- Information
- AI Chat
D002 study guide
Professional, Ethical and Legal Practices For Special Ed (D002)
Western Governors University
Recommended for you
Preview text
Module 1 - Foundational Laws
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)
First federal law to specifically address the education of students with disabilities.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
Increased federal funding to ensure that students with disabilities had equal educational opportunities and required that schools follow the laws to receive funding.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA)
This is an amendment to include all services to disabled infants and young children Includes individuals transitioning from high school to college. Free appropriate public education (FAPE) o Parents can not be asked to pay for special education services o student’s education must incorporate special education through specially designed instruction, related services, and supplementary aids and services which are captured in the IEP Least restrictive environment (LRE) o Gen Ed o Pulled out to Resource Center o Self-Contained classroom o Special School o Residential treatment center o Hospital o Homebound instuction Nondiscriminatory evaluation o Tests are administered in the child’s native language. o Tests are appropriate for the child’s age and characteristics. o More than one test is used to assess the presence of a disability. o A knowledgeable professional administers and interprets assessment results. o Assessments occur in all areas of suspected disability Parent and family rights o Info can only be shared with individuals who are working directly with the student o parents have the right to request to see and obtain copies of all records kept regarding their child with a disability and to dispute information that they perceive is not accurate. Procedural safeguards Zero reject o Entitles all students with disabilities to a public education regardless of the nature or severity of their disabilities. To accomplish zero reject, each state has in place what is called a child find system o Sudents with communicable diseases, such as AIDS, cannot be excluded from schools. o Guides school policies related to students with disabilities who commit serious offenses that might otherwise lead to long-term suspension or expulsion. Child Find
o a set of procedures for alerting the public that services are available for students with disabilities and for distributing print and electronic materials, conducting screening, and completing other activities to ensure that students are identified.
504 Rehabilitation Act of 1973
No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives or benefits from Federal financial assistance. Defines disabilities as impairments that significantly limit one or more major life activities, including walking, seeing, hearing, and learning Protects all people with disabilities, not only children, from discrimination in programs receiving federal funding, including all public schools
American Disabilities Act of 1990
Largely replaces 504 Directly addresses communication, and so it requires that closed captioning be provided to accommodate individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA)
Specially Designed Instruction o Adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children. o Specially designed instruction o At no cost to the parents o To meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including: instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings instruction in physical education o Special education includes each of the following: speech-language pathology services, or any other related service, if the service is considered special education rather than a related service under state standards travel training to enable the student to develop an awareness of the environment in which they live and learn the skills necessary to move effectively and safely from place to place within that environment (e. in school, in the home, at work, and in the community). Vocational education Organized educational programs that are directly related to the preparation of individuals for paid or unpaid employment, or for additional preparation for a career not requiring a baccalaureate or advanced degree
Parts of IDEIA
o Part A: General Provisions
Module 2 - Case Laws
Special Education before 1970
In the late 1800s, reflected an intention of relieving stress on the teacher and other students by removing students with disabilities to separate, special classes. This segregationist attitude continued in later years, but the underlying basis was to avoid stress on the individual with a disability. By the mid-1900s, an important shift had begun—the recognition of the self-worth and dignity of the person that led to the goal of teaching self-reliance. Also, about this time, vocal leaders in education recognized that separation, or segregation, in the educational process was usually inherently negative.
Influential Court Cases Before 1970
Brown VS Topeka Board of Education (1954)
Overview: Most impactful, important, and famous court decisions in US history. Called for Topeka school districts to end racial segregation in its schools.
Ruling: Unanimously ruled that segregation violates the 14th amendment Separate educational are inherently unequal
Impact: Set the stage for future court decisions regarding students with disabilities. It determined that ALL students should have an equal opportunity in education. It became the basis for every SPED court case that would follow.
Hobson VS Hansen (1967)
Overview: Civil rights activist Julius Hobson claimed that students were being assigned special tracks based on race and IQ testing. Ruling: Federal Court ruled against a tracking system in which children are placed into regular or special education classes according to intelligence tests. Tests are racially biased.
Impact: Influenced IDEA part B which requires nondiscriminatory testing and classification requirements and safeguards against misclassification.
Diana VS California State Board of Education (1970)
Overview: Nine Mexican-American students contested their placement in classes for students with mild mental retardation based solely on IQ tests administered in English.
Ruling: Students must be assessed in their primary language or with tests that do not require English fluency.
Impact: Paved the way for evaluation and assessment processes to be provided in the student’s primary language.
PARC VS Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1971)
Overview: PARC sued the state over a law that allowed officials to deny disabled children access to schools. Law gave school districts the authority to deny services to children aged 8yrs “who had not reached the mental age of 5,” but had also been used to justify removal of students who struggled to integrate into classrooms.
Ruling: In favor of PARC, the state can not determine educability and that the laws were unconstitutional.
Impact:
- Pivotal in development of SPED.
- It affirms the rights established by Brown VS Topeka applied to children with disabilities.
- Schools must provide free and accessible education regardless of disability or impairment.
- Child can not be suspended for more than 2 days without a hearing.
Mills VS The Board of Education of the District of Columbia (1972)
Overview: Students who had been excluded from public schools because of learning and behavior problems sued the DC school district. The district claimed that it did not have enough money to provide SPED services.
Ruling: A lack of funds is not an excuse for failing to provide services to exceptional children. If sufficient funds are not available then all programs should be cut back proportionally.
Impact: Highlighted the rights of students to due process in education and helped lay the foundation that eventually led to section 504 and IDEA.
Larry P. VS Riles
Overview: Challenged the disproportionate placement of African American children in SPED based solely on IQ testing. The IQ tests used failed to recognize the children’s cultural background, but when different tests were used, no indications of intellectual disability were apparent.
Ruling: IQ cannot be used as the sole basis for placing children into SPED.
Impact: Led to the thorough and multi-tiered evaluation process to determine if students are eligible for SPED.
Influential Court Cases (1980–Present)
Overview: Daniel RR (student with Downs Syndrome) was not benefiting from a placement in a class of non-handicapped students. School recommended that he should be placed full time in self-contained classroom. The parents disagreed. Ruling: Court ruled that the student had been placed in the least restrictive environment and so was not violating EAHA.
Impact: Daniel RR reinforced the concept of “Least Restrictive Environment” as well as what “maximum extent possible” meant in SPED situations.
Florence County School District Four VS Shannon Carter (1993) & Forest Grove
School District VS TA (2009)
Overview: Coping with disabilities can be expensive and questions of cost were at the heart of these cases. Who pays when students are not, or can not be, provided with a FAPE and parents are forced to take action?
Ruling: When public schools fail to provide a FAPE, requiring parents to turn to private schools, the parents are entitled to reimbursement. Impact: Represent important political and cultural shifts and parental options and protections. The ability for parents to seek out resources when public schools failed to provide them was greatly expanded.
Endrew F VS Douglas County School District (2017)
Overview: What are the expectation of an IEP. A student with ASD had made no progress on his IEP goals. Parents argued that he should have an equal opportunity to achieve and be placed in a gen ed classroom. School argued that he only had the right to “de minimis” or a minimal benefit from his IEP and thus they had followed the law.
Ruling: The de minimis standard was rejected unanimously affirming that receiving basic, or some benefit of education, was not satisfactory nor an acceptable rationale by the school district. IDEA expects that students can be integrated into a regular classroom and are expected to advance like other students.
Impact: The court affirmed that the intent of IDEA is for students with disabilities to make meaningful progress and meet appropriately ambitious goals. IEPs must be reasonably calculated to the student’s needs and circumstance.
Unit 2 Quiz:
- Part B of IDEA serves students of what ages?
- 3-
- What is least restrictive environment?
- Students with disabilities should spend as much time as possible with peers who do not receive special education.
- Who is included in the FAPE ruling under IDEA?
- All school-age children with disabilities
- What is Child Find?
- A legal requirement that schools identify and evaluate children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of the disability
- Which law eliminates barriers that would prevent students from full participation in programs or services offered to the general school population?
- Section 504 of the ADA
- Which law states that procedural safeguards and due process require written notification?
- IDEA
- Which court case ruling was the first to ensure that students with disabilities could receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment?
- Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia
- Which case ensures a student's right to FAPE, regardless of native language?
- Diana v. California State Board of Education
- What significant ruling for special education came from Larry P. v. Riles (1979)?
- IQ assessments cannot be used as the sole basis for identifying students with a disability.
MODULE 3 CEC Professional Standards
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
The mission of OSEP is to improve outcomes for children with disabilities, from birth through 21, and their families by ensuring access to fair, equitable, and high-quality education and services.
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
CEC is the recognized leader in advocacy for special education; they examine policy issues, influence legislation, and make recommendations for program regulations and funding. The ethical principles, practice standards, and professional policies from the Council for Exceptional Children can guide you as a special educator as you try to meet the unique learning needs of each student that you will work with. The CEC Initial Preparation Standards define what a new teacher must know and be able to do to begin teaching.
CEC Standards
- Standard 1 Learner Development and Individual Learning Differences
- Beginning special education professionals understand how exceptionalities may
- Beginning special education professionals understand how language, culture, and family background influence the learning of individuals with exceptionalities.
- Beginning special education professionals use understanding of development and individual differences to respond to the needs of individuals with exceptionalities.
- Standard 2: Learning Environments
- Beginning special education professionals consider individual abilities, interests, learning environments, and cultural and linguistic factors in the selection, development, and adaptation of learning experiences for individuals with exceptionalities.
- Beginning special education professionals use technologies to support instructional assessment, planning, and delivery for individuals with exceptionalities.
- Beginning special education professionals are familiar with augmentative and alternative communication systems and a variety of assistive technologies to support the communication and learning of individuals with exceptionalities.
- Beginning special education professionals use strategies to enhance language development and communication skills of individuals with exceptionalities.
- Beginning special education professionals develop and implement a variety of education and transition plans for individuals with exceptionalities across a wide range of settings and different learning experiences in collaboration with individuals, families, and teams.
- Beginning special education professionals teach to mastery and promote generalization of learning.
- Beginning special education professionals teach cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills such as critical thinking and problem solving to individuals with exceptionalities.
- Standard 6: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
- Beginning special education professionals use foundational knowledge of the field and their professional ethical principles and practice standards to inform special education practice, to engage in lifelong learning, and to advance the profession.
- Beginning special education professionals use professional ethical principles and professional practice standards to guide their practice.
- Beginning special education professionals understand how foundational knowledge and current issues influence professional practice.
- Beginning special education professionals understand that diversity is a part of families, cultures, and schools, and that complex human issues can interact with the delivery of special education services.
- Beginning special education professionals understand the significance of lifelong learning and participate in professional activities and learning communities.
- Beginning special education professionals advance the profession by engaging in activities such as advocacy and mentoring.
- Beginning special education professionals provide guidance and direction to paraeducators, tutors, and volunteers.
- Standard 7: Collaboration
Beginning special education professionals collaborate with families, other educators, related service providers, individuals with exceptionalities, and personnel from community agencies in culturally responsive ways to address the needs of individuals with exceptionalities across a range of learning experiences.
Beginning special education professionals use the theory and elements of effective collaboration.
Beginning special education professionals serve as a collaborative resource to colleagues.
Beginning special education professionals use collaboration to promote the well- being of individuals with exceptionalities across a wide range of settings and collaborators.
Modeling Lifelong Learning (CEC Standard 6)
Professional development should provide active learning opportunities to try out new strategies and receive feedback. Special educators should work alongside their general education colleagues for professional development. Professional development activities should include a focus on student data. School-wide professional development should include special education teachers as part of the learning community to promote collaboration with general education staff. Professional development should NOT be limited to new teachers in their first or second year of teaching. Special educators need the opportunity to learn about content area curriculum and standards. Teachers should take ownership of their own professional development.
Characteristic of Effective Mentors
Honesty Competency
Cultural Competency
There are multiple variables that impact education for students with disabilities. These variables can be explicit (easily seen or observed), implicit (not as clear, invisible), or a combination of both. Across educational settings such as the cafeteria, classroom, hallway, or recess playground, these variables interact in ways that can be either positive or negative for students. Within the K–12 system, approximately 80 percent of teachers are white and female, a statistic that does not mirror the current diversity of students.
By the year 2020 students from culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse backgrounds will compose 50% of classrooms. This population change will prompt schools to build new models of teaching and engaging with diverse students through different ways.
Previous thought believed children who immigrated to the country should assimilate and fit in quickly to become part of America's melting pot.
However, many educators have challenged the notion of homogeneity as an effective and ethical approach; instead, cultural pluralism should be embraced to honor and value the lives of diverse students.
Developing cultural competency involves Continually developing a worldview and Continually refining a skill set. When negative cultural conflicts (discrimination, racism, exclusion) arise, support resolution by remaining open and aware of emotions and thoughts and encouraging people to speak out.
Universal Design For Learning Assessment Ex: Learning activities provide multiple means of representation or modes of presentation (e., auditory, visual, varying levels of complexity, and multiple means of action and expression).
Module 4 Ethical Decision Making
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): a federal statute designed to ensure that parents have access to their children's educational records and to protect the privacy rights of parents and children by requiring parental consent before private information about a student record can be shared with others.
FERPA provides procedures for parents and students over the age of 18 to correct educational records they feel are not accurate. Parents and students over the age of 18 have the right to view these records. School districts must comply with a request by a parent or student over the age of 18 within a reasonable amount of time. A reasonable amount of time is usually considered to be 45 days or less after the request for records.
FAPE and LRE
A free appropriate public education must be provided to students with disabilities even if they have been expelled from school. School districts can bill the parents' private health insurance to cover the cost of related services (such as occupational therapy) deemed necessary in the IEP.
In order to show that a fair appropriate public education is being provided, the student must make some educational progress.
IEP goals are based on the same curriculum used by students who do not have disabilities.
o The goals are designed so students with special needs make progress in the general education curriculum.
o A small number of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can be measured against alternative standards. These standards must be aligned to the state’s content standards.
o IEP goals for all students must be individualized and challenging.
IDEA does not specify what appropriate means. Board of Education v. Rowley was the first Supreme court case to address any issue in IDEA. The focus was to "give content to the requirement of an 'appropriate education."
In the Rowley decision, the Supreme Court said that the "intent of IDEA was to open the door to children with special needs on appropriate terms, not to guarantee a particular level of education." Reasonably Calculated means: The IEP team will use their expert judgement informed by the child's progress, the child's potential for growth, and the views of the child's parents.
The Endrew’s case rejected “de minimis” and stated that the expectations for a child's progress must be appropriate based on that child's circumstances.
FAPE requires that the services provided to the student in the IEP must be provided by at public expense and free to the parents or guardians.
o Services are based on the individual student’s unique needs and help the student make progress in the general education curriculum. FAPE
o Education services are designed to meet the individual education needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met.
o When necessary, the IEP team will work with parents to create an IEP or a written plan for the child's special education experience at school. By law, an IEP must include things like services, progress monitoring, and annual goals.
LRE
o To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled.
o IDEA does not address age-appropriateness in LRE decisions.
The Courts discussed age-appropriateness in several decisions but did not include it in any of the LRE approaches. There is significant support among educators for chronological age placements, but neither IDEA nor the courts have addressed this directly.
o IDEA states that extracurricular activities (e., sports, student organizations) and non-academics (e., meals, recess, and breaks) must be addressed for LRE. For some students with restrictive academic programming, the non- academics provide the only opportunity to interact with peers.
o Education in a separate classroom may lead to lower expectations.
o The value of interacting with a variety of peers in culturally sustaining ways is lost in segregated education. o Separation or segregation does not provide equal opportunity.
FIve Basic Steps to Solving Ethical Dilemmas in Special Education
Describe the context of the situation
Pose questions from each perspective
Identify alternative decisions
Identify consequences for each alternative
Monitor and modify the decision.
MODULE 5: Collaborating with Stakeholders to Meet Student Needs
- Formal
a. Due process
b. Mediation c. Filing a state complaint
Module 6: Determining Eligibility
Legal Guidelines for Determining Eligibility
A prereferral intervention is required by IDEA
o A prereferral is not mandated by IDEA, however, it is often mandated by individual states. o A prereferral is considered to be extremely helpful in the evaluation process by determining if individualized interventions will benefit a student rather than special education services prior to the more formal referral process.
A referral is a document requesting an evaluation to determine if a student qualifies for an education disability under IDEA. A referral can be requested by a parent, school staff member, or related service personnel.
Child Find is required by IDEA for all states to have procedures in place for the local education agency (LEA), or school district, to help identify children in their schools with disabilities from the ages of birth to 21.
The Child Study Team and Pre-referral Strategies
Prereferral Intervention Strategies
Peer support for the student's teacher
Medical exam
Parent interviews
School Psychologist: administers individual intelligence tests, personality inventories, and observations.
Guidance Counselor: provides aptitude test information and counseling services.
Occupational Therapist: provides evaluation of fine motor skills, living skills, and self-help skills.
Multitiered systems of supports (MTSS): a school-wide, data-driven, and prevention-focused framework that includes multiple supports and strategies that aim to address all student learning outcomes.
3 Tiers
o Tier 1: Universal Screening and Core Classroom Instructions for all Students
Core instruction High Quality Classroom Instruction, Universal Screening/Monitoring, Group Interventions
Tier 1 instruction is the key component of the MTSS framework. It is the core program in which all students receive high quality evidenced-based instruction. Generally, academic and behavior instruction and supports are designed and differentiated for all students. Tier 1 instruction incorporates the core academic curriculum that is aligned with state standards. The intent of the core program is the delivery of a high-quality instruction to all students with the expectation of meeting grade-level standards and preparedness for the future.
o Tier 2: Targeted Supplemental Interventions and Supports
Small Group Setting. (EX-group tutoring), Intensity, Group size, and interventions vary.
These are more focused, targeted instruction/intervention and supplemental supports in addition to and aligned with the core academic and behavior curriculum and instruction. Approximately 10-15 percent of students typically need targeted supplemental interventions and supports while continuing to be instructed in the core program. Tier 2 consists of the academic and behavioral instruction/intervention that are provided to students who show a need for help in addition to the instruction/intervention they receive at Tier 1. Tier 2 instruction/intervention is designed to meet the needs of students who are at some risk for academic failure but who are still above levels considered to indicate a high risk for failure. The needs of these students are identified through the assessment process, and instructional programs are delivered through smaller groups and are administered with a focus on meeting the specific needs of the students. o Tier 3: Intensive Interventions and Added Supports
Individualized, 1:1 Supports, Intense interventions, targeting student’s defecits
Quality instruction is used to provide benchmark information that will assist in recognizing struggling learners early in order to guide next intervention steps.
Data Collection is implemented using multiple types of information, assessments, and probes to provide a clear and robust understanding of where and how much a student is struggling. Progress Monitoring is integrated systematically within the school's teaching and curricular activities to inform the data if struggling learners are responding or not across tiers and opportunities.
Tiered Delivery is strategically activated within a schools' programs and teams through designated levels of responses to prevent, identify, and intervene by using data as guidance.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS): strategies schools use to improve the behavior of students. The proactive approach establishes the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success.
PBIS is a framework that has been conceptualized as a how-to system of implementing prevention and intervention strategies that can be applied at the district, school, and classroom level to bolster learning.
PBIS is often misunderstood to function as a behavior intervention program when it is in fact a framework that guides schools on best practices for promoting positive learning environments. As such, PBIS guides school professionals on how to select and implement positive behavior focused programs at the school-wide level through careful selection of evidence-based practices.
Assessment
All tests must be free from cultural bias. All tests must be given in the child's native language.
All tests should be valid and reliable for the intended purpose.
The evaluation must be done by a multidisciplinary team.
Assessment Types
Checklists and questionnaires completed by teachers and parents
o Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS)
Fine motor skills assessment
IQ test
o Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
verbal ability, intelligence, performance, and memory. o Woodcock-Johnson assessment
tests students in reading, math, writing, and oral language ability.
Vision and hearing screening
Speech and Communication Skills
o Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL)
measures expressive language, receptive language, and articulation.
Placement Options for Eligible Students
General Education Setting
Johnny has a specific learning disability and spends 90 percent of the school day in the general education classroom with his nondisabled peers. Johnny struggles with oral reading fluency, so he is pulled out of the classroom for 20 minutes each day to work on this skill with a special education teacher.
Resource Classroom
Sally has a learning disability and significantly struggles with reading and writing. She spends 70 percent of the school day in the general education classroom. Sally is pulled out of the general education classroom into a special education setting for 90 minutes each day to work on these academic skills.
Separate Classroom
Martha has an intellectual disability and struggles in all academic areas; she also has significant delays with expressive and receptive language. Martha receives science and social studies instruction in the general education classroom for 30 percent of the school day. All other instruction is received in a special education environment.
Separate School
Timothy has an emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) and often gets aggressive and violent during the day. When he feels overwhelmed or frustrated, he exhibits potentially dangerous behaviors, which compromises the safety and well-being of himself and others.
D002 study guide
Course: Professional, Ethical and Legal Practices For Special Ed (D002)
University: Western Governors University
This is a preview
Access to all documents
Get Unlimited Downloads
Improve your grades
