Lets Get an

I.D.E.A.
This pamphlet is to
inform you on the special
education process under
I.D.E.A. and the 6
principles of I.D.E.A.
(Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act).
I.D.E.A. provides F.A.P.E.
(Free and Appropriate
Public Education) to all
students with disabilities.

Lets Step Into the

Process!
Step 1: Child Find and
Screening
Child Find
Child Find is when all children
with disabilities residing in the
State, who are in need of special
education and related services,
are identified, located, and
evaluated. This is done by each
school district putting out an
annual public notification to
notify parents about the child
find activities that will be taking

place and to inform them of the

early intervention and special
education services that their
school district provides. For
children that are not attending
school yet, parents can bring
them in to participate in the child
find activities. It is important for
children to be identified early so
that way they can participate in
early intervention programs and
receive the services they need.

Screening
The state law requires that all
school districts establish a
screening system in which all
students are screened. The
screening system is meant to
identify and provide initial
screening for students prior to
being referred for special

education evaluation; however, it

is meant to help identify those
students who may be in need of
special education services. The
screenings that occur are hearing
and vision so that way students
with those difficulties can be
referred for assistance or
recommended for special
education evaluation. Other
screenings that occur are ones
throughout the year that
determine if all students are
performing on grade appropriate
standards in core subject areas.
Since these screenings are
universal and are done to
every child, parents do not

have the right to say no to

their child being screened.

Step 2: Request for

Evaluation
Any time after the screening
process is completed; further
assessments or evaluation may
be requested. Requests can be
made my parents/guardians,

general education teachers,

special education teachers,
and/or any other school staff
member that has direct
knowledge of the child. No
matter who requests the
evaluation, the parent/guardian
must give written consent for the
evaluation to actually take place.
Once the parent gives
consent the evaluation must
take place within 60 calendar
days. The assessments that are
used in the evaluation process
will focus on developmental and
academic information and
progress and any information
provided by the parent. The
assessments from the evaluation

are then used to determine if the

child is eligible to receive special
education services. The
assessments are completed and
the information is gathered by a
group of qualified individuals
called the Multidisciplinary Team.
After the assessments and
information are gathered the
school psychologist combines all
that information to create an
evaluation report (ER). Once
again, the ER must be
created and given to the
parent within 60 calendar
days of consent for the
evaluation to take place.

-at least one general

education teacher
-at least one special
education teacher

Step 3: The IEP

(Individualized
Education Plan) Team,
IEP Development, The
IEP
The IEP Team
The IEP team consists of
multiple members including:
-the
parent/guardian/surrogate

-a local education agency

(LEA) representative
-the school psychologist
-additional members such as
a transitional service
representative (if the child is 14
or older), the child (if they are 14
or older or the parent wants
them to attend), therapists,
vocational technical agencies,
and anyone that is found
necessary to be there

-these members can

attend but are not required to
-the parent also has the
right to bring anyone to the
meeting that they would like
to attend
(some of the members of the
Multidisciplinary team may also
be on the IEP team depending on
if it is necessary or appropriate).

Development of the IEP

Parents must be formally

invited to the IEP meeting by
the school within 10 days
after they receive the ER and
the actual IEP meeting must
take place within 30 days of
the parent receiving the ER.
All required members of the
IEP team must be present and
participate for the initial IEP
meeting. If a parent is unable
to attend they can participate
through a phone call or video
conference call.
During the meeting the team
members will collaborate to
discuss the strengths of the child,
the parents concerns, the results

from the ER, and the

developmental, academic and
functional needs of the child.

The IEP
The IEP team will work
together to create the IEP. The
IEP will the childs present levels
of academic achievement and
functional performance, how the
childs disability will affect their
involvement in the general
education curriculum, a
statement of annual goals, a
description of how those goals
will be measured, when reports
of the progress of those goals will
be provided, a statement of the
special education and related

services that will be provided, an

explanation of why the child may
not be participating in the
general education classroom, a
statement of accommodations
the child needs, a statement of
which type of assessments the
child will participate in and why,
and the date that the services
listed will be provided.
The IEP must also include the
types of support that the child
will receive and a description of
them. The types of possible
supports are:
-autistic support
-blind-visually impaired
support

-deaf and hard of hearing

support
-emotional support
-learning support
-life skills support
-multiple disabilities support
-speech and language
support

Step 4: Placement

After all of the supports and

services have been listed and the
goals for the student have been
identified the IEP team must
collaboratively work together to
place the student in the least
restrictive environment (LRE).
The LRE for any child is when
they are placed into the the
general education classroom as
much as possible and are
educated with their nondisabled
peers. The IEP team must look
and discuss everything in the IEP
to decide to what extent the child
can participate in the general
education classroom and
curriculum and also make
progress towards their goals. The

placement options are the

general education classroom,
special classes, special schools,
home instruction, and instruction
in hospitals. It is the parents
right to be informed of all the
possible placements for their
child. They also have the
right to disagree with a
placement decision.
Once the placement is
decided and agreed upon the IEP
is complete. Parents must then
sign the completed IEP
stating their agreement to it
and to allow the services
stated in the IEP to be
provided to their child.

Step 5: Review and

Reevaluation
Review
The state requires that the
IEP team review each IEP
periodically, however, they must
review each one at least once a
year. The IEP team looks to see if
the annual goals are being
achieved based off of progress
monitoring that is being done. If
there is lack of progress toward
meeting the goals then the IEP
team needs to make revisions as
necessary and appropriate. If it is
the annual review and the child

has met their goals new goals

need to be created. If changes
need to be made to the IEP the
whole team can meet to redraft it
or a written document can be
created to just amend it if the
parents and public agency agree
upon it.

Reevaluation
Each students IEP must be
reevaluated every 3 years, unless
the student has an intellectual
disability, then their IEPs must
be reevaluated every 2 years. A
reevaluation can also take
place if the public agency,
the parent, or one of the
childs teachers request one.

A reevaluation cannot be
conducted more than once a year
unless the parent and public
agency agree upon it. Also if a
parent and public agency
agree that a reevaluation is
unnecessary than it does not
need to take place. To waive
reevaluation the parent must
sign a form.
For the child to be
reevaluated parents must
sign a form of consent just
like they did for the initial
evaluation. After consent is
given the assessments are done
and information is collected and
a new reevaluation report is
created. If the child is still eligible

for special education services the

IEP team must meet to review
the results. The school district
must again provide a copy of
the reevaluation report to the
parents 10 days prior to the
IEP meeting. The whole IEP
can meet for the reevaluation
meeting or just some
members as long as the
parent signs consent for the
whole team not to meet.

The 6 Principles of
I.D.E.A.
1)
Parental and Student
Participation: Throughout

the whole entire special

education process
schools/teachers must
collaborate with parents
and adolescent students
in designing and carrying
out special education
programs. Parents and
students always need to
be involved and have a
say.
2)
Procedural Due
Process: this also occurs
throughout the whole
special education
process. Parents are

given the procedural

safeguards packet once a
year and at the time of
initial referral. The
packet explains their
rights and the students
rights and if at any time
the school is found
noncompliant the
student and parent can
file a due process
hearing.
3)
Least Restrictive
Environment: During the
placement of the child in
the IEP meeting the

whole team collaborates

to decide on the
environment that allows
the student to be
educated with
nondisabled peers in the
general education
classroom as much as
possible, but also making
progress towards IEP
goals.
4)
Appropriate
Education: through
I.D.E.A. every child with a
disability is able to
receive free and

appropriate public
education. During the
development of the IEP
the team works towards
identify any services or
supports needed so that
way the child can
actively participate in
their education.
5)
Nondiscriminatory
Evaluation:
6)
Zero Reject:
Parents Rights!
-parents must receive
a copy of the ER and the
IEP at no cost

-any services or
supports listed in the IEP
must be provided to the
student by the date
listed in the IEP
-after the IEP is
completed it must be
implemented within 10
school days after the
parent receives a copy of
it
-parent will have
reasonable access to
their childs classroom,
within parameters of LEA
policy

-whenever there is a
placement decision or a
placement change the
parent must be
presented with a NOREP
form and must sign it.
-parents must be
provided with the
procedural safeguards
packet once a year and
also upon initial referral,
upon receipt of the first
state complaint, and
upon request by the
parent

-parents can file due

process if the school
district is found noncompliant
*anything that was
bolded throughout this
pamphlet is also a right
of the parent

For More
Information About
the Special
Education Process
and/or the 6
Principles of
I.D.E.A. Please
Contact Us:
Lindsay Hand, Taylor Fry,
or Alyssa Ariemma at : 570555-5555 or 570-555-5558

Or visit one of the

following websites:
http://pattan.netwebsite.s3.amazonaws.com/images/201
4/01/27/29_Funs_Hink_Herr_1_of_2.pdf
http://www.pattan.net/category/Resourc
es/Handouts/Browse/Single/?
id=4de79f7fcd69f98019a40000
(download powerpoint presentation)

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