Special Education Process
Is your child Eligible for Special Education Services? When parents or educators notice that a child might need additional support, they can refer the child for possible eligibility for special education. This page offers specific resources to help you through the beginning steps of the Special Education Process.
- Referral ⁄ Evaluation ⁄ Eligibility
- Individualized Education Program ⁄ Individual Family Service Plan - The Individualized Education Program (IEP) describes the special education and related services designed to meet the unique needs of a child with disabilities. Parents, school personnel, and often the student receiving special education services develop the IEP jointly. This page provides resources to help develop an effective and appropriate IEP.
- Instruction & Monitoring - Once a student has an IEP, instruction can begin. This page provides information and resources to help you monitor your child's instruction and progress to ensure that the instructional plans outlined in the IEP are followed.
You may also want to visit the FAQ about Special Education.
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Description: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) lists five special factors that the IEP team must consider in the development, review, and revision of each child’s IEP. The discussion below will highlight the importance of these special factors in the education of children with disabilities and the need for individualized consideration of these factors in IEP development and revision. The special factors are: Behavior, Limited English proficiency, Blindness or visual impairment,...
Description: The federal regulations for IDEA 2004 include a section (Subpart E) called Procedural Safeguards. These safeguards are designed to protect the rights of parents and their child with a disability and, at the same time, give families and school systems several mechanisms by which to resolve their disputes. To learn more about any of these, click on the linked text, and you’ll go to a separate page describing that procedural safeguard. The right of parents to receive a complete...
Description: The central “Hub” of information and products created for the network of Parent Centers serving families of children with disabilities All the materials found on the CPIR Hub have been created and archived for Parent Centers around the country to help them provide support and services to the families they serve. The CPIR employs a user-centered process, gathering the perspectives of our experienced audience—Parent Center staff members and other...
Description: The VCU Autism Center for Education is committed to providing resources for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Resources consists of items which may be checked out from our extensive Lending Library as well as electronic materials you can download directly from our website. The electronic materials include fact sheets, peer reviewed journal articles, manuals, website links as well as other materials and information that expand the knowledge of ASD and facilitate implementation of...
Description: Generations United, with the support of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, developed Grand Resources: A Grandparent’s and Other Relative’s Guide to Raising Children with Disabilities to equip the caregivers, including those that provide full and part time care to relative children, with the national resources they need to help their children thrive, now and in the future. In addition to the guide, Generations United has developed a resource directory that serves as a companion piece...
Description: This brochure offers students guidance on what their legal rights are as a student with disabilities.
Description: This brochure coaches a student on how to participate in his/her IEP.
Description: The VDOE Credit Accommodations Webpage includes:. Credit Accommodations for the Advanced Studies Diploma Credit Accommodations for the Standard Diploma Credit Accommodations Credit Accomodation Resources Comparison of Credit Requirements
Description: To encourage more students to work toward a selected industry credential or state license while pursuing a high school diploma, the Path to Industry Certification: High School Industry Credentialing program was developed. Students who earn a credential by passing a certification or licensure examination may earn up to two student-selected verified credits to meet graduation requirements. A credential is defined as: State-Issued Professional License required for entry into a specific occupation...
Description: This booklet is for the parents, caregivers or representatives of children younger than age 18 who have disabilities that might make them eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. It is also for adults who became disabled in childhood (prior to age 22) and who might be entitled to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. (We call this SSDI benefit a “child’s” benefit because it is paid on a parent’s Social Security earnings record.)
Description: This document briefly summarizes practical insights and promising practices for IEP/IFSP facilitation, collected from a broad review of facilitation and special education literature. Among the highlight are strategies that can be used prior to and during a meeting as well as considerations for those designing and managing facilitation programs.
Description: Teachers can use this toolkit to design lessons based on an understanding of students’ needs. The toolkit is based on the Universal Design for Learning model in which teachers provide options and varied curriculum experiences so that students have multiple ways of receiving and engaging with content and demonstrating their understanding. Creating these multiple opportunities in ways that are congruent with the needs and abilities of twice-exceptional children can be a challenge, but this...
Description: Informal Assessments for Transition Planning–Second Edition is an assessment resource that school-based personnel can use to determine or confirm transition strengths, preferences, interests, and needs for appropriate transition planning in the IEP. This resource can be used as a way to extend and/or confirm information derived from the Transition Planning Inventory–Second Edition (TPI-2) or as a stand-alone material to do initial probes of strengths, preferences, interests, and...
Description: The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) was created in December 2001–the product of the shared vision and unique life experiences of OAR’s seven founders. Led by these parents and grandparents of children and adults on the autism spectrum, OAR set out to use applied science to answer questions that parents, families, individuals with autism, teachers and caregivers confront daily. No other autism organization has this singular focus.
Description: CDC has FREE brochures, posters, fact sheets, and more for parents, health care providers, and public health professionals. These include: EHDI Program Update: CDC’s Progress in Detecting Infant Hearing Loss Decision Guide to Communication Choices Making a Plan for Your Child And more..
Description: A 37 minute audio/video overview of special education created to help parents of children with disabilities understand what special education is, how a child might get into special education, how to resolve disagreements, and what role parents play. Developed by PACER Center, it is funded in part by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education.
Description: Resources - Special Education Regulations & Rights "Your Family's Special Education Rights" identifies key parts of the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004” (IDEA), a federal law governing the education of students with disabilities. IDEA 2004 requires that families be informed of their special education rights, including how families and schools can resolve problems. This document is available in Arabic (PDF), Chinese (PDF), English (PDF), Urdu...
Description: Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) is committed to reaching all families, schools, and communities to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Our Mission- Building positive futures by empowering individuals with disabilities through education and training. We accomplish this by offering: Services and support for families and professionals, Easy-to-understand, research-based information and training, Opportunities for strategic partnerships and advocacy for systemic...
Description: The Virginia Department of Education has developed a document on transition, “Autism Spectrum Disorders and the Transition to Adulthood,” that includes important information on transition assessment and planning, adult services, postsecondary education, employment, home living skills, and Social Security and benefits planning.
Description: When a child receives special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), he or she must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is a written document listing, among other things, the special educational services that the child will receive. The IEP is developed by a team that includes the child’s parents and school staff. The IEP is an extremely important document in the educational lives of students with disabilities receiving special...
Description: A neutral, impartial, trained mediator may be sought voluntarily by parents and school staff to assist in their negotiations with each other. That assistance to convene and conduct a meeting to clarify issues, focus on the needs of a child, and to explore and evaluate possible solutions in a confidential setting is mediation. Mediators are trained neutrals, skilled in helping people to hear and understand each other and to work jointly to find solutions to difficult issues in special education....
Description: The Office of Dispute Resolution and Administrative Services is charged with the responsibility of managing and monitoring a due process hearing system. We provide information to help individuals understand the steps for requesting and managing an impartial due process hearing. This information is not intended as legal advice or as an interpretation of the laws and regulations governing special education in Virginia. The information will, however, help in understanding the implementation of...
Description: A complaint is generally an expression of some disagreement with a procedure or a process regarding special education programs, procedures or services. A formal complaint is considered a request that this division investigate an alleged violation of a right of a parent and/or child with disabilities who is eligible, or believed to be eligible, for certain services based on federal and state laws and regulations governing special education.
Description: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. This law applies to public elementary and secondary schools, among other entities.
Description: Vision is one of our five senses. Being able to see gives us tremendous access to learning about the world around us—people’s faces and the subtleties of expression, what different things look like and how big they are, and the physical environments where we live and move, including approaching hazards. When a child has a visual impairment, it is cause for immediate attention. That’s because so much learning typically occurs visually. When vision loss goes undetected, children...
Description: NCLD has created the IDEA Parent Guide to help you become an informed and effective partner with school personnel in supporting your child’s special learning and behavioral needs. Use this guide to understand: How the federal law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), generally works in most states; What the law requires to determine whether your child has a learning disability; What is new to IDEA since Congress last updated the law in 2004; What questions...
Description: The ECTA Center supports state Part C and Section 619 programs in developing high-quality early intervention and preschool special education service systems, increasing local implementation of evidence-based practices, and enhancing outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families. We are a national technical assistance center focused on building state and local system capacity to improve outcomes for children with disabilities and their families. ECTA Center is funded by a...
Description: On Special Education: For Families, you will find: Understanding Special Education Newly Updated! The Virginia Family's Guide to Special Education Critical Decision Points for Families of Children with Disabilities The New Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) Applied Studies Diploma Resolving Disputes Parent Ombudsman Resolution Resouces Family Engagement & Resources Family Engagement Parent Information Email Updates Virginia Family Special Education Connection Parent Resource...
Description: Welcome to the U.S. Department of Education’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) website, which brings together IDEA information and resources from the Department and our grantees. Whether you are a student, parent, educator, service provider, or grantee, you are here because you care about children with disabilities and their families and want to find information and explore resources on infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.
Description: Assistive Technology is to improve student achievement, productivity, independence, and inclusion by increasing student access to assistive technology devices and services and enhancing educator knowledge of assistive technology.??
Description: These chapters can be downloaded from WATI website's Accessing Students' Needs for Assistive Technology: Chapter 1: ASNAT Process Chapter 2: AT for Seating, Positioning and Mobility Chapter 3: AT for Communication Chapter 4: AT for Computer Access Chapter 5: AT for Writing, Including Motor Aspects Chapter 6: AT for Composition of Written Material Chapter 7: AT for Reading Chapter 8: AT for Mathematics Chapter 9: AT for Organization Chapter 10: AT for Recreation and Leisure Chapter 11: AT for...
Description: "Transition to adulthood" is a complex and ongoing process that starts as soon as a child is born and continues as the child becomes an adolescent, to early adult life and then through the stages of adulthood. While this process is complicated at best for any person, the individual with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) faces unique challenges that require specialized considerations. This set of guides will help the user understand these challenges and raise awareness of these important...
Description: COACH is better than ever! Now with practical updates based on user feedback and a new streamlined format for easier use, the third edition of this bestselling guide can be the key to effective educational planning for students with intensive special education needs in inclusion-oriented schools.
Description: Here you will find information to support your work in helping infants and toddlers with disabilities, ages birth to three, achieve their full potential. All about Part C of IDEA Early intervention programs and contacts, by state How IDEA describes early intervention Basics of early intervention (training module) 2011 Part C regulations Parent notification, consent, and involvement Writing the IFSP Transitioning a child to preschool Differences and Disabilities Developmental milestones...
Description: Parents, educators, advocates, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for reliable information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities.
Description: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 defines secondary transition as a coordinated set of activities designed to be within a results-oriented process, focused on improving the academic achievement and functional performance to facilitate movement from school to post-school activities.
Description: "Deafness" means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects the child’s educational performance. 34 CFR § 300.7 (c) (3) "Hearing Impairment" means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section. 34 CFR §...
Description: Special education disputes are better resolved at the local level, if possible. Parents and school administrators are encouraged to work together to come to an understanding of mutual concerns and come to an agreement in the best interest of children with disabilities. VDOE offers several resolution options to disputes.
Description: An important responsibility of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability against students with disabilities. OCR receives numerous complaints and inquiries in the area of elementary and secondary education involving Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Section 504). Most of these concern identification of students who are protected by Section 504 and the means to obtain an appropriate education for such...
Description: The Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination at the University of Oklahoma strives to promote successful transition outcomes for all by implementing innovative research, putting findings into practice, and disseminating knowledge through high-quality products and professional development.