What are the criteria for Special Education?
Students who may be eligible for special education must meet the "three-prong test." The student must: 1) Have a disability. 2) The disability must cause an adverse educational impact and, 3) The student must require specially designed instruction in order to benefit from his/her free apropriate public education. All three criteria must be satisfied through the evaluation process of a multi-disciplinary team before a student can be considered eligible for special education. Once the student's eligibility is determined, the parent still must agree to placement in Special Education through a special signature line on the initial Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Even if the multi-disciplinary team agrees that the student is eligible, if the parent does not sign the placement line on the IEP, the student is not considered a special education student.
What is the difference between Special Education and a Section 504 Plan?
A Section 504 Plan is an accommodation plan. As noted above, a student eligible for special education has met the "three prong test." A student that may be considered for a Section 504 plan must have a disability with an adverse eduational impact. The student needs accommodations but does not need specially designed instruction in order to benefit from his/her free appropriate public education. For example, a student that uses a wheelchair may need extra time to get between classes without being penalized. This is an accommodation for the student's disability. This type of accommodation may be written into a Section 504 plan which is then provided to the student's teacher(s).
Is there a limit to the number of students a school district can put into Special Education?
No, in fact school districts are prohibited from "capping" the numbers of Special Education students and Section 504 students. However, until a recent Supreme Court decision, districts' reimbursement for serving disabled students was "capped" by the state. That is, districts were mandated to serve the students but OSPI was not mandated to reimburse for the full cost of educating the students.
My student student was found not eligible for Special Education services. Don't you care about my student?
Our goal and mandate is to educate all students appropriately. Placing a student into Special Education when they don't demonstrate true need may actually do more harm than good to the student both now and in the future. Research has shown that there are drawbacks to Special Education. Let's draw a parallel between the two institutions of education and medicine. Most of us are aware there are risks associated with high level medical care such as drug errors and "super infections." Intensive medical care is also extremely expensive. Placing someone in intensive care when they may not need it exposes that individual to risks. In addition, it utilizes limited resources that others may need. Likewise in education, within special education the students may be exposed to things that aren't in their best interest. In addition, they may be denied opportunities that are enriching for them. Education specialists such as speech/language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, special educators, and school psychologists are in very short supply at this time in this region. It is prudent to ensure that those who need the services, get them absolutely, and ensure that students who would minimally benefit from such services remain in general education and receive remedial services to address deficits.
I think my student may have a learning disability. What should be done next?
If you student is school age, you may request a Child Study Team (CST) meeting through the school counselor, principal, or through the special education department. At the CST meeting parents, teachers, the counselor, an administrator and the school psychologist will meet together and discuss the student's strengths and weaknesses along with any recent changes in the student's life. We will review the student's current grades and school functioning as well as past educational records. Parents and teachers that have additional information are encouraged to bring this to the meeting. If the team finds that interventions have been attempted and failed and the student is likely to meet the eligibility criteria as noted above, an evaluation may be initiated to determine whether the student needs Special Education and related services. Any recommended evaluations will go forward after the parent provides written consent for the evaluation.
My child's doctor wrote a prescription that says "Needs IEP." What do I do next?
Physicians and other clinical service providers are welcome to participate as members of the evaluation and IEP teams. However, a physician has no more authority to write a prescription for an IEP than an educational evaluation team has to write a pharmacy prescription for a narcotic. Federal and state law gives the eligibility decision to a multidisciplinary educational team, which includes the student's parents and others who may have special knowledge regarding the child. The team is mandated to ensure it has weighed the risks and benefits of Special Education for the student prior to establishing eligibility and the team must be convinced the student will not make adequate educational progress without Special Education. Hopefully, a physician writing such a prescription will include details that the team may consider during evaluation decisions, such as any diagnosed disability the student may have (e.g. epilepsy, asthma, ADHD, etc.) and any special medical/health considerations the team should consider.
An outside evaluator or tutoring service told me my child has a learning disability but at school my child isn't eligible for Special Education services. Why?
Public Schools in Washington use the Severe Discrepancy Tables (published by OSPI) in order to establish that a student has a Specific Learning Disability. This means that a student's intelligence is much higher than their academics. A tutoring service is more likely to test academics alone and recommend tutoring service based upon low academics without considering the student's cognitive potential. There are several ways in the research literature to diagnose Learning Disabilities. However, within the Rules for the Provision of Special Education to disabled students, public schools using public funding must adhere to state-accepted methods for documenting that a Learning Disability exists.
What other options exist for getting my child help at school?
With the reauthorization of IDEA by the federal government in 2004, Congress allowed for a new option called "Response to Intervention" (RTI). That is, education teams will be allowed to use a series of research-based intervention attempts to establish that a student meets eligibility criteria. We are not able to use RTI quite yet but hope to be using this method of diagnosing learning disabilities in the future.