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!
Visual schedules promote independence by allowing students to know the sequence of the day’s events. Here are 5 types of visual schedules commonly found in a special education classroom.
I am always looking for ways to streamline data collection. In the past, I was only tracking the behavior of students if it was related to an IEP goal, or if we were beginning to notice a spike in behavior. And while this worked, it isn't always enough. This year I found a way to track all of my students' behavior in less than one minute a day... AND I don't even need to pick up a pen! To make this happen, I use two things: Google Forms (check below for the FREEBIE!) and an Amazon Fire tablet. While you don't need the tablet to use Google Forms, it does make it more convenient for staff to document behavior without having to access the computer. Google Forms is free and easy to use. It is basically a survey that gathers and analyzes any type of information. I will be honest, I have always been a bit resistant to using a tablet for data collection for a couple of reasons. 1. I give all of my tech to my students. 2. TECH IS EXPENSIVE! (or so I thought...) The Amazon Fire tablet is actually pretty inexpensive. You can typically find them for less than $50, which is a killer deal. Now that I have the tablet I find that I use it for far more than just data collection, but that's a topic for another post! Now that you know what I use, here is how you can make it for yourself! First, download a copy of the Google Forms Digital Classroom Behavior Log. Open the file and click on the link. You will be prompted to save a copy of the Google Forms template. Next, type all of your students' names in the left column. You can also change titles for each behavior rating to meet the needs of your classroom. And... that's it! Your form is all set up! Pretty easy, right!?! Now it is time to give it a test run and view your responses. Don't worry, you can delete your responses later. Click on the preview icon in the upper right corner. This will bring you to the actual form that you will fill out to track behavior. Select one of the behavior options for each student and add a note at the bottom to detail any incidents that happened during the day. Then hit the submit button to record your information. Click "submit another response" to head back to the form. Are you ready to take a look at your responses? Click on the orange pencil in the upper right corner to get into editing mode. Next, click on the responses tab. This will give you a your data in a bar graph. Hover over each bar to get more detailed information. You can also download the responses in a Google Sheets file. This is a great option if you need to find information from a specific date or time period. Now that you have had a chance to play around with the form, you may want to delete the information that you submitted so that you can start fresh with your students. Just click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner and select "delete all responses." This Google Form is easy to access from anywhere with an internet connection. All you need to do is access the URL. This can be done by creating a bookmark, or saving the link to your desktop. Would you like to see a video of these steps in action? Click on the video below and I will walk you through of the entire process. Are you ready to give it a try? I would love to hear how it goes for you! (This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I only link to products that I personally use and find beneficial. Please click HERE for more information.)
Circle time is my baby. When I started my current job in 2002 and had one class of highly-impacted and self-contained students, I knew I wanted to lead the class in some way. Circle became my "thing". I now serve three self-contained classes and do circle in each of them. Each classroom's circle looks somewhat
Wondering how to fit everything into your schedule in a self contained special needs classroom? I'm sharing my self contained class schedule and specifics on what each part of our school day looks like. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
Visual schedules promote independence by allowing students to know the sequence of the day’s events. Here are 5 types of visual schedules commonly found in a special education classroom.
Assigning Ava her first role in a wedding, made her pretty happy. She was excited and couldn’t get much sleep the day before the wedding. All she talked about was how beautiful she would look, how long she had prepared. You could see the joy inside h
Wondering how to fit everything into your schedule in a self contained special needs classroom? I'm sharing my self contained class schedule and specifics on what each part of our school day looks like. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
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Let’s talk about creating and using tactile schedules in the classroom. If you have a Teacher of the Visually Impaired that works with you, they may provide you with a kit or schedule pieces from the library of the blind. Here is a link to my local library. Check with your state and see if you […]
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The first day of first grade is always a really fun, but hectic day for my littles. They are so excited to come to school, but they are always a little nervous since they don’t know what to expect when they walk through my classroom door. I always have an activity such as a first day coloring page or a play-doh model on their desks to work on right when they come in so my students are busy creating while I welcome students and take attendance.
We have a lot to do as teachers and our time is limited. 17 MORE classroom hacks that actually work in a special education classroom. Click to learn more.
We Had a Bubble Fun Day!! 4 comments Bubble Day, End of Year, End of Year Theme, Freebies Today we had a Bubble Day! Curious as to what that means or what that looks like? Then, keep on reading. I love planning different themed days as our school year comes to a close. It's a great way to let the kids have fun while still maintaining a structured learning environment. Bonus: the kids have fun with the theme and forget they are learning! I like to keep my theme days a secret from the students. They always know that I have something fun planned, but they never know exactly what that is until they get to school the day of. So, to introduce Bubble Day to the students, I placed these fun notes and bubble wands on their desks. These wands are from our FOSS kits and were perfect to use with the mega jug (100 oz.) of bubbles I bought from Walmart. I'm jumping ahead a smidge, but I simply poured a bit of bubble solution into small cups for the students when it was time to blow bubbles. In years past, I have also given students their own container of bubbles. Having done it both ways, I can tell you that the kids love it either way. I also made a note for those years when I give the students their own container. You can grab both of these notes HERE. To get the students thinking about bubbles, I had them begin the day by completing this organizer. So, like I said, I poured some bubble solution into some small cups for the students (plastic bathroom sized cups). I filled them about half full. Then, the students used their bubble solution to blow some bubbles! Well, OK, there was more to it than that. As always, I had an ulterior, educational, motive in mind. As they blew their bubbles, the students completed a bubble observation. I told them that they were going to be bubble scientists and their job was to record their observations of the bubbles they blew. After the bubble observation, the students went back and added more information to their organizer from earlier in the day. Then, we learned about the science of bubbles. I read the book Pop! and then the students made this mini book demonstrating their understanding of key details in the text that I read aloud. Then, we played Scoot. I placed cards with bubble related words printed on them at the students' desks and they identified the word printed on each as a noun, verb, or adjective. Some of the words included in the game were bottle, delicate, float, wand, and blow. My apologies, but in the craziness that was this day, I didn't take a pic of the Scoot game exclusively, but you can see it in this image below. We also reviewed our expanded form skills with a quick game of I Have, Who Has (shown above). Again, my apologies for not having photos of these in isolation. Not only was it Bubble Day, but it was also our grade level yearbook signing and we had a water safety assembly. Typically, I like to have my students write directions explaining how to blow a bubble when I host a Bubble Day, but because of the other events that took place on this day, I opted for a poem. The students wrote a cinquain about bubbles. I love cinquains because the students are challenged to think of certain types of words that relate to their topic. Also, because they are limited as to how many adjectives, verbs, etc. they can use in this type of poem, they usually put a bit more thought into choosing their words. Bubble Day was a hit! And, even though we had a few other school events going on, we had a super fun day, filled with lots of laughs and learning. All of these activities/resources, plus many more, can be found in my Let's Have a Bubble Day! unit on TPT. DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:
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5 free templates for young children to help them discover and share with others how God made them SPECIAL! Print yours off today!
