By Frances Shefter, Esq. (and mom)
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.
Part 5: Special program
In Part 4, we talked about self-contained classes and how a student may need that smaller student-to-teacher ratio for one subject, several subjects, or all core academic classes. Sometimes the IEP team gets to the point where it has determined that the child needs more self-contained classes than the current school can provide. That is usually when parents start hearing about programs at other schools, and it is also where the conversation can become confusing very quickly because placement, program, and location of services often start getting discussed as though they are all the same thing.
The easiest way to understand what should happen is to follow the order of the IEP meeting. The team should already have determined what services the child needs, including whether those services are provided in general education, co-taught classes, resource, self-contained classes, or some combination of those settings. Once those decisions are made, the next question is whether the child’s current school can implement the IEP as written.
If the answer is yes, then the child may be able to remain in the current school. If the answer is no because the child now needs more self-contained classes or another combination of services that the school cannot provide, then the team has to move farther along the continuum and consider a program that can implement the IEP.
Moving to a More Specialized Program
This is the point where I want parents to pay attention to how the discussion is happening. The team should not start with what a particular program usually offers and then change the IEP to match it. The services have already been determined based on the child’s needs. Now the team is looking at whether a program can provide those services.
For example, maybe the team has determined that a student needs self-contained classes for all core academic subjects, direct social skills instruction, speech-language services, and access to general education for electives. If the current school cannot provide that combination, the team needs to look at other options, which may include a specialized program.
The question is whether that program, as a whole, can provide what is already written in the IEP. Can it provide the self-contained classes the child needs? Can it provide the related services at the frequency and duration in the IEP? Can it provide the social skills instruction, Supplementary Aids and Services, accommodations, behavioral supports, and access to general education that the team has already determined are necessary?
If it can, then the program is appropriate because it can implement the IEP as written. If it cannot, then the team needs to consider another option.
This is why I do not want the conversation to become, “This program usually provides this,” or, “Students in this program normally receive that.” Those statements may describe how the program generally operates, but they do not tell us whether the program is appropriate for this particular child. The IEP was developed around the child’s needs. We should be asking whether the program can meet those needs, not changing the IEP simply because the program is structured differently.
Of course, the IEP can always be changed if new information shows that the child’s needs are different than the team previously understood. But that is very different from changing services because a proposed program does not normally provide what is written.
Placement and Location of Services
Placement and location of services are often confused. The IEP team determines the appropriate placement by determining which program can implement the child’s IEP. Central office then determines the location of services — the specific school building where that program will be provided. That is why it is important to focus on the services and program, not a specific school. Thinking about those decisions separately helps parents understand whether the discussion is still about the child’s placement or whether it has moved to the separate location decision made by central office.
Keep the IEP Driving the Process
The easiest way to keep all of this straight is to come back to the IEP. The team first determines the services the child needs and the setting in which those services should be provided. From there, it determines whether those services can be implemented in the current school. If they cannot, the team considers a more specialized program and whether that program can implement the IEP as written. Once that program is identified, central office determines the location where it will be provided.
That order matters because it prevents the available program from driving the IEP. If the team starts reducing services because a program does not usually provide them, or changing the child’s settings because a particular program is structured differently, the process has gotten backwards. The program should fit the IEP. The IEP should not be rewritten simply to fit the program.
How Shefter Law Can Help
These conversations can become confusing very quickly because services, placement, programs, and school buildings may all be discussed within the same meeting. Parents may understand that their child’s current school can no longer implement the IEP but still be unsure whether the proposed program actually provides what their child needs or whether the district is simply offering what happens to be available.
At Shefter Law, we help families slow that process down and look at each decision in the right order. We start with the IEP and the data behind it, look at whether the services accurately reflect the child’s needs, and determine whether the current school can implement those services. If a more specialized program is being considered, we help families evaluate whether that program can implement the IEP as written and whether there are other options to consider.
If you are unsure whether your child’s proposed placement can meet their needs, start with a Free Case Analysis to find out how Shefter Law may be able to help.
Final Thoughts
When a child’s IEP cannot be implemented in the current school, moving farther along the continuum does not mean starting over and designing a new IEP around an available program. The IEP should already reflect the services and settings the child needs. The team then determines which program can implement those requirements, and that ability to implement the IEP is what makes the program appropriate.
Once the appropriate program has been identified, central office determines where that program will be provided. Keeping the program decision and the location decision separate helps ensure that the child’s needs continue to drive the process rather than allowing the structure of an existing program or school building to determine what goes into the IEP.
Coming Next Week…
In Part 6 of the Special Education Continuum of Services series, we will look at separate special education schools and when a student may need a setting beyond the specialized programs available within a traditional public school.
Previous → Part 4: Self-Contained Classroom
Next → Part 6: Non-public Schools
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.