This session will discuss all things preschool and the interplay with special education! We will review the legal aspects of providing special education services to preschoolers, including the continuum of placement options and the least restrictive environment, inclusion, and the provision of related services. This session will also discuss how to utilize preschool and early intervention services to ensure success following a child’s transition to TK/Kindergarten.
This interactive session will provide an overview of the prior year in special education, reporting on relevant, significant cases and statutory developments. This presentation will be fast paced and audience-involved and will provide useful information to audience participants.
School districts have encountered many legal challenges in making sure that parents have the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of their child’s IEP. Scheduling IEP meetings, ensuring parents understand the proceedings, holding meetings without parents, and making team decisions are all issues that districts must approach carefully so that parents of students with disabilities are partners in the IEP process. Look with us at the statutes, regulations and cases addressing these topics.
This presentation will begin with a brief overview of the law related to addressing student behaviors. After reviewing the law, legal counsel and a behavior analyst will discuss practical implementation of behavior interventions, supports, plans, and services. You don't want to miss this session.
Is Alleged Misconduct Really Caused By Disability?
The manifestation determination review (MDR) is the process by which a child’s IEP team determines whether alleged misconduct is a manifestation of the child's disability. It must be performed when a school district proposes disciplinary measures that will result in a change of placement for a child with a disability. What should be a simple process, however, can easily be derailed by ineffective preparation, lack of necessary data, and charged emotions. Even simple missteps can result in the denial of a free appropriate public education and the halting of otherwise appropriate disciplinary proceedings. Using recent relevant federal case law as a guide, this presentation will train educators how to break down the specifics of any disciplinary incident, prepare for, and thereafter facilitate legally-sound MDRs. Participants will leave with a step-by-step guide for how to analyze the child’s disability, what information the IEP team should consider, and how to use the facts and circumstances of any disciplinary incident to determine whether alleged misconduct is, in fact, disability related.
How effective are you at communicating? Does your communication partner understand what you are conveying? Does your communication partner feel heard? From informal meetings with parents or colleagues, to the IEP table, breakdowns in communication lead to arguments, wasted time, and sometimes litigation. During this presentation we will cover reflective listening techniques, and how to employ them in the school setting. You will leave with a fresh perspective on how to effectively communicate, diffuse difficult conversations, and preserve your relationship with colleagues and parents.
You know how to use SEIS or Sirus, but do you know how to write a legally compliant IEP? During this session, we will break down each page of the IEP through the lens of legal compliance. After attending this session you will understand the "why" of IEP writing, and will also understand how to review an IEP ensuring it is legally compliant.
A school district’s obligations to serve students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment has undergone significant analysis and revisions by various courts over the past several decades. In this session, we will examine the most recent LRE decisions in detail in the context of the rules and legal trends governing LRE and the continuum of placements. We will examine the evolving balance between LRE and educational benefit.
