A Helpful Tool for Parents of Kids with Disabilities: The Explaining Brains Handout Generator

 
 

For a parent of a child with disabilities, clear communication with teachers, school staff and therapists is key. The Explaining Brains Handout Generator is a new online tool that helps you create personalized handouts to share important information about your child’s needs.

What is the Explaining Brains Handout Generator?

This free tool allows you to create customized handouts with details about your child’s learning profile, diagnosis, and educational needs. It helps you organize information in a clear, professional format that can be shared with anyone on your child’s team.

Why Should Parents Use It?

1. Improved Communication: Clearly communicate your child’s needs with professionals.

2. Customizable: Tailor handouts to your child’s unique needs including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.

3. Reduce Stress: Have a clear document for meetings and appointments. This is a great way to draft a one-page “About Me” handout for teachers in the fall!

4. Easy to Use: The tool is free, simple to access, and doesn’t require tech expertise.

How to Use It

Simply visit the website, fill in your child’s information, and generate a personalized handout. No personally identifiable information is shared and it's a valuable resource to ensure that everyone involved in your child's care is on the same page.

ExplainingBrains.com also has a ton of other useful resources including books for explaining a diagnosis to kids of different ages, all by Liz Angoff, a licensed educational psychologist. Love this stuff!

Oregon: find out if your district teaches based on the Science of Reading

 
 

Does your student have dyslexia or have trouble reading? It's really important to understand how they're being taught to read. Schools can use reading programs that are based on neuroscience about how humans learn to read (aka the Science of Reading) or they can use programs that are not based on brain research (whole language, three-cueing, guessing based on pictures) and that do not produce skilled readers. If your child has been exposed to unscientific programs, that may be part of the problem.

The state of Oregon allows schools to pick their reading program from an approved list, or to pick something else entirely. The approved list is almost entirely Science of Reading based.

This new tool shows you whether the core reading program is on the approved list - under Adoption Type it will say “State Board of Education” - or whether it is not on the list (“Independent”).

It also lists supplementary programs and assessments used in the district, which will be listed as “N/A” under Adoption Type. Some of these supplementary programs will be based on outdated methods, and here are some key terms to help identify them:

  • Units of Study

  • Fountas & Pinnell

  • Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI)

  • Heinemann

Look up your district and ask your school team about your child’s reading intervention program. As a parent you can push to make sure your child is receiving quality instruction.

LINK TO THE TOOL

Learn about this topic and the controversy surrounding outdated methods in this excellent podcast, Sold A Story.

Need help? Ask me!

Discounted Services

Hello Families,

In order to reduce administrative time and better serve families, I am now offering a package of 6 pre-paid service hours at a 10% discount.

 
 

For existing client families, please click below to request a payment link. The package will be applied to services that occur after the purchase date. Services that have already taken place but have not been billed will be billed at the existing rate of $140/hour. Additional packages may be purchased when needed.

For new client families, we will begin with an Initial Consultation so please schedule that session first by clicking below.







Parents: Participate in paid research on child behavior

 

Seeking caregivers of children aged 2 to 18 to complete a survey about the child’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors following exposure to a traumatic event. Trauma exposure is not necessary to participate.
Children ages 7 to 18 are also welcome to participate.

Compensation is available.

$20 for parent participation, $20 for child participation

Click below to schedule a screening call to see if you qualify.

 

Big News for Washington Families (SB 5883)

 
 

Understanding Washington’s New Law: Shifting the Burden of Proof in Special Education Due Process Hearings

 

Navigating the complexities of special education can be challenging for both parents and educators. Recently, Washington State implemented a significant change in the legal landscape concerning special education due process hearings. This change involves shifting of the burden of proof, a development that all families involved in special education should know about.

The New Law, SB 5883:

In Washington State, the burden of proof in special education due process hearings has traditionally rested on the party challenging the educational program proposed by the school district, i.e the parents. However, under the new law, Senate Bill 5883, the burden of proof is shifted. Now, the burden lies with the school district to demonstrate that its proposed individualized education program (IEP) is appropriate for the student.

Implications for Parents:

Previously, parents often found themselves in the position of proving why a proposed IEP was inadequate or why their child required alternative or additional services. This could be an expensive, intimidating, and emotionally exhausting process, especially for parents already navigating the complexities of raising a child with special needs.

Now, with the burden of proof placed on the school district, parents will start from a more advantageous position during due process hearings. Rather than needing to prove why the IEP was inadequate, parents can focus on presenting evidence to support their concerns while the district must prove the IEP was appropriate.

By placing the onus on school districts to justify their proposed educational plans, the law aims to create a more equitable and transparent process for resolving disputes between parents and schools.

What other states put the burden of proof on districts?

Washington joins six other states that have specifically put the burden of proof on the school district. In Oregon and Idaho the burden of proof remains on the parents.

The other states are:

  • Connecticut

  • Delaware

  • New Hampshire

  • New Jersey

  • New York

  • West Virginia

Tips for Parents:

1. Stay Informed: Familiarize yourself with the specifics of the new law and how it impacts special education due process hearings in Washington.

2. Seek Support: Don't hesitate to reach out to an advocate, support group, or attorney specializing in special education law for guidance and assistance.

3. Document Everything: Keep thorough records of your child's educational journey, including assessments, IEP meetings, communications with school staff, and any concerns or observations you have regarding your child's progress. Remember, if it’s not documented it didn’t happen.

4. Advocate Effectively: Be prepared to articulate your child's needs, present evidence supporting your concerns, and collaborate with the school district to develop an appropriate and effective IEP.

5. Stay Engaged: Stay actively involved in your child's education, participate in IEP meetings, and monitor their progress to ensure that their needs are being met.

Need help? Ask me.

 

IEP services during a strike

 
 
 

Portland Public Schools Families,

I wanted to share some information regarding the current school closure and impact on special education services.

When schools are closed due to labor action, the district remains responsible for the special education services outlined on your child's IEP. This means that your child will be owed services once schools reopen. I recommend that you calculate the amount of special education time that your student misses during this closure.

Calculating Missed Services

Their special education service time is found in Section K of the IEP: Service Summary. No matter the provider or anticipated location, all the minutes in Section K are special ed services. This includes both Specially Designed Instruction and Related Services (often OT, PT, etc).

Total their number of minutes per week, and divide by 5 to calculate their number of minutes per day. Multiply by the number of days this closure lasts for, and you will have the number of minutes/hours that they are owed in compensatory education.

Accessing Services That Are Owed

PPS will likely balk when we request compensatory education for missed services, but they are responsible nonetheless. Compensatory education might look like reimbursement for private tutoring, offering Extended School Year services, or Recovery Services.

Parent Advocacy

You as parents have an opportunity to advocate for your student and all students with disabilities in this situation. Suggested steps include emailing Special Education Director Michele Murer (mmurer1@pps.net) and Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero (gguerrero@pps.net) to notify them you are tracking missed service hours, and/or emailing the school board (contact info here) urging them to end the strike and get Portland students back to class.

Students with disabilities are uniquely harmed by service interruption, and many of your teams have already been impacted by teacher and paraeducator shortages and frequent turnover. It is my hope that this disruption is short and we get teachers and learners back to school quickly.

Need help with any of this? Ask me!

Letter from the feds on whether comp ed is necessary after a strike closure (it’s up to the IEP team)

 

hello, Washington

 
 
 

Big news: I’m crossing the river and expanding my practice to Washington state families.

I’m a Portlander, and for the last few years as I developed my advocacy and consulting practice, I’ve also maintained a role working in schools as a school psychologist across the Columbia in Washington. I’ve been in Washington schools for the last eight years of my career.

Creating my practice took a while. For several years I daydreamed about my “exit plan” from public service while still working full time. I thought about additional training and degree programs, getting licensed for private practice as a psychologist, or moving into for-profit education companies or tech.

Once I realized I could and should be a parent advocate, the next phase was behind-the-scenes work of launching a business - making a website for the first time ever, figuring out accounting, and networking to get my name out there to Oregon families and clinicians.

Since taking my first client I’ve shrunk my school psych role each year and expanded my advocate role. I was able to do both because I had a hard boundary line - I was a school psychologist in Washington, and worked only with Oregon families as an independent advocate. I’m super lucky to have this natural division, as it would be ethically problematic to have even the possibility of a dual role with a family, for example if they moved or transferred to the district where I was employed.

So for the last few years I’ve lived with half of me being a school-based worker, and half of me working with families to deal with their school-based teams. It’s been super interesting to work with teams that I am not leading, and to see how other folks talk to parents (never call them “Mom” and “Dad,” they did not raise you) and run their meetings (please stick to the agenda). My 16 years of school experience in Illinois, Oregon, and Washington prepared me extremely well to help parents understand what’s going on with school teams and services.

As we come to the close of the 2022-23 school year, it’s clear to me that now is the time. For the last two years I’ve been at full capacity for the number of families I can take while still working part-time in schools. Now I’m saying goodbye to school employment and dedicating myself 100% to working with families. I’ll miss my school teammates but I’m thrilled to give more hours to this work and collaborate with more families in Washington AND Oregon.*

Need help? Ask me :)

*I consult with families all over the country through an employee benefits program, doing advice calls and reviewing documents. Call me no matter where you are!

 

Tax Credit for IEPs

 

Do you know about Oregon’s Disabled Child Exemption Credit?

It applies for each depending child with an IEP or IFSP (early intervention plan). It runs at about $200 for income of 100K or less, decreasing as income exceeds 100K.

Ask your tax professional!

LINK

 

There's still time for COVID recovery services

 
 

At your child’s annual IEP review meeting this year, be sure to consider COVID recovery services.

Recovery services are extra special education services provided on top of the planned IEP services, to make up for learning losses due to the pandemic.

Teams are supposed to consider whether there’s a need for recovery services “at each annual review meeting held before the end of the 2022-23 school year” (per Oregon guidance).

Decisions should be data-based, not feelings based or “this is what we’re doing this year.”

Kids can qualify even if the team decided recovery services weren’t needed last year. We’re looking at data from before the pandemic, during, and after.

Here’s a link to the guidance referenced above: Planning for Individualized COVID-19 Recovery Services

Here’s the Washington guidance: Questions and Answers: Provision of Services to Students with Disabilities

Need help? Ask me.

DIY IEP Audit

Check your child’s IEP for compliance.

The more families I work with, the more mistakes I read in IEPs (yikes!).

Here’s my quick guide for auditing your own child’s IEP for compliance, best practice, and adequate documentation.

From not including quantitative baseline data in goals, to not specifying how much the student will be removed from general education to receive services, these are the most frequent compliance issues I run into.

Need help? Ask me.

PDF here

Google Doc here

What is Compensatory Education?

When a school district is not following the IEP, or has otherwise violated a child’s rights regarding special education, one of the only legal remedies available under federal law is compensatory education. If parents bring legal action against a district for violating the IEP for example, parents can’t win money under special ed law (IDEA). They can win attorney’s fees, tuition reimbursement (for example if they enrolled their child in private school because the public school wasn’t providing a free appropriate public education), and/or compensatory education.

What does that look like?

Compensatory education means educational services (for example teaching from a special education teacher, occupational therapy services, speech/language services, etc) that should have been provided but were not. For example, if the IEP says that a child should receive 30 minutes per day of special education reading instruction, but the district failed to provide this for a semester because the teacher quit and couldn’t be replaced, then the child should receive extra services to make up for what was missed. Sometimes that looks like extra special ed time at school from school providers, but other times it means the district paying for services outside of school, for example tutoring or private speech therapy.

How Will Schools Pay for Compensatory Ed Services?

What to do if you think your child needs compensatory education:

  1. Document it. Gather any documentation of time that was missed. Emails saying the teacher is out and they are trying to hire a new one, IEP progress notes that state the service wasn’t provided during this time period, etc. Get a copy of the current IEP (or the one covering the time period in question) and add up how many minutes per week were called for in the IEP, and how many were missed.

  2. Put it in writing. Send an email to the team (teacher, case manager, principal, special ed administrator) stating that you are concerned that your child may be owed compensatory education for X time period due to Y&Z. Request a meeting of the IEP team to discuss your concern. If you get no response within 5 school days, resend the email, cc’ing any other special education administrators you are aware of or can find listed on the district website.

  3. Keep your cool. I know, it’s hard. But, a well-prepared parent who references the law and channels their rage into succinct emails is often taken more seriously. Be relentless in your followup. Send an email after every meeting to memorialize the conversation - if it’s not documented in writing it never happened - and ask for an answer to remaining questions within 10 school days.

  4. Don’t accept no for an answer, unless it is supported by data. In most cases, missed service time will result in flatlining progress or regression. If your documentation shows that services were missed, it’s on the district to show that compensatory services AREN’T needed. Anything less is not acceptable.

  5. Get help if you need it. Unfortunately, the more families I work with the more I realize how badly parents can be treated by school teams. If your concerns are being dismissed, if administrators aren’t responding to messages, and if excuses are continually being made, get an advocate. When a good advocate joins the team it makes staff pay attention to parent concerns, and elevates parent voice in discussions. You don’t have to do it alone.


 

Diagnosed. Now What?

recovery services (1).png

Families are doing their best. They are navigating the medical system - pediatricians, developmental pediatricians, neuropsychologists, occupational therapists, speech/language therapists, play therapists, and on and on. After all of this, it’s been figured out. Your child is newly diagnosed. Now what? In addition to working the medical system, parents are also expected to work the school system. 

Whether it’s early intervention, preschool, or K-12 public schools, now that you have a diagnosis in hand, here’s what to do next:

  1. If you think it has any impact on how your child does at school - physically, academically, behaviorally, or socially - tell school staff about the diagnosis. You can do this by emailing the classroom teacher, or presenting the evaluation report to the teacher or principal. Be sure to include why you are sharing the information and what you are asking for. Do you want extra help for your child at school? Do you just want them to be aware? Giving the teacher a heads up about what you want will cue what kind of response you will get.

  2. Know what to expect. Sometimes kids with a medical/clinical diagnosis will qualify for special education (IEP services), or for a 504 accommodation plan. But, sometimes not. It all depends on whether the diagnosis impacts their education. A diagnosis being present does not mean your child will automatically be evaluated or qualify for school services.

  3. Be aware of the difference between IEPs and 504s. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the special education plan. IEPs are for cases where the diagnosis has an adverse impact on education, which cannot be fully addressed by general education and requires “specially designed instruction” (aka teaching from special education staff). Section 504 Accommodation Plans contain less than IEPs, and are for cases where the diagnosis substantially limits a life activity - aka has some substantial impact on their education but not to the extent that they require special teaching. Section 504 plans typically include accommodations that are provided in general education, and don’t involve the student getting additional services. For example, students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder can present in a variety of ways at school - they may have significant challenges that require more than general education can provide, such as speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, and specialized instruction in a small group or 1:1 using materials at their level. This student would qualify for an IEP. Another student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder may be at or above grade level academically, be able to participate socially, and work cooperatively with others on class assignments to the extent that their autism does not have an adverse impact on their education. But, they may need to take tests in a small group away from distractions, or may need directions repeated and visuals provided when verbal instructions are given. This student would qualify for a 504 plan. Yet another student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder may have previously accessed special ed when they were younger, but now has made so much progress that specialized instruction is no longer required, and neither are classroom accommodations. This student would not qualify for an IEP or 504.

  4. Follow up. Once you’ve shared the diagnosis with school, make a note to follow up. Maybe you want to check in with the teacher in 6-8 weeks to find out if your child has shown a need for anything different compared to other kids in class. Or, you have asked for a special education evaluation and you make a note on your calendar to contact them again in 5 school days if there’s been no response. It is easy for communications to slip off the radar of busy staff members, so be proactive and put tasks on your own calendar to keep lines of communication open.

  5. Get help if you need it. It is OK not to know what to do. Take a minute and breathe. Then, ask the doctor for referrals to community resources, look for parent groups to join on social media, and educate yourself on the diagnosis (I love Understood.Org). The kids that have the best outcomes are supported by a team led by parents and including their medical providers and school staff. As team captain you’ve already gotten a great start, keep it up and reach out if you need help. 


Recovery IEP Services After COVID

recovery services.png

There are many conversations happening right now about the upcoming school year… including concerns about how special education students have fared during COVID.

The state of Oregon has issued a lot of guidance on what schools are supposed to do to assist students with disabilities as they return to schooling in the 2021-22 school year. Many kids missed service minutes, weren’t able to access online instruction, online/hybrid instruction wasn’t enough or appropriate to meet their needs, and/or were otherwise impacted by stressors during COVID.

School districts are required to consider whether each student in special education requires additional services and supports due to COVID school closures - they are calling these services “recovery services” and they would be in addition to whatever is already provided in the IEP.

Here is my quick attempt to provide some simple answers for parents, and provide links to more detailed information.

Question: Do all IEP students get COVID recovery services?

Answer: No. Not all IEP students will need recovery services - some will have their needs met by general education assistance provided to all students post-COVID, along with their existing IEP services.

Question: Will the school automatically contact me about recovery services?

Answer: Maybe, maybe not. The state says schools need to notify parents about recovery services and attempt to hold meetings with parents to decide whether their student needs recovery services. HOWEVER it does not provide a timeline for when they need to do this. Parents should be PROACTIVE and reach out to the IEP team as soon as possible to request a meeting.

Question: My child missed their speech/language or occupational therapy services during COVID closures. Will these sessions be made up?

Answer: Yes! Recovery services can include related services such as speech, OT, and physical therapy, as well as specially designed instruction, social/emotional learning supports, and more. It may not be a minute-per-minute makeup - each IEP team will decide what recovery services will look like, how often, and for how long.

Question: Do we need to wait until kids are back in school for a few months before deciding about recovery services?

Answer: No. There is nothing in the guidance saying that schools must provide instruction for a time period (6 to 8 weeks for example) before deciding on whether recovery services are needed. It DOES say that emerging data from the 2021-22 school year can be included in decision-making, but there are many examples of other kinds of data AND PARENT INPUT that each team will need to consider.

Question: I heard my district has a policy about what recovery services will look like.

Answer: Not a question but here’s my answer anyway :) … recovery services are INDIVIDUAL decisions, not a district-wide or school-wide policy or plan. Anything otherwise would be illegal.

Question: What do I do now?

Answer: Reach out to your team. Email the case manager/special education teacher and the principal, requesting a meeting of the IEP team. You would like the team to meet and consider whether your student requires COVID recovery services.

Ready to dive deep? Contact me for more details.

Gearing up for fall 2021

 
urgent.png

Portland Public Schools recently announced a fully online option for K-12 students for the 2021-22 school year. This is notable for several reasons:

  1. PPS has not previously offered a virtual school option at the elementary level. Their PPS Virtual Scholars program is limited to high school and offers a narrow range of online courses, not a full comprehensive educational program.

  2. The Online Learning Academy (OLA) for 2021-22 will be a lottery. This means that families have to apply and wait to find out if they are accepted into the apparently limited enrollment spots. If there are more applicants than available seats in a grade level, students will be given priority based on a list of factors including whether they were enrolled in comprehensive distance learning (CDL) during the last quarter of 2020-21 and whether the medical condition that prevents them from attending school in person lies within the student or within the household.

  3. Special ed students are eligible for the program and their IEP services will be adapted to a virtual environment. Same goes for 504 accommodations.

  4. The lottery closes July 30th, which means families must complete the online application by that date. Enrollment will be for a full year or half year, not sure when/where that decision has to be made. As of July 11th it is unclear when kids under 12 will have access to the COVID vaccine in Oregon.