Spring 2025 SOWK 587 Week 04 - School and Special Education Laws and Policies

Spring 2025 SOWK 587 Week 04 - School and Special Education Laws and Policies

title: Spring 2025 SOWK 587 Week 04 - School and Special Education Laws and Policies date: 2025-02-12 13:38:10 location: Heritage University tags:

• Heritage University
• MSW Program
• SOWK 587 presentation_video: > Spring 2025 SOWK 587 Week 04

description: >

Social workers frequently are placed in settings serving students with disabilities and need to understand and interface with special educational services. Having specific knowledge regarding special education law, how services are provided to students, and the nuanced needs these students have is an essential aspect of school social work and being a professional transitioning into and partnering with schools. Week four is asynchronous with readings from the textbook and Washington’s K-12 education oversight body. Students will engage in forums and a quiz exploring special educational law. There is also a lecture video on implementing services in Washington State.

The agenda is as follows:

• Week four course plan
• General overview of special education
• Referral process for special services
• Positions and rolls
• Mandated reporting

The learning objectives for this week include:

• To gain knowledge regarding the legal landscape regarding disability services within a school setting
• To have an understanding of the obligations schools have to serve students with special needs
• To articulate ethical decision making

Agenda and Learning Objective: How Does Special Education Services Work in Schools

The agenda is as follows:

• Week four course plan
• General overview of special education
• Referral process for special services
• Positions and rolls
• Mandated reporting

The learning objectives for this week include:

• To gain knowledge regarding the legal landscape regarding disability services within a school setting
• To have an understanding of the obligations schools have to serve students with special needs
• To articulate ethical decision making

Week 04 Course Plan

Content

• Jarolmen and Bautista-Thomas (2023) Chapter 4: Special Education and School Social Work
• Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (OSPI, 2023) Notice of Special Education Procedural Safeguards for Students and Their Families
• Watch my lecture Video Spring 2025 SOWK 587 Week 04

A-02 Asynchronous Weekly Small Groups Discussion Forums

• Exploring Due Process Hearings
• School Law and Decision Making
• Textbook Questions
• Special Education Law Quiz

Legal Basis for Special Education

• Americans With Disabilities Act
• Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act
• Washington Administrative Code (Chapter 392-172A): Rules for the Provision of Special Education to Special Education Students

A service not a place

Special education is a service, not a room in a school…

• Special education is not a classroom, it is a continuum of services
• Special education is defined by the type of instruction the student gets, not where the instruction occurs
• Special education is specially designed instruction which is defined as:

a change in the teaching strategies and methods used to differentiate material for students (aka differentiated instruction)

Important Terms in Special Education

When thinking about Special Education services, a couple of terms are essential to understand.

• Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): A program designed to meet the student’s individual needs at no cost to the family.
• Specially Designed Instruction (SDI): Organized and planned instructional activities, which adapt, as appropriate, the content, methodology, or delivery of - instruction, to address the unique needs resulting from a student’s disability.
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA): A federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. It grants students and parents the right to - access these records and restricts schools from disclosing personally identifiable information without consent.

504 Plan: Explanation & Eligibility

A 504 plan is an accommodation plan that allows a student access to his/her educational program to the same extent as non-disabled peers.

To be eligible, a student must have an identified disability that:

• Adversely impacts educational progress
• Requires accommodations to mitigate the inequity in their to access to their educational program

What is an IEP?

An IEP stands for Individualized Education Program. Any student who has a disability and qualifies for SDI must have one of these. It basically lays out what the school will do for the child.

• Defines the student’s present levels of performance in areas of eligibility
• Outlines measurable goals and objectives in all areas of eligibility
• Describes the accommodations and modifications the student requires
• Identifies the least restrictive environment (LRE), how much time the student will spend in special ed and general ed settings, and who is responsible for the implementation of services and tracking of progress
• Defines a transition plan and course of study after age 16

Qualification for Services: What Does it Take

There are a couple of requirements that allow a student to be able to qualify for services.

A student eligible for special education must:

• Have an identified disability (in one of 14 categories) that…
  • Autism
  • Deafblindness
  • Deafness
  • Developmental delay
  • Emotional/behavioral disability
  • Hard of hearing
  • Intellectual disability
  • Multiple disabilities
  • Orthopedic impairment
  • Other health impairment
  • Specific learning disability
  • Speech or language impairment
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Visual impairment including blindness
• Adversely impacts their education progress and
• Requires specially designed instruction (SDI)

A student can have a disability and not meet the other 2 tiers, therefore, not be eligible for special education services under IDEA.

Typical Referral Concerns

• Academic delays of ~2 or more years despite average capabilities/cognitive skills and multiple interventions over time
• Lack of progress within an intervention when peers are making consistent progress
• Attention or behavior results in significant academic delays or lack of access to instruction
• Social skill or behavior delays result in underperformance or inability to benefit adequately from instruction

Considerations must be given to…

• Limited English proficiency
• Lack of attendance over time/numerous absences
• Environmental issues (often associated with attendance or frequent school changes)
• Exposure to adequate instruction in reading and math
• Interventions provided prior to referral

The Road To Referrals: Who Makes Them

Anyone can make a referral for special education services if they believe the student would benefit from a more specialized instructional program than can be provided in the general education setting

The Road To Referrals: What Is the Process

Anyone can make a referral for special education services if they believe the student would benefit from a more specialized instructional program than can be provided in the general education setting

A referral must be submitted in writing to the building or district level

Best person to send the referral to is the building administrator and/or the school psychologist

At the referral team meeting

The teacher presents the data they have collected on:

• the interventions that have been attempted
• how long they were attempted and
• results of the intervention.

Other data shared includes:

• absence profile
• assessment information from student track
• primary language
• discipline history
• health
• academic history

Based on this information the referral team makes a determination as to whether to proceed with a special education evaluation or if more information is needed.

Timeline: What Are the Requirements after a Official Request

25 school days
The amount of time the team has to meet to decide if an evaluation is going to occur, inform parents of the decision, and obtain consent to evaluate

35 school days
The number of days from the data of consent that a team has to complete an evaluation if one is recommended.

30 calendar days
The number of days a team has to develop an initial IEP if the student is found to be eligible for special education services.

Eligibility Categories & Programs: What is Offered in Pasco

In Washington State, there are 14 different eligibility categories that people might receive special services support based on.

The two that are most relevant to you are:

• Health Impairment
• Emotional/ Behavioral Disability

In the Pasco School District, there are 13 Special Service Programs…

These range from various supports from minutes in a resource room to a comprehensive program like the Bridges Behavioral Program that I assist with…

List of Eligibility Categories

• Specific Learning Disability
• Health Impairment
• Emotional/ Behavioral Disability
• Communication Disorder
• Intellectual Disability
• Autism
• Visual Impairment
• Hearing Impairment
• Deafness
• Deaf/ Blindness
• Orthopedic Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Multiple Disabilities
• Developmental Delay (Age 3-9)

List of Pasco Programs

• B-3 Program
• Developmental Pre-School Programs
• Resource Room
• Inclusion
• Self-Contained Programs
• Life Skills Programs
• Adaptive Life Skills Programs
• Career Community Placement
• Language Preschool Program
• Autism Pre-School Program
• Structured Learning Center
• Extended Resource Room
• Behavior Programs (BRIDGES)

Coordinating Services: How Outside Services Can Collaborate with Special Education

Having a students treatment plan, their parental engagement, and school individualized educational plan working together for a student is the ideal model for working with youth. You all know this, its the concept of wraparound. There are a number of ways you can go about coordinating…

• Requesting records (i.e. IEP, Psychological Testing… etc.)
• Connecting with case manager (phone, letter, email, school visit)
• Seeing programs first hand (schedule and see, brief description of Bridges [seeing interventions being used, time to brainstorm with team… etc])
• Participating in meetings (IEP meetings, Manifestation Determination Meetings, Conferences, holding wraparound meetings at school… etc)
• Sharing recommendations (Giving and receiving)

Positions and Rolls (1 of 2)

School meetings can frequently be attended b a lot of different people and parties with different roles and positions. We thought it might be helpful to talk about who each is and what their role is…

–> Next Slide

Positions and Rolls (2 of 2)

• Student
• Parent
• Teachers (Case Manager, General Education Teacher, Special Education Teacher, Resource Room Teacher)
  • Manage IEPs for special education students
  • Work first hand with the students so can provide information about progress, etc
  • Can be the contact for observing or sharing information about a student’s program
  • Can make recommendations for accommodations/modifications for special education students
• School Counselor
  • 504 plan contact/ case manager
  • May be initial contact regarding a possible referral for special education services
  • May provide individual support but capacity to do so is limited
• School Psychologist
  • Participate in team decisions regarding referrals and evaluations
  • Case manager for evaluations and liaison to district office and special education teachers
  • Knowledgeable of referral and evaluation rules/regulations
  • Can make recommendations for appropriate programming for students
  • Can help with information sharing between agencies and coordinating observations or meetings regarding support for students
• Education Specialists
  • Provide support to building special education teams with the implementation and development of appropriate programs to meet the needs of students
• Building Administrators and Principals
  • Provide on site support to special education programs
  • Provide support to families and agencies as needed
• Special Services Administrators
  • Oversee special education programs across the district
  • Oversee the development of appropriate special education programs to meet the needs of students
  • Provide compliance and programming support with challenging cases as needed
  • Contact when issues arise that are not being addressed at the building level
• Speech Language Pathologist
  • Provides related services
• Occupational Therapist
  • Provides related services
• Physical Therapist
  • Provides related services
• School Nurse
  • Administer medications
• School Social Workers or Mental Health Therapist
  • Coordinates services with outside agencies
  • Knowledgeable individual student needs

Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect

Washington State requires that

Among many professions, social workers and school personnel are all mandated reporters

• Social service counselors/therapists
• School personnel

Talk about how it looks in school Best practices