Once Upon A Time, there was a young boy named Miguel.

Miguel and his family

were from Spain so he was not born in the United States. Miguel loved interactive
and active activities, such as physical education, and he also enjoyed music very
much. Miguel struggled greatly in the area of reading fluency and reading
comprehension. Miguels third grade teacher, Miss Dean, used a benchmark
assessment on all of her students to see what they knew and what they need to
work on. It was brought to Miss Deans attention after this assessment that though
Miguel did struggle with reading, he may be struggling from a learning disability. A
learning disability could be the reason for what makes reading so difficulty for
young Miguel. With this on her mind, Miss Dean made a referral to Mrs. Martinez to
schedule a meeting with Miguels parents to discuss the next steps in the
upcoming process. Mrs. Martinez explained that due to Miss Deans benchmark
results and Miguels struggle in reading, she would like to evaluate him or further
test him in order to see what his main areas of need are and what the reason might
be. Mrs. Martinez said she would need written permission from the parents before
she could have him evaluated.

Through this process of evaluation, Miguel begins struggling even more in the
classroom and now acting out when something is too difficult for him. So because of
these behaviors, Miss Dean must discipline or give a consequence to Miguel to
let him know that the behaviors are not appropriate and will not be tolerated.
During the remainder of the evaluation process, it is determined that Miguel would
benefit from special education services and he does qualify under IDEA to receive
these services for a learning disability diagnosis. Now that the diagnosis is
confirmed, the team can begin writing an IEP or Individualized Education Plan for
Miguel with goals in reading fluency and reading comprehension, as well as possible
behavior goals. The IEP can begin to be written as soon as permission is obtained
from the parents once again to do so.

In the process now of the IEP being written, Miguels parents say they have a few
additional concerns they would like addressed. Miguels parents explain that Miguel
seems to be lashing out since their last move and relocation to this city. He gets very
upset about not seeing his old friends and not living near to his grandmother, whom
he was very close with. This has caused him to act out at home, and exhibit signs of
anger or resentment towards his parents. The team explains to Miguels parents
that they can provide him with a counseling service as a way to help work with
Miguel and his changing emotions regarding the move. The counseling
services could help him work on social and emotional skill building, and it
also gives him someone to talk or vent to if needed. His parents definitely
agreed this could help and said they would like to try it. The next step in the meeting
with parents was talking about any related services Miguel may qualify to receive.
Related Services could include a form of assistive technology, OT or
occupational therapy, PT or physical therapy, speech therapy or
transportation. Transportation would be a service to help Miguel get to and
from school if he needed assistance. This form of school provided
transportation could be a mini-bus or van with a specialized lift for students in
wheelchairs and with physical disabilities. Assistive technology examples
could include an iPad, a communication device, a text-to-speech system, noise-
cancelling headphones, text magnifier or enlarger, and much more.
Occupational therapy is a form of therapy used to increase a students ability
to perform daily tasks such as writing with correct pencil grip and hand
placement. Physical therapy is provided to students with physical needs to
help with their muscle strengthening and gross/fine motor skills. Speech
therapy is therapy used to help the students work on verbal communication
skills, mouth placement for letter sounds, basic letter sounds and
digraphs/blends, and much more in a way to learn communication skills. As
meeting as a team, Miguels IEP team feels he would greatly benefit from an iPad
because it could be used to help him work on his reading skills, could be set up to
have text read to him, and would give him immediate access at his fingertips to
grade level and instructional level reading intervention applications.

Then Mrs. Martinez explains the LRE or Least Restrictive Environment as it

applies to Miguels placement and environment in the school. Ensuring a
student is placed in his/her LRE helps protect the student with a disability by
placing them only in a classroom or school environment that can meet their
needs the best and keep them on track to meeting their IEP goals. Miguel will
be able to participate in full inclusion as well, which is where he will be in the
regular education (grade level) classroom for the larger part of his school day.
Miguel will spend some of his school day in the Learning Support classroom to
receive interventions in reading/language arts, and to work on his goals in reading
fluency and reading comprehension. The Learning Support room is also often
referred to as the Resource Room, which is a room where students can receive
extra support and intervention outside of their regular education classroom.
The mixture of regular education classroom time and resource room time will
ensure Miguel is given opportunities to work with his grade-level peers and also
improve his reading skills at his instructional level. Miguel will also benefit from
classroom elements, which is something that will provide him with resources
to help his direct and specific learning needs. Miguel will not need the classroom
location or layout of the room to change because he does not have any
physical disabilities or concerns at this time. It was determined by the evaluation
report that Miguel does not have any health issues, which could be physical or
mental problems that cause harm to his body. Miguel also is not found in the
Continuum of Placement that best will meet his unique needs. Continuum of
Placement includes a variety of placements that include students with
disabilities and it is based on each students direct and specific needs.

At the conclusion of the IEP meeting, once all Miguels SDIs or Specially Designed
Instruction, and goals have been reviewed, it can be finalized. Mrs. Martinez let
Miguels parents know and understand their rights as parents and told them if they
had or have any concerns in the future to contact the IEP meeting ASAP because an
IEP is a working document. She also explained the procedural safeguards to the
parents or their specific rights if they would disagree with something decided upon
by the IEP team. All in all, with supports and services, Miguel will live happily ever
after and will continue working towards his goals in reading fluency and reading
comprehension. The End!

Week 4 Special Education Terms:

Related Services: Transportation, AT, OT, PT, Speech- These areas are
included when students qualify or are eligible for transportation services, AT
(Assistive Technologies), OT (Occupational Therapy services), PT (Physical
Therapy services), and/or Speech Therapy services. During the ER or RR,
many if not all of these areas are testing and assessed. If a student qualifies
for one or more related services, these are added or updated on the Related
Services page. This includes what the service is, who is providing the service,
what the frequency is (days per week, hours per day), and where this related
service would take place. If OT, PT, or Speech is included, the therapist(s)
must be included in all IEP team meetings, annual IEP meetings, and must be
given adequate time to complete their progress report sections every 9
weeks before the special education teacher can send them home.

Discipline- Discipline is the act of a teacher, paraprofessional, or educational

staff member reprimanding a student for breaking a rule, not following their
behavior system or chart, acting out, or acting in any way deemed
inappropriate in the school setting.

Counseling- Counseling are services in which a student can speak with or

meet with a counselor to discuss anything bothering or troubling them.
Counseling services typically work on students emotional and social skills
but can also include behavioral work.

Health Issues- A health issue is any health related concern that causes harm
to ones body. This could be a permanent diagnosis or a temporary condition.

Assistive Technology- Assistive technology or AT is utilized to provide a

student with extra support, assist with a goal or objective for a student, or
help a student engage with his/her typically developing peers. Examples of
AT devices could be speech to text software, word processing software, iPad,
 etc. These are most often provided by the school district the student is
attending and are utilized in the classroom to the maximum extent possible.
Regular education teachers need to always be trained on what the AT device
is and how to utilize it beforehand so the student can reach his/her full
potential.

Full Inclusion- Full inclusion is when a student is placed in the regular-

education classroom for some or all of their school day. The regular-
education classroom refers to the classroom of his/her grade-level and they
are immersed with their typically-developing peers.

Continuum of Placement- Continuum of Placement is a variety of

placements to include students with disabilities based on their needs.

LRE- LRE or Least Restrictive Environment refers to the environment a

student is placed in or is decided upon that gives his/her as much access
possible to the regular education curriculum and classroom. Special
education and IEP teams are always looking to place students in their LRE.

Classroom Elements & Location- Classroom elements are elements in the

classroom that can directly help a student in need. The location would be the
classroom where the student with a disability is placed, whether it be the
regular education classroom, resource room, or some other location.

Resource Rooms- The resource room or learning support room in some

cases, is the room where a student with a disability in reading or math can
come down to work on their goals, improving their skills, and where they can
receive additional interventions and supports in their major areas of need.

Response 1:

Angela,
I really enjoyed reading your post because "your story" was very easy to follow and
easily understood. I think each term you discussed would have been well accepted
by the parents because it was described in the easiest terms possible. I also really
enjoyed your examples throughout such as "a student may have a modified spelling
list with the same number of words as the rest of the class, but less challenging
words to learn."
Great post!

Response 2:
Dustin,
I really enjoyed reading your post/story because I feel your definitions were very
general and easily understood so they would have been perfect when explaining the
confusing and complicated IEP process to parents not fluent in English. I feel you
thoroughly explained the IEP process, while not getting too complicated with
definitions. Great post!