disabilities
In many schools across North America, special education teachers get the short end of the stick when it comes to support for their classrooms. With typically low student to teacher...
I have had many parents become confused as to why their child might qualify for autism in a doctor’s setting, but the school says the child does not qualify for an IEP. Conversely, some students qualify for an IEP under the autism category, but despite repeated clinical assessments, they do not qualify for a clinical …
Special eduction law can be a bit gray at times. Although it should be clear cut, it can be difficult to get explicit answers to some of the basic questions that pop up in the day-to-day life of a special education teacher. Here is a scenario that you may have run into before. You need to set up an IEP meeting, but have been unable to confirm a meeting time with the family. How many attempts do you need to make to set up an IEP meeting with a family? What do you do if they don't respond? Can it all be done through email and phone calls or does one of the attempts need to be a letter? Does one attempt need to be a certified letter? While there are laws related to these questions (which you can find HERE), you may find the answer given still leaves you a bit confused. When it comes to these questions, and many more, the law does not give specifics. The specifics tend to come from each state's interpretation of the law and from court case rulings. So how is a special education teacher supposed to make sense of the scattered out information and try to teach at the same time? Well... it's really hard. Some districts have incredible administrators who have a deep understanding of the law, current court cases, and best practice. Many of these districts also reach out to lawyers for guidance. They do the leg work so you can focus on providing your students with what they need to be successful. With that being said, it is still in everyone's best interest to know how to seek out the answers to your own questions. If you do not have this level of support in your district, you will have to take the extra steps to become informed of your role and responsibilities as a special education teacher. I cannot answer all of your questions here. However, I can provide you with some links and resources that will empower you to become more informed and confident in your understanding of special education law. I am going to share a ton of information. I recommend bookmarking this page so that you can refer back to it as questions arise throughout the school year. But first, let's start with the basics. There are three main federal laws that address disabilities. I recommend you click on the links and skim through each of the laws. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - The primary purpose of IDEA is "to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living." IDEA (2004) This is a major law in the world of special education and there is a lot jam packed into this act. You can use the search feature on this page to find information related to a specific topic. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - This is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on disability. This law is less applicable to public education, but is still valuable to review. Section 504 Rehabilitation Act - Section 504 extended civil rights to people with disabilities in education and other settings. The act outlines the need for a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) which may include reasonable accommodations. Unlike IDEA, students do not need to qualify for an IEP to fall under the umbrella of 504 services. Please note - this is why it is extremely important that the accommodations listed in the IEP or 504 plan are being followed. If they are not, it becomes a civil rights issue, not just a special education issue. Click on Subpart D for information related directly to preschool, elementary, and secondary education. If reading through those three acts seems daunting, don't worry. I am going to share with you some great resources for synthesizing the plethora of information found above. WrightsLaw - I cannot recommend this site enough. It is run by Pete Wright, an attorney who represents children with special needs, and Pam Wright, a psychotherapist who has worked with children and families since the 70s. They summarize court cases in a way that is easy to understand and provide concrete takeaways from the rulings. They have also written numerous books related to special education law and provide training around law and advocacy throughout the country. Make sure you sign up for their newsletter to stay on top of current court cases. The website has quite a bit of information and can be a little difficult to navigate. However, you can click HERE to watch a quick video about how to sift through all of the information. Center for Parent Information and Resources - This website was produced under the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. While it is geared primarily toward parents, it serves as a great resource for anyone working with students with special needs. Their resource library provides links to documents related to disability services and special education. This site is easy to navigate and the information is accurate and concise. National Education Association (IDEA & Special Education) - This site offers "IDEA Briefs" to explain developments about and aspects of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). They are presented in a question and answer format, and are quick and easy to read. The site also offers a nice summary of the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA found HERE. Department of Education - The specifics surrounding special education law can vary between states. Search your state's department of education website for state specific laws, codes, and policies. You can search for your state HERE and get a list of helpful links. State Specific Education Association - Many states have their own rules and regulations that expand upon those found in IDEA. Your local union (if applicable) may have resources to help you learn more about special education law in your state. If you are unable to find answers on the website, don't hesitate to reach out to your local union reps to see if there are any resources or training opportunities that may be available for special education teachers. Understanding the law is a huge undertaking and I hope that this post has given you some guidence and resources to make it a bit easier. Do you have any other go-to resources for special education law? Please share in the comments below!
Teachers know how to advocate for their students, but do students with disabilities have self-advocacy skills or know the importance of self-advocacy?
33 Awesome Disability Awareness Activities and Games for Students of All Ages, special section for elementary or younger students.
Accommodations that help support your inclusion students during testing in a middle school or secondary inclusion setting.
In this ever-changing world of autism acceptance, here’s a guide to what’s in and what’s out for celebrating autism in 2024.
disability awareness, special education, disability awareness day, autism, downs syndrome
IEP Laws and Regulations Several years ago, I was at a fundraiser. It was for an agency that assists disabled people. So, naturally, they had
When you’re teaching students with special needs in an inclusive classroom, one of the most important things you can do is keep yourself informed about the legal rights of the student and family–and your legal responsibilities as an educator. Not knowing what the law says can lead to friction with the family, unwitting violation of […]
Autism and school anxiety got you down? We're sharing 13 tips and coping skills to help kids with Asperger syndrome, autism, and sensory processing disorder handle feelings of anxiety and overwhelm in the classroom (and beyond).
Prior Written Notice-PWN How many times have you heard phrases like these, at IEP meetings, when you've suggested something? I don't think he/she needs that.
