Fredericksburg Parent

January 2013

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The Anatomy of an The Individualized Education Program, called the IEP, provides individual support to students with special needs to obtain their education goals. This includes students with learning disabilities. Fredericksburg Parent & Family recently spoke to S. Roni Avery, MEd., BSCE, BSIT, BBA; Educational Advocate & Cogmed Coach at Pediatric Partners for Attention & Learning on the IEP process. Fredericksburg Parent: What is an IEP? S. Roni Avery: The IEP, Individualized Education Program, is a written document that���s developed for each public school child who is eligible for special education used to manage a student���s overall educational program. It is designed to address the student���s specific and individual needs through established goals and to implement services that are appropriate in meeting the needs. FP: Who needs an IEP? SRA: Students with delayed skills and/or disabilities are provided IEPs that are directly related to their specific type of disability and their needs as identified through comprehensive assessments. Students struggling in school may qualify for support services allowing them to be taught in a special way for reasons such as: learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotional disorders, cognitive challenges, autism, hearing impairment, visual impairment, speech or language impairment and developmental delay. FP: How is the need determined and by whom? SRA: A child may be referred by two different methods: Referral or request for evaluation. A school professional may ask that a child be evaluated to see if he or she has a disability. Parents may also contact the child���s teacher or other school professional to ask that their child be evaluated. This request may be verbal or in writing. Parental consent is needed before the child may be evaluated. Evaluation needs to be completed within a reasonable time after the parent gives consent. IEP ���Child Find.��� The state must identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities in the state that need special education and related services. To do so, states conduct ���Child Find��� activities. A child may be identified by ���Child Find��� and parents may be asked if the ���Child Find��� system can evaluate their child. Parents can also call the ���Child Find��� system and ask that their child be evaluated. FP: Who administers an IEP? SRA: A group of qualified professionals and the parents look at the child���s evaluation results. Together, they decide if the child is a ���child with a disability,��� as defined by IDEA. Parents may ask for a hearing to challenge the eligibility decision. The IEP team may also include additional individuals with knowledge or special expertise about the child. The parent or the school system can invite these individuals to participate on the team. Parents, for example, may invite an advocate who knows the child, a professional with special expertise about the child and his or her disability, or others (such as a vocational educator who has been working with the child) who can talk about the child���s strengths and/or needs. The school system may invite one or more individuals who can offer special expertise or knowledge about the child, such as a paraprofessional or related services professional. Because an important part of developing an IEP is considering a child���s need for related services, related service professionals are often involved as IEP team members or participants. They share their special expertise about the child���s needs and how their own professional services can address those needs. Depending on the child���s individual needs, some related service professionals attending the IEP meeting or otherwise helping to develop the IEP might include occupational or physical therapists, adaptive physical education providers, psychologists, or speech-language pathologists. By law, certain individuals must be involved in writing a child���s Individualized Education Program. continued on pg 16 www.fredericksburgparent.NET 15

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