LEAs Should Never Make Recommendations/Decisions Based Upon Inadequate Evaluations

Julie Weatherly featured an article in a journal titled In Case, Volume 48, Numbers 4-6; and in Volume 49, Numbers 1-2. The title of the article is Avoiding Legal Disputes in Special Education: 21 Training Points for Administrators. According to Weatherly, school district staff would be well advised to adopt the motto "when there is debate, evaluate!" In summary, she explains that IEPs must be developed upon evaluations that are up-to-date, thorough and adequate. "In some cases, a school system may lose a disputed case based soley upon its failure to appropriately evaluate a student prior to making educational recommendations. Furthermore, LEAs must carefully consider the need to evaluate or reevaluate when parental requests for testing are received. Weatherly adds, "...it is vital to obtain all previous records and to demand current evaluations or to insist upon the right to conduct current evaluations".

Board of Education of the Appoquinimink School District v. Johnson, 50 IDELR 33, 543 F. Supp.2d 351 (D.Del.2008)

In her presentation at the 19th Annual CASE (Counsel for Administrators in Special Education), Julie Weatherly mentioned a case whereby An adminstrative panel's decision was reversed. The original verdict was that the school district failed to meet its obligations when it chose not to provide a full-time ASL interpreter to a deaf student enrolled at a private Episcopal School. According to Weatherly, "the decision was erroneous as a matter of law because IDEA imposes no obligation on the district to provide related services to a parentally-placed private school student." Furthermore, "...evidence indicated that the district's proportional share allocated for private school students was $3, 639.00 and the cost for the interpreter was over $37,000.00 per year."

May an Initial Evaluation Consist Only of Existing Data?

According to Parents Rights in Special Education (Procedural Safeguards) distributed by South Carolina's Office of Exceptional Children at the State Department of Education, the answer is "yes". "Existing data should be reviewed as a part of any initial evaluation. This would include evaluations and information provided by parents, current classroom-based, local, or state asessements and classroom-based observations, and observations from teachers and related service providers. For an initial evaluation, such data should help the team to decide if more information is needed to determine eligibility--both the presence of a disablity and the determination of the child's educational need. The existing data will also help identify the present levels of academic achievement and related developmental needs of the child, and whether any additions or modifications to the special education and related services are needed to enable the child to meet the measureable annual goals set out in the IEP of the child and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum, or for preschool age children, an age appropriate environment. If the team has enough information from the existing soures of data (general education progress in the curriculum/interventions, record review, interviews, observations, tests), the team may conclude that no additional data are needed and eligibility may be determined based upon existing data. The Prior Written Notice would include: (1) a statement of this fact and the reasons for it; and (2) a statement of the right of the parents to request additional assessment to determine whether the child is a child with a disability. Parent consent to conduct the initial evaluation is required, whether or not additional data is needed".

Speech-Language Therapists Bring Attention to the School District of Oconee County at 2009 SCSHA Conference

The South Carolina Speech-Language Hearing Association annual conference was a huge success for our Oconee County presenters. Samantha Green and Kristi Ruhland (with the help of Jessica Matheson, Sandra Mattox, and Jody McKibben) presented to a packed house (around 500 or so!!!) about Sounds in Motion (SIM). SIM can provide the school-based clinician with the opportunity to work on articulation stimulation, auditory perception, phonemic awareness and vocabulary development simultaneously with an entire class while incorporating the use of body movements. Our team received lots of positive comments in addition to an invitation to return next year and even possibly teach a short course on SIM. The next SCSHA conference is February 18-20, 2010, in Columbia, SC, at the Columbia Convention Center.

Thanks for making Oconee County shine!! We're proud of you!

LEA's Must Provide Sufficient Parental Opportunity to Participate in the Decision-making Process

Julie Weatherly featured an article in a journal titled In Case, Volume 48, Numbers 4-6; and in Volume 49, Numbers 1-2. The title of the article is Avoiding Legal Disputes in Special Education: 21 Training Points for Administrators. According to Weatherly, "predetermination of placement" could lead to a denial of FAPE. In summary, LEA's should be careful not to do the following:

NEVER...

1. ...develop and finalize an IEP before the meeting then ask the parents to sign without discussion.

2. ...provide improper notice to the parents about relevant information (e.g., complete evaluation results, proposed placement).

3. ...hold "school member only" staffings to complete the IEP then have the special education teacher present the IEP at a later time to parents.

If presenting a draft IEP at the meeting, ALWAYS explain the draft is for discussion purposes only. The draft IEP is a working document amenable to changes as an IEP team sees fit. Parental input into a child's IEP is imperative.

In her presentation at the 19th Annual CASE (Counsel for Administrators in Special Education), Julie Weatherly mentioned a case whereby a parent was not able to meet the burden of proof by demonstrating that the unilateral private placement she chose for her emotionally disabled daughter is appropriate. Athough it was agreed that the student needed a "full-time residential treatment program", the private school chosen by the parents did not have the resources to meet their daughter's needs according to the IEP. It did not provide specially designed instructional programs and it did not provide any clinical or psychological services to address their daughter's social and emotional needs.

What are the Qualifications of the People doing Assessments?

According to Parents Rights in Special Education (Procedural Safeguards) distributed by South Carolina's Office of Exceptional Children at the State Department of Education, each assessment must be given and interpreted by a licensed or certified professional in the area being assessed (e.g., speech and language, motor, behavior, or other area). Certain test developers/suppliers also have specific requirements with regard to training and qualifications that must be considered. Assessments during initial evaluations encompass much more than test administration, however. When planning to collect the data for an evaluation, teams should determine which individuals have the most appropriate skills to obtain whatever data is needed.