The Process of Special

Education
NELAIDA CASTILLO-CORDOVA
 Prereferral
• Teacher or parent reports concern with child’s learning, behavior, or
development; or result of a screening test indicates a possible disability
• Parent’s are notified
• Intervention assistance team works with general class teacher to plan and
help implement modifications in curriculum and instruction in an attempt
to solve the problem.
• Prereferral intervention is often conducted by a building based early
intervention assistance team (also called student support team, teacher
assistance team, or problem solving team), which helps teachers devise
and implement interventions for students who are experiencing academic
or behavioral difficulties in the regular classroom.
(Heward, Morgan, Condrad, 2017)
• The pre-referral process helps educators use problem solving team to find
an effective teaching strategies that would work for struggling students.
Before placing the child in an RTI (Response to Intervention) process,
groups of academic and professional educators would work together to
determine the difficulties of the students and come up with working
strategies to develop the child in their learning success before placing the
child in a special education program.
Accommodations Modifications
• Listening to an audio version of a book. • A student could be assigned
But it’s still the same book that the rest shorter or easier reading
of the class is reading.
assignments, or homework that’s
• A student who has trouble focusing different from the rest of the class.
might get seated next to the teacher,
but still has to do all the regular class • Kids who receive modifications
assignments. are not expected to learn the same
• Having extra time to complete the spelling material as their classmates.
test • Student with modifications might only
• Using a keyboard if the physical act of have to study 10 words in spelling
writing is difficult. instead of 20.
• Kids might get extra time to learn to play an • The PE teacher might reduce the
instrument.
number of laps a student needs to run.
• They may be allowed to complete an art
project in a different format.
Prereferral intervention is designed to achieve the following:
 Provide immediate instruction and/or behavior management assistance to
the child and teacher
 Reduce the frequency of special education placement for children whose
learning or behavioral problems are the result of inappropriate instruction
 Prevent relatively minor problems from worsening to a degree that would
eventually require special education.
 Strengthen teachers’ capacity to effectively intervene with a greater
diversity of problems, thereby reducing the number of future referrals for
special education
 Prevent the costly and time-consuming process of assessment for special
education eligibility
 Provide IEP teams with valuable baseline data for planning and evaluating
special education and related services for students who are referred and
found eligible for special education.
• If the prereferral intervention becomes successful, the process stops.
• If the student continues to struggle, he is then referred to special
education, and a full evaluation is to be conducted.
• Referral or request for evaluation. A school professional may ask that a
child be evaluated to see if he or she has a disability. Parents may also
contact the child’s teacher or other school professional to ask that their
child be evaluated. This request may be verbal, but it’s best to put it
in writing.
• What is a referral?
A referral is a request written by parents or classroom teacher, for an
evaluation that is given to the school district when a child is suspected of
having a disability and might need special education services.

• Interventions in general education have been attempted and documented;

the interventions do not alleviate educational difficulties.
• A school district may not use RTI or any other form of prereferral
intervention to delay formal evaluation and assessment of a student who is
eligible for special education. At anytime during the prereferral process,
parents have the right to request that their child receive a comprehensive
evaluation for identification and eligibility for special education services.
(Heward, Morgan, Konrad, 2017)
Evaluation and Eligibility Determination
•  Is an essential early step in the special education process for a child. It’s
intended to answer these questions:
 Does the child have a disability that requires the provision of special
education and related services?
 What are the child’s specific educational needs?
 What special education services and related services, then, are appropriate for
addressing those needs?
• IDEA requires that all children suspected of having a disability receive a
nondiscriminatory multifactored evaluation (MFE). The school or the
parents can request an evaluation. Regardless of the source of the referral,
the parents must be notified of the school’s intent to test their child, and
they must give their consent for the evaluation. Within 60 days of
receiving parental consent, the school district must complete the
evaluation to determine whether the child has a disability and identify the
educational need of the child.
• Following the formal request and consent for evaluation the multidisciplinary team
(MDT) must meet to review existing data and information on the child and identify what
evaluation are needed.
• Members of the MDT include the following:
The child’s parents or legal guardian
At least one regular education teacher of the child
At least one special education teacher of the child
A representative of the public school agency (can be the special education coordinator)
Professionals who can interpret the evaluations to be conducted on the child (for example,
a psychologist, a speech pathologist etc.)
The child if appropriate
• There are several types of evaluation that may be done on the child, including:
 Psychoeducational (general intelligence and academic performance)
 Clinical Psychological (social and emotional status)
 Occupational/Physical Therapy (motor abilities)
 Medical (physical, vision, hearing, psychiatric, neurological)
 Speech/Language (communication)
 Vocational
• The evaluation must assess the child in all areas related to the child’s
suspected disability.
• The evaluation results will be used to decide the child’s eligibility for
special education and related services and to make decisions about an
appropriate educational program for the child.
• A group of qualified professionals or the MDT and the parents
look at the child’s evaluation results . Together, they decide if
the child is a “child with a disability,” as defined by IDEA. If
the parents do not agree with the eligibility decision, they may
ask for a hearing to challenge the decision.
• To be eligible for special education and related services, child
must be between three and twenty-two and have a disability
that adversely affects his or her ability to learn and make
progress in school.
• Disability Classification includes:
 Autism
 Deaf-Blindness
 Deafness
 Developmental Delay
 Emotional Disturbance
 Hearing Impairment
 Intellectual Disability
 Multiple Disabilities
 Orthopedic Impairment
• Visual Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Other Health Impairments such as ADHD, Specific Learning Disability,
and Speech or Language Impairment
• If the child is found to be a child with a disability, as defined by IDEA, he
or she is eligible for special education and related services. Within 30
calendar days after a child is determined eligible, a team of school
professionals and the parents must meet to write an 
individualized education program (IEP) for the child.
 Program Planning
What is program planning?
It is to plan an appropriate education for students with special needs, and to
ensure effective transition from the early years to adult life.
Why is the program Planning important?
Through the program planning process, students with special needs are
supported to meet their learning outcomes. Students are more likely to
succeed if members of the program planning team work together.
• If the evaluation team determines that a child has a disability that is
adversely affecting his or her education performance, an IEP is developed.
• The school system schedules and conducts the IEP meeting. School staff must:
 contact the participants, including the parents;
 notify parents early enough to make sure they have an opportunity to attend;
 schedule the meeting at a time and place agreeable to parents and the school;
 tell the parents the purpose, time, and location of the meeting;
 tell the parents who will be attending; and
 tell the parents that they may invite people to the meeting who have knowledge or
special expertise about the child.
• What is IEP?
It is a written document that outlines objectives, measurable
goals, specialized instruction and related services for a child’s
unique needs.
• The IEP must contain the following:
 The child’s present level of education performance
 Measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals
 The special education and related services and supplementary aids and services
to be provided
 The projected date for the beginning of the services and modifications,
frequency, location and duration of services and modification
 How the child’s progress toward the annual goals will be measured
 How the child’s parents will be regularly informed about the child’s progress
• The IEP team gathers to talk about the child’s needs and write the student’s IEP.
Parents and the student (when appropriate) are full participating members of the
team.
• Before the school system may provide special education and related services to the
child for the first time, the parents must give consent. The child begins to receive
services as soon as possible after the IEP is written and this consent is given.
• If the parents do not agree with the IEP and placement, they may discuss their
concerns with other members of the IEP team and try to work out an agreement.
 Placement

• Once the IEP Team determines the special education and related services the child needs, the
IEP Team must determine the educational placement of the child.
• It is important to make placement decisions based on measures that accurately reflect students
performance in class.
• Once an agreement on the content of the IEP is reached, the committee finalizes the most
appropriate placement for the child. Placement can range from a fully inclusive program in the
regular classroom to pull-out services in a special education program. In rare cases, students
may be served in special schools or hospitals. The parent is asked to sign consent for the
agreed-upon services to be provided.
• The child must be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE),
which means to the maximum extent appropriate, children with
disabilities are educated with children who are nondisabled and are
removed from the regular education class only if the nature or severity of
the child’s disability is such that education in the regular classes, with the
use of supplementary aids and services, cannot be achieved.
• A continuum of alternative placement available to meet the needs of children with disability
must be ensured. The continuum of alternative placement is the range of levels of special
education services available such as:
• General education classroom
• General education classroom with consultation
• General education classroom with supplementary instruction and services
• Resource Room
• Separate Classroom
• Separate School
• Residential School
• Homebound or Hospital
 Progress Monitoring, Annual Review and
Reevaluation
• No matter how appropriate the IEP goals, the planned instruction, and the
identified related services, the document’s usefulness is limited without ongoing
monitoring of student progress.
• You should be in regular communication with your child's teachers. Together, you
should be monitoring how your child is doing academically and whether or not
they are meeting their educational goals.
• Parents must be provided with periodic reports on the child’s progress toward
meeting annual IEP goals (e.g., quarterly reports concurrent with the issuance of
report cards)
• The child’s IEP and placement must be reviewed at least once a year.
• The IEP team meets annually to discuss your child's progress. During those meetings,
the team will evaluate the effectiveness of the IEP and modify it as needed.
• Decisions whether to continue or change instructional procedures that have been
initiated with students are involved. It also involves decisions whether the special
education program should be terminated, continued as is, or modified. A key
consideration is whether the student is meeting the IEP goals.
• The IEP team revises the IEP to address any lack of expected progress in meeting
annual goals or changes in the child’s need
• At least every three years the child must be reevaluated. This evaluation is
sometimes called a “triennial.” Its purpose is to find out if the child
continues to be a child with a disability, as defined by IDEA, and what the
child’s educational needs are. However, the child must be reevaluated
more often if conditions warrant or if the child’s parent or teacher asks for
a new evaluation.
• If the disability still affects the child’s educational performance, then the
special education continues.
• If the IEP team decides that a disability is no longer present or that the
child’s education is no longer adversely affected by the disability, special
education discontinues.
 References
• https://www.parentcenterhub.org/steps/
• http://studentservices.ednet.ns.ca/sites/default/files/program_planning.pdf
• https://studylib.net/doc/7846156/sample-iep-assessment-request-letter
• Heward, Morgan, Kondrad (2017), Exceptional Children: An Introduction
to Special Education