September 2013 FAQs

September 4th, 2013  

FAQs

Q: I don’t understand minutes in and minutes out of regular ed on the summary of services page. Help!

A: Students may receive special education services in the general education or special education classroom or a combination of the two. In order to appropriately determine a student’s LRE, the amount of time that a student participates with his or her non-disabled peers must be determined. If a student has 50 minutes of Reading in the IEP and has 20 minutes of that time in the general ed classroom and is pulled out  to special ed for the other 30 minutes, then 20 minutes goes in the Minutes IN and 30 minutes goes in Minutes OUT on the reading section of the summary of services.

Q: Which day is the first day of an evaluation timeline?

T: The timeline begins on the date that the district (school) received the consent. If at a meeting, the date the parent signs and dates the consent to evaluate is the first day of the timeline. If the parent did not sign the consent at a meeting and returned it to you at a later date the first day is the day the school received it. Either way, write the received date at the bottom of the consent form and include that date in the database for documentation.

Q: What does that Red M mean again?

A: The Red M signifies that a meeting was held at least 3 weeks ago and Pupil Services has not received the original paperwork from the meeting OR Pupil Services has received some paperwork but some paperwork is missing. Original paperwork is due to Pupil Services and a copy of the paperwork is due to parents within 3 weeks of the date of the meeting.

Q: I usually send paperwork home to parents at the same time I send it to district office. It is embarrassing to have to contact the parent to correct mistakes found by district office. What can I do?

A: The hard copy of the IEP is the legal document that the school is to follow and is the educational record for both the district and the parent. Therefore, that document must not only reflect the decisions made by the team for the student, but must reflect our best work as school district employees. Always print out the IEP and proofread it. You may consider asking a colleague to proofread it for you. You may contact Pupil Services secretaries or your program coordinator prior to printing and sending the document anywhere, and we will be happy to proofread it for you! Proofreading should be for typos as well as for content inconsistencies or errors.

Q: What should I write in the PLAAFP under “Parent comments/ concerns…”?

A: This section of the PLAAFP is for the parents’ words regarding their children. This should be what parents say they want for their child. Some examples include: “Parents work with Johnny at home. They are concerned that he takes 3 hours to complete his homework,” or “Johnny’s parents were not able to attend the meeting. When setting up the meeting, Johnny’s parents expressed they would like the team to discuss accommodations to allow him to be successful in his general ed math class.”

Some non-examples include: “Parents did not attend the IEP meeting” or “None at this time.”

 

PLAAFP — The First “P” Stands for Present!

September 4th, 2013  

Presents Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) are developed during the IEP process first for a reason – without a proper PLAAFP, the team cannot develop the goals or select an appropriate program. Take the following 5 steps to construct detailed PLAAFPs:

1. Bring current data to the IEP meeting. This doesn’t mean information that is a year or older. Rely more on hard data than teacher observations. Data should speak for itself.

2. Be cautious when using numbers in PLAAFPs. Think twice before saying that a child does something X percent of the time or X out of X times. If you are saying that a child does something 8 out of 10 times, does he consistently do it 8 out of 10 times or just that day assessed? PLAAFPs should explain where the child is functioning on a day to day basis, not where he was functioning on a particular day.

3. Review test scores and evaluation results prior to meeting. Team members should have an opportunity to interpret test scores and evaluation results for themselves. Sometimes different staff members and parents have different beliefs about whether a student is making progress and what the student needs to improve. Reviewing ahead of time leads to a meaningful discussion at the meeting.

4. Write PLAAFPs in positive terms. PLAAFPs are supposed to identify what a student can do. Avoid using the word can’t when writing PLAAFPs. What the child cannot do comes into play when developing the goals and objectives. PLAAFPs identify student strengths and abilities while goals identify what the student needs to learn to do.

5. Use the “stranger test” to assess PLAAFPs. A PLAAFP is appropriate if a person who is unfamiliar with the IEP would be able to identify exactly what the student can do. This is likely if the PLAAFP includes measurable data and specific details.

Excerpted from Special Ed eConnection by LRP (February 2013)

 

End of the Year Mini-Checklist is Back!

May 10th, 2013  

Can you believe it is already May? Some may be thinking that the school year just flew by, while others are just so glad that it’s over! Wherever you are, Pupil Services hopes that it was a great year for all of you!

Here is a mini – checklist to help you close out the school year:

bullet-point-image-7All IEP related paperwork turned in to the district office (May 9 is the deadline!)

bullet-point-image-7   HSGQE modification applications for fall testing are to be submitted to the state no later than May 23, 2013.  (They are due to the state by August 2 and we don’t want to have to find you over the summer!!)

bullet-point-image-7   Program Exit form for students who will receive their high school diploma or will age out this year need to be sent home with the final quarterly progress reports.

bullet-point-image-7   Extended School Year paperwork is turned in to District Office.  bullet-point-image-7 ESY Objectives are marked on the IEP.   bullet-point-image-7  Materials are ready to send to ESY teacher.

bullet-point-image-7   Send 4th quarter progress reports home to parents. (District office will audit the database to ensure that these are completed.)

bullet-point-image-7   Prepare school files to be forwarded to the next school for students who are transitioning. Keep documentation regarding to which person at which school the files were sent.

bullet-point-image-7   Check out the new Pupil Services Resource Page.

bullet-point-image-7   Prep fishing gear – summer here you come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2013 FAQs

April 4th, 2013  

FAQs

Q: I have a student on my caseload who is also enrolled with Connections. Who should be invited to the IEP or 3-year reevaluation meeting?

A: If a student is dually enrolled, staff from the school and from Connections should be involved in meetings. To ensure that the right people from Connections makes it to the meeting, contact the special education teacher at Connections who will ensure that all appropriate players from Connections will be invited. Your meeting invitation can list, “Connections staff” as an invitee.

Q: What is that Indicator 13 checklist?

A: This checklist refers to the requirements regarding secondary transition. A link to the requirements and the checklist can be found here. We will continue to work on and monitor the components of this checklist as new state reporting requires districts to report on ALL 8 indicator 13 questions beginning July 2014.

Q: When considering ESY eligibility, isn’t it about whether students would “benefit” from the service?

A: No!! Almost all students would “benefit” from services over a long break like summer. Students who are     eligible for ESY services “need” the service in order to fully access their free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and make progress towards their IEP goals and objectives.

Cover Page Reminders – Secondary Transition

April 4th, 2013  

The IEP cover page has a section for parents to give consent for transition agencies to attend a student’s IEP meeting. Here are some additional guidelines that will hopefully be helpful.

1. If the student is a junior, DVR must be considered for participation in IEP meetings.

2. If, after careful consideration, no transition agencies are appropriate, there should not be a signature on the parent signature line. Instead write “Not appropriate for this meeting.”  Be sure to consider participation annually.


IEP Cover

 

Ask any non-KPBSD representative present at the meeting to write the name of their agency/company on the line next to their signature or next to the word “other” under their signature line.

IEP Cover2

 

Call your friendly neighborhood Pupil Services if you have any questions!!