The Fly Paper
A
bulletin from the Director on those sticky issues in special education
- Referral
for Evaluation with fewer than 60 days left in the school year – The question has been raised more than once as
we near the end of the school year, what do we do with those referrals
that come in at this time of year?
Please note that the School Code of Illinois very clearly states, When a child is referred for evaluation
with fewer than 60 days of pupil attendance left in the school year, the
eligibility determination shall be made and, if the child is eligible, an
IEP shall be in effect prior to the first day of the next school year.
Reference: 23
- Students
receiving only Occupational Therapy – Question: Do we have to do an entire reevaluation if we are
expecting to dismiss the student from services? Answer: First, you will need to address
the domain sheet and determine if additional evaluations are necessary,
and if so, in what areas. Assuming
that there are no other concerns, the only area of the domain sheet that
would be checked would be the motor area.
Second, it would then be the responsibility of the staff
(Occupational Therapist) to complete the level of evaluation he/she thinks
appropriate. It could be a simple
screening, or it could be an entire motor assessment. Third, an IEP meeting would then have to
be held with the parent. At that
meeting the results of the evaluation would be shared, the present level
of performance would be discussed, and the child would be dismissed from
services.
- Annual
Goals and Benchmarks – Please be
aware of the following points related to goals and benchmarks:
- The annual goals and benchmarks on all goal
sheets for a given student should have the same progress review
dates. The dates on the goals from
the teacher, the OT, the PT, the Speech & Language Pathologist, the Social
Worker must be consistent.
- Goals MUST be student centered. That is, all goals should relate to
student expected behaviors, not staff related behaviors. It is not appropriate to state that the
student will receive therapy two times per week. That would represent a staff goal
rather than a goal focusing on student outcomes.
- Please note that Team Facilitators and/or Case Managers are responsible for coordinating the goals among the team members.