Welcome to Unlimited Parenting. This is a show
where we talk about what it's like having children
with disabilities and or special health care
needs. This is part two. Part two. Part two of
the 10 steps to special education. So if you
haven't listened to part one, it may be a good
idea to just pop back over. But if not. you probably
follow along but i figured it out yes okay uh
-huh part one was making the referral to special
education and getting that evaluation okay so
it's again it's me allison here with melissa
the PTI director for IPUL and we are just popping
through these 10 steps to special education to
make sure that you are empowered and prepared
for the beginning of this upcoming school year
yeah buddy so welcome in So today we're doing
two steps, just like we did last week. Last week's
two steps were just mentioned. So this week we're
doing, or this episode. Yeah. Don't let them
know we record weekly. Step three, eligibility
decision. And step four, which is that your child
has been found eligible for services. I kind
of wish these were just one step. I know, because
a lot of times, even steps one through four get
all crammed all into one, but steps three and
four very much are. Yes, they really are. Next,
next time, steps five and six are going to be
a much longer. because it's the actual IEP meeting
and going over. But we're briefly going to talk
about because that's something you also need
to know if you've been found eligible, you know
what to do to prepare for the IEP meeting. So
we'll talk a little bit about that today. But
step three is eligibility. And that's really
the decision point of the whole thing. That's
when you're going to find out, you know, was
I found eligible and then what's the next step
from there? And if I wasn't found eligible, what
do I do now? And to be found eligible, that's
when students are meeting all those three prongs.
Right. And I guess I would say a lot of times
families get kind of hung up on that eligibility,
that category, right? Is it autism? Is it OHI?
Other health impairment? Is it multiple? And
we always tell people that eligibility is what
is going to drive your related services, not
that category. So what? What comes out of those
assessments and eligibility is what is driving
the services, not that eligibility category.
It doesn't matter. And I and for someone like
your student, right, he could fit. almost 13
of 14 categories. Absolutely. But he just gets
filed under OHI, Other Health Impairment, even
though he could meet autism, he could meet speech
and language, he could be blind, visually impaired,
he could literally meet anything. So it's less
about what category you fit in for that first
prong and more about what are the services that
you were found eligible for. Yeah, because sometimes
parents will call and they will say, oh, you
know, yeah, we're categorized under OHI. But
he has an autism diagnosis. So if we were categorized,
they think that they might get more services
under that category, which is not the case. It's
not the case at all. So I guess what we're trying
to say here is it's about what services you were
found eligible for. So if you're frustrated because
you think they need more, changing the category
isn't going to support that. Right. It is those
assessments. Right. And that's part of the reason
that we spent so much time in the last episode
talking about that's why you have that meeting
to discuss what assessments are going to be conducted,
because that determines what services that student
is going to be found eligible for, which is why
we gave the example of autism. Even if your child
speaks verbally. you're still going to have an
slp there because that's just part of the battery
of assessments that typically go along with autism
so if you were concerned about potentially blind
low vision that's not something that's automatically
going to come along so you might have to have
to advocate for that yeah and that's part of
the whole point of that meeting is to say well
this is what the teachers have noticed now mom
dad guardian yeah what is it that you have noticed
so that we're we're really Taking that whole
child and assessing. Exactly. So eligibility.
So once your evaluation has been completed and
they know, obviously they've had the meeting
about the assessments that they're going to do,
the speech person, the OT, the PT, the psychologist,
everyone's done everything. The school then holds
a meeting to determine if your child qualifies.
For special education services under the Individuals
with Disability Education Act, IDEA. And this
is referred to as the eligibility determination
meeting. I can't guarantee that that's what it's
called in every state, but I can almost guarantee
that that's what it's called in every state.
Yeah. This meeting has to take place within 60
calendar days from the time you gave your consent
for evaluation. I'm just going to pause here
to say that's why. We say so often that it's
so important to put that request in writing because
it makes it easier to follow this timeline. Yep.
So eligibility team will always include you,
the parent or guardian, a district representative,
general education, special education teacher,
and the professionals who conducted the evaluations
or those who can interpret the results. And that's
that key point right there, because there are
some assessments that may be completed that require
a clinician to interpret those results, right?
If I get, what, a BASC or what? A WISC. A WISC.
I'm not going to be able to interpret those results.
I'm a parent. And so we need somebody to be able
to give us that clinical interpretation. That's
why those people are there. especially because
then they can talk about what supports might
be necessary as a result of this specific score.
Absolutely. And I would just take this opportunity
to also say that these are assessments that you
may not be given a copy of those results because
of exactly what we just talked about. You can't
interpret it. So that would be, it would be pointless
to say, here you go, this is your results, and
me as a parent not be able to even. identify
what any of that means. But I will also say that
there are some people in this office who did
receive their assessments results beforehand.
So that's not saying that it doesn't happen.
But if you don't get yours and your friend did,
it's not written into IDEA either way. But the
reason you didn't get yours is because you are
not. It's for the same reason the doctor doesn't
send you your lab results. Yeah. And some districts.
Do some districts don't? And again, Idaho is
a local control state. So your friend in West
Ada may or may not get it. And then, you know,
you in Periwinkle School District, you. That's
near Orofino, right? Yeah, I guess. I don't know.
It's just our hypothetical. Anyways, talking
about a mock scenario, though, let's pretend
like Carlos, he's in twin. His daughter, Janelle,
she has ADHD. And she struggles with her organization
and focus. After her evaluation, the team finds
that Chanel does require specialized instruction
because she has met all three prongs. So again,
number one, qualifying disability. So she does
have ADHD, which falls under. What? Oh, OHI.
Yeah, sorry. I love doing that to you. I will
never get tired of you. But you look like you're
so, like, reading a script. Anyways, okay, I
will pay better attention. And, as mentioned
above, it meets the second prong of adverse effect
because it, I'm just kidding, affects her ability
to stay on task. And finally, the third prong,
she does need specially designed instruction
for those executive functioning skills. Okay.
so carlos is participating in this meeting he's
asking lots of questions and just like we mentioned
earlier he is helping the team to understand
how this affects janelle at home because that's
the piece that they're not getting yep so he
could be saying oh i also am potentially concerned
about her vision because again that might not
have been one of the things that they assessed
right away with adhd So Janelle has been found
eligible and the team plans for her next step,
which is the IEP meeting. Now, in some cases,
you don't need to know about this next part,
which is the 30 calendar days after the decision.
The school needs to hold an IEP meeting to create
the IEP because in some cases. The eligibility
meeting and the construction of the actual IEP
happened back to back. That did happen in your
case, right? It did. It absolutely did. Yeah.
But that's not. It's not in every case. Again.
And I will say that did not happen in my case
because my son was a gray area child and they
weren't entirely sure that they were going to
qualify him. But during the meeting, I kept expressing
these persistent challenges that he had. And
they determined that it might be in his best
interest, especially when we're talking about
the fact that he was three and it was early intervention
and he'd been an infant toddler program. And
that's why the parental voice is so important
because they were ready to not qualify him until
I expressed all of my concerns. And then they
did. So that's where they had then had the 30
days after the decision to hold a meeting, create
the IEP. And that, I think that that is where
some parents might get, or even professionals,
a little bit hung up because they're like, what's
the 45 and then the 30? Yeah. Or the 60 and then
the 30, I mean. And it's, well, it's 60 from
start to finish, but you could also have the
30 in there, but the 30 fits within the 60. It
gets, yes, there's timeline. We'll link the timeline.
There is a quick guide for Idaho. does a really
good job at explaining because then we also have
to add in school days versus calendar days. Right.
That caveat. Right. So it all of this to say
that that's why we at Idaho Parents Unlimited
strongly suggest putting things in writing because,
again, it starts these timelines and these timelines
can get so intricate and and sticky. So put it
in writing. And then, yes, we have we have we
have to develop we. We have 60 days to go through
those assessments. And sometimes, like Allison
is saying, sometimes these meetings happen seamlessly
and don't have two separate meetings. Yeah. Sometimes
there's not a lot of, you know, if you have a
child with Angelman syndrome who is non -speaking
at 15, there's not a lot. of questions versus
if you have someone like my child who's really
dancing on that line but could really benefit
from some services to get farther away from the
line. Right. So let me throw out another scenario,
can I? Of course. So what if we get to that eligibility
meeting, so step four, and we come together as
a team and the team says, We've met three or
we've met two out of the three prongs. We don't
meet all three prongs. And that's then when this
stops becoming an IEP eligibility meeting. And
that's when the conversation shifts to potentially
support through a 504 plan. Right. So I wouldn't
just say like you're not. Oh, sorry. No special
education. No support. exist if you don't meet
the three prongs. That's not the case. No one
throws you to the wolves. No one throws you to
the wolves. They shouldn't, at least. There should
still be some conversation and continued support
through different means, like a 504 plan. Because
pro tip, what you do is you take the eligibility
report that outlines where all of the deficits
were or the areas of opportunity and need. and
you take those and you say okay what's the what's
this adverse effects accompanying accommodation
that i can use to craft into the 504. so if my
son is blurting out in class what is an accommodation
that he can have so yeah you're still supported
you just don't require specially designed instruction
exactly But those eligibility determinations
have given us some really good insights to supports
that could be beneficial for the child. Exactly.
Exactly. And that's where you can also get kind
of the how do we do this? Like occupational therapy
on console. Yeah. Yeah. silas is really struggling
with his handwriting i've tried this i've tried
this can you just give me one more thing to try
yep so maybe silas doesn't need 30 minutes of
ot he just needs the ot to come in and say oh
well have you tried this and then bam that's
it that's all we need and that consult can happen
with the with the teacher or you know just and
it gives the teacher added tools to be able to
help Silas. Exactly. Because the IEP team is
also considering during this eligibility meeting,
if we're talking again about a gray area child
like mine, if he does receive this therapy, if
we do say, okay, mom, we're going to give him
this IEP, is that hampering his independence
by doing that because he was right on the cusp
of a skill? And now you're pulling him out of
class or even if you push in services. Sure.
Either way, are you still making him rely on
it? So it's really a dance. It is. It's that
least restrictive environment dance. Yeah. Are
we stifling? Are we going to give too much support?
Are we going to remove some independence? It's
a dance. Because I would have sworn. that my
middle child needed one -to -one support. And
the team kept saying, no, no, no. And it wasn't
a resource issue. No. Because I know that other
kids at that school receive one -to -one support.
It was really like an independence issue. Like
we're making him dependent on an adult to be
there. And again, that's why you have to have
these conversations because every situation is
so incredibly unique. And that's why it's really,
in your case, like you have such trust and such
collaboration with the team because you guys
have had, you've established that open and honest
communication and collaboration from the get
-go. And you're able to have some, not super
fun conversations sometimes, but they always
have your child at the center of. Always. Right?
Always. You guys have, you've established some
of those really good. I think another thing.
Another key thing about an IEP or a 504, like
any kind of team for your child at school, is
when everyone agrees collectively to never take
anything personally. Ever. I need every team
to just agree to that right now. If I come in
frustrated, maybe I just got off the phone with
Medicaid. Maybe I was just on the phone with
another provider. Maybe I'm exacerbated because...
This is the ninth time this has happened to my
child. But you don't know that. And it's just
overwhelming. And no one ever. It's just like,
oh, I'm sorry. This is really hard for you. I
promise we're doing our best. It's never personal.
Never personal. And I love that. You've established
that. Enough about my child, though. Yeah, sorry.
I didn't mean to. No, no, no, no. You know I
could talk about my kid for forever. We all could.
Let's assume that you're not my child and you
have been found eligible. What can you, if this
is your first rodeo, what are you expecting to
come out of an IEP? So IEPs are always going
to have PLAPs, PLOFs, PLAFs, present levels of
academic and functional performance or present
levels of performance. If it's a PLOP, it's interchangeable.
We just say them because they're fun. It's just
essentially saying. Where are you at right now?
It's our benchmark. Yeah. Measurable annual goals.
Again, this next episode, part three, is going
to be really fun and really long because we're
going to go into this in great detail. But present
levels of performance, we're going to create
goals. We're going to talk about what specifically,
especially design instruction the student needs,
what related services they need, that B -I -O
-T -P -T, speech, accommodations. and how are
we going to measure progress how are we going
to report on that progress all of that and if
you haven't gotten anything else out of that
this episode it's just remember that you help
decide what your child needs yeah you are one
of the four core members of that iep team right
but you are not writing these goals you are giving
input to goals But you are not responsible for
creating these goals. And I think that sometimes
parents are, they call us and they say, help
me write an IEP. I'm like, oh, slow your roll.
Your team's got this. Your team should write
the IEP. It's almost like the first draft. And
then you get together and you're like, well,
I don't know how I feel about that. Yes. Because
parent input is required. Because you're the
expert in your child. They're the experts in
their field. You're the expert in your child
and you all come together and you work together.
Can I give an example? Please. My child is a
non -speaking individual. We know that because
of his diagnosis, he won't be a speaking individual.
So we try to very much... When we created his
first IEP or one of the first IEPs, we want functional
communication. So the utilization of an AAC device
or the utilization of some hand signs or vocalizations.
And it was really imperative that I, in one of
the first IEPs, we had a speech language pathologist
who didn't understand my son's diagnosis and
very much wanted him to make farm animal noises.
And that was a... That was a goal in his IEP.
And knowing what I knew about his diagnosis,
about kind of long term and what we wanted from
a parent standpoint, I had to kind of go to bat
and say this is not an appropriate goal. And
so, you know, that's all to say, yeah, your child,
you know, your child's diagnosis and you are
the one that. They can provide that overview.
Because the provider is thinking when we're talking
about creating speech language sounds, these
are some of the first sounds we do. So let's
work on these first sounds. But then you as the
parent say, listen, because of my child's diagnosis,
we know that that is probably never going to
happen. Sure. So we don't even want to play that
game. I want you to teach this child how to tell
me I have a headache. Yep. I have a stomachache.
He's never going to move. I don't need to interview.
Exactly. The booing is not going to help him
in any way. Right. But I have a headache is.
Yeah. Unless that's. Yeah. Unless he moos when
he has a headache. But I mean, even that's functional
communication at that point. Who cares? But that's
not what we were going for. Anyways, I digress.
So what what if you don't agree? What if you're
in there and they say your child has not been
found eligible and you don't agree or. Your child
has been found eligible, but not for what you
thought and you don't agree. Well, first thing
I'm going to suggest is you call us and we're
going to talk it through because sometimes parents
will call and they say, I don't agree with the
disability category. And then that's when we're
going to educate and say, actually, I don't think
that means what you might think it means. Here's
what it really means. And then you're like, oh,
great. That's perfect. Thanks. It's a five minute
call. I feel so much better. Exactly. But in
some cases, your child isn't going to be found
eligible and you think that they should have
been. So again, reach out to us. We can talk
about dispute resolution options. We can talk
about meeting with the team. We can go through
all of that with you. Potential next steps. You
always have options. Yeah, you do. But what can
you do today? So as a parent who's prepping for
the school year, you can reach out to us. You
can... if you have an evaluation right now in
your hands you can review the results carefully
highlight what you want to talk about if you've
got if you've been sent it early highlight what
you want to have removed review it if you don't
have it you can ask for a copy of those results
prior to the meeting i can guarantee that you're
always going to get it especially if it's something
that's not easily interpretable Write down your
questions before the meetings. That was the best
piece of advice I ever got when I would go to
my kids' well child check because I get there
and my brain goes blank. Yep. Blank. And then
I go home and I'm like, oh my God, you have that
weird mole I wanted to ask about. And it's like,
so please write down your questions in advance.
I have a running note in my phone. Exactly. I
don't want to ask the team. All summer long you
think of things. Or bring a friend. Bring a friend.
Bring a spouse. Bring a community therapist.
Bring anyone who can speak to how the child's
disability affects them. So that's it. We covered
steps three through four. Three. So I could just
say three and four. Yeah. Of the special education
journey. Determining eligibility and being found
eligible. And it can feel... Overwhelming. It
can. It really can. But you don't have to go
it alone. We're always going to be here. So next
time you're going to hear us talk about the IEP
meeting. Depending on how that goes, it might
just be step five. It might. Because remember,
we weren't going to talk very long on this one.
Yeah, and we can always figure it out. So until
then, remember, you know your child best. Your
voice matters. Ask questions. And then, you know
what? Give us a call. If you still have more
questions that you can't get answered. I don't
know about you, but I feel like that's literally
what we live for. Absolutely. Thank you so much,
everyone out there for listening in and know
that if you are in Idaho or. planning on moving
to Idaho, and have questions on systems or services
for children with disabilities, please consider
reaching out to us on our website at iPulIdaho,
that's I -P -U -L -Idaho .org, or by calling
us at 208 -342 -5884. Be sure to tune in next
time. Until then, this has been Unlimited Parenting.
Thanks for listening!