Disability Identification

Getting Lost in LD

You get the call from the parent but they are not sure whether they want to hire an advocate or a lawyer. All they know is that their child is not doing well in school and something has to change. Frustration, anger and confusion seem to be a constant state of affairs and no one is offering any support or information that alleviates any of those emotions for the parent nor are there any changes to the IEP that might give the parents some hope for progress.

As an advocate you know that it is too early to go to a lawyer because the first question the lawyer usually asks is what do you want and most times the parent has no real idea of what they need. The lawyer can get due process and procedural information but that is handicapped by their lack of educational and clinical cross-training.

You can go to an evaluator who is school based but you do not know if they are or are not evaluating with a child focused approach in assessing complex and multifaceted disorders.

You can go to an independent evaluator but if they have not been successful in educational dispute resolution or the educational process, you get a clinically based evaluation vs. an educationally based one which can mean that the district can consider any findings as medical and beyond what the district is bound to handle.

As an advocate who has educated yourself across multiple disciplines or as a  board-certified special education advocate you get someone who is crossed trained and who is essential for referring parents to the appropriate evaluations and being effective in the IEP process.

IMPORTANCE OF THE ER

The ER identifies the child’s needs and provides the justification and basis for educational intervention. It is the foundation for IEP development and provides PLOPs (present levels of performance) essential for goal development. How many times do you have goals where PLOPs are not available and need to be determined? Without an accurate child specific and appropriate evaluation, you are throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing if it sticks! An inaccurate ER effectively prevents the development of an Appropriate Individualized Education Plan.

Just as PTE and Parental Inputs are CRITICAL to the development of an appropriate IEPs appropriate IEE’s streamline and decrease the time lines required to getting the appropriate IEP. When requesting an IEE you need to denote that the evaluation did not adequately assess (itemized) areas of need.

During evaluation, modifications may invalidate the use of norms but will still result in useful qualitative and quantitative information. Assessment should be based on multiple sources of information and ALL SUBSETS should be included. Frequently, it is in the assessment of the subsets or splinter skills that some of the most important information for effective remediation is uncovered.

So, the question remains where do you go to find a good source for referrals? Are pediatric developmental specialists, speech and language pathologists, behavior analysts, psychologists, and neuropsychologists good sources for referrals to appropriate assessments and key professionals? THE ANSWER IS NO. They do not see how the reports are used or know what needs to be documented to get services within the educational system. Board Certified Educational Advocates are good sources for referrals to appropriate assessments and key professionals.

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 AUTHORS

Marie Lewis is an author, consultant, and national speaker on best practices in education advocacy. She is a parent of 3 children and a Disability Case Manager, Board Certified Education Advocate, and Behavior Specialist Consultant. She has assisted in the development of thousands of IEPs nationally and consults on developing appropriately individualized IEPs that are outcome based vs just legally sufficient. She brings a great depth of expertise, practical experience, and compassion to her work as well as expert insight, vision, and systemic thinking. She is passionate and funny and she always inspires and informs.

MJ Gore has an MEd in counseling and a degree in elementary education and natural sciences. She worked as a life-skills and learning support teacher She has been honored with the receipt of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She is the Director and on the faculty at the National Special Education Advocacy Institute. Her passion is social justice, especially in the area of education. She is a Board Certified Education Advocate who teaches professional advocates, educators, and clinicians the best practices in education advocacy.