Thursday, August 29, 2013

Related Service information!

Good Morning!!!

I just wanted to clarify for you the circumstances in which the District is responsible for payment for PT and OT services.

PT and OT are only payable by the school IF the service is listed in the related services section of the IEP. The PT/OT should have provided goals for us. The services should be referenced on the 2nd page of the IEP (student profile) and on the Evaluation Programming Conference Form (p.1 under related services and p.2 in adverse affect AND programming recommendations).

The student will ONLY qualify for PT and OT to be a related service on the IEP IF the child needs the service in order to provide FAPE (access educational opportunity). 

If you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to call me!

Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Dyslexia and Autism

Hey everyone!

I hope you are enjoying your first week back. I know you are learning all kinds of wonderful things in your inservice week!

In my reading this week, I came across two very interesting things...

1) A New York case that has worked its way all the way through the US Court of Appeals:

A District was found to be in denial of FAPE because services they claimed to be providing were not listed in the IEP. I know I say it all the time, but it is so true. If it isn't written down, it isn't happening. Please review your IEP's, especially those for children with Autism, to be sure they would stand up in court or under an attorney's scrutiny. Be sure to give yourselves credit for all the wonderful things you are doing in the classroom.

This child was not receiving 1:1 ABA therapy. I know we provide ABA to all our children with Autism. Please be sure this is listed in their IEP's.

2) Arkansas Dyslexia Law Act 1294 S.B. 33. Arkansas Statutes Sections 6-40-101-102

The Act requires districts to screen all kindergarten through grade two students for dyslexia. This will be done using DIBELS. Also, all out of state transfer students will be screened and when a child grade 3 or higher is struggling with phonological and/or phonemic awareness, sound symbol recognition, the alphabet, decoding, rapid naming skills or encoding.

The law further requires if a student's screening shows markers for dyslexia, RTI must be used to meet the student's needs. If RTI further indicates the presence of dyslexia, an evaluation is to be ordered. If a student is found to have Dyslexia, therapeutic services are to be delivered.

If you guys need any help in the upcoming weeks, please call on me. I am always available.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Welcome back!

Hey everyone!

This is your official welcome back note! This summer flew by.

I'm sorry I didn't get to see you all on the 5th. There were some scheduling conflicts. If you have specific questions regarding the Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (Cross Battery Assessment) approach to determining SLD please contact Lori or Nichole to fill you in on their latest training. We will be implementing this method this Fall and we are very excited!

I will be checking folders each time I come to your building. Please let me know if you have specific folders you want me to check first.

I missed you guys!