"It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also accomplish." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

This past weekend has flown by, I can't believe it is Monday- luckily I have today to study and work on homework. Some friends came into town that have graduated, it was a lot of fun to see them. At one point all of us were walking outside in the new blanket of snow, for some reason somebody decided to pick up some snow, no intention of throwing it but then somebody else thought that they were going to throw it. This lead to an impromtu snowball fight. My aim was quite good actually, suprisingly the boys weren't aiming very well at all- ha ha.

As I am sitting here studying for Disability Law, since it is hard for my to just study words on paper and not think of the flow and process, not write it out is difficult; plus I won't remember it unless I go through it writing out the process and the information that I need to know. I told mom that instead of just writing it on a clean document in Word, I will write a blog about it. I have been telling mom about disability law in schools, there is a lot she didn't know about, so if you are reading this, you may know this and find it boring (sorry) but some of it I didn't even know, there is quite a bit a teacher needs to know what to do with this area. If we don't, we just might get sued. No need to actually read on if you don't want to know about it, but for others if you do, please enjoy...

The objectives by the end of the exam is to know the legal foundations for special education including relevant legiston, litigation, and vocabulary. With that: understand the referral process, write a pre-referral, begin to understand how students and families cope with learning disabilities and ADHD, and finally collect evidence of student performace in relation to the GLE's (grade level expectations).

The purpose of special education is to ensure that all students who are eligible for Special Education do have Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. This also ensures sudent and parent rights are protected- students can have imput or veto along the process anything that they do not agree with. Finally, this assesses and ensures the effectiveness of the IEP (Individual Education Program).

There are many different court decisions which impacted Special Education. However, one of the most important decision was Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. Although this case was specfics towards segregation of race, it was the foundation for disability acts to follow. There were students that were discriminated against who did not recieve FAPE, "seperate but equal" which is not constitutional. The other major case is Hendrick Hudson Central School District Board of Education v. Rowley in 1982. The supreme court stated that services provided to the child must: be provided at the public expense and under public supervision, meet the state educational standards, comply with the child's IEP, and confer education benefits. But IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) does not require school disctricts to maximize a student's potential. Successful and potential are completely different terms.

This takes us into major tenants of IDEA, there are twelve components of the act:
1. Applies to children ages 3-21
2. Zero Reject
3. FAPE
4. LRE (Least Restrictive Enviroment)
5. Nondiscriminatory evaluation
6. Due Process
7. Transition planning (from school to "real world")
8. AYP- Adequate Yearly Progress
9. Advocacy
10. Confidentiality
11. Noncompliance- lawsuits
12. Person First Language (especially in written work)

The question is: Who is eligible for services under IDEA? If the disability adversely impacts educational performance and requires specialized instruction. Thus, if it does not meet these two requirements, the student will stay under Section 504 and can recieve services. An example of this: a student with asthma. A student is affected by this, however, it does affect their educational performance. If the student has to leave class frequently, if the student cannot perform to the GLE's in classes, the student could potentially qualify under IDEA.

What is Section 504? The tenants under this act: prevents discrimination by any organization recieving federal funds, defines a handicapped person as, "Any person who has a physical or mental impairment which substanitally limits one or more major life activities," students served under IDEA are also eligible for 504, both laws mandate FAPE, IDEA requires an individual education program (IEP) while 504 requires schools to demonstarate how services are being provided.

The nondiscriminatory evaluation makes sure not one student falls through the cracks in public schools. First step is screening, which all students are a part of (e.g. WASL), it is in a secure location (in school). If the there is a question the next step is a pre-referral --> referral (if the team sees no progress with the student from the pre-referral, which is between 3-4 weeks), then nondiscriminatory evaluation procedures which only students in need of special education and related services are part of.

The IDEA procedures are: Preferral (consultation with IST which is the instructional support team), DOCUMENT current levels of student performances (academic, social, and behavioral), implement academic support- document results, referral, notice of procedural safeguards and due process rights, parent consent, evaluation, eligibility determination, IEP development, placement decision (LRE), annual review, triennal reevaluation (all tests again), and finally transition planning (for after the student graduates).

A pre-referral includes the following, no steps can be skipped:
1. statement that specifically states the belief the student can be successful
2. paragraph explaining the important information about the child
3. information about the student's current academic, social, emotional, and behavioral performance
4. Quantitative (number-based) and qualitative (oberservations, interviews, and artifacts) evidence supporting the claims in #3
5. Research-based instructional interventions that have been tried with the student and the outcomes
6. Questions to be addressed
Also, it is important to start a relationship with the student's guardians- let them know what is going on with the student. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING in a secured location in school. Also start establishing a dialogue with the Special Education teacher so they are not suprised and overwhelmed when they have to go through a stack of pre-referrals at once. If the student qualifies then it is onto the IEP development. The student (when appropriate), local educational agency (LEA), general classroom teachers, special education teacher, therapist, parents, evaluator are all involved with the student's IEP. The contents of the IEP include: levels of performance, specific measurable annual goals, objectives, expected levels of performance, information regarding the students placement and related services, modifications to the general education curriculum, dates and times for delivery of services, means to assess AYP and transition plan (16 years and up).

That is the overview of what I am supposed to know by Wednesday. Wish me luck! I am going to say congrats and I am impressed for those who read the entire blog!!!! WOW