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M e m b e r • o f • t h e National•disability Rights•Net work SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN OF THE GREAT LAND :
M e m b e r • o f • t h e N a t i o n a l • d i s a b i l i t y R i g h t s • N e t w o r k
Special education advocacy
for children of the Great land
:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1SECTION 1: Slides for Parent Advocacy Training ................................................. 3
SECTION 2: Supplemental Training Materials ..................................................... 27
Identifying Children Who Need Special Education ............................................... 27 Consent to Evaluate ..................................................................................... 27 Diagnosis + Need for Specialized Instruction = Eligibility ......................... 28Getting Another Opinion: An Independent Educational Evaluation ...................... 28What about Response to Intervention (RTI)? ........................................................ 29The Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) ........................................................... 29 Student Strengths, Parent Concerns, and Agency Comments ..................... 30 Student’s Strengths ............................................................................ 30 Parents’ Concerns ............................................................................. 30 Other Agency Comments ................................................................... 31 Describing Areas of Academic and Functional Needs ................................ 31 Transition from High School to Adulthood ................................................. 31 Special Factors That the IEP Team Must Think About ............................... 32 Annual Goals and Objectives ...................................................................... 32 Classic Autism Speech Goal.............................................................. 33 High Functioning Autism Speech Goal ............................................. 33 How Will the Student’s Progress Be Reported to the Team? ...................... 34 Related Services .......................................................................................... 34 Communication/Speech ..................................................................... 34 Occupational Therapy ....................................................................... 34 Behavior ............................................................................................ 35 Social Skills ....................................................................................... 35 Specialized Training for Families and School Staff .......................... 36 The Hours of Services for Special Education and Related Services ........... 36 Accommodations and Supports ................................................................... 37 How the School Will Implement the IEP and Who Will Be the Teacher = Placement .................................................................................... 38Extended School Year (ESY) ................................................................................. 40 Regression/Recoupment .............................................................................. 40 Emerging Skill ............................................................................................. 41
Self-Sufficiency Skills ................................................................................. 41 Advocacy Strategies .................................................................................... 41Common Problems in Getting Special Education in Rural Alaska ........................ 43 Transportation .............................................................................................. 43 Getting Related Services in Remote Areas Using Technology.................... 43 Discipline, Truancy, Absences, and the School’s Responsibility to Educate ........................................................................................................ 44 Graduation and Exiting Special Education .................................................. 45Disagreements between Parents and the School: Dispute Resolution ................... 46
APPENDIX A Diagnostic Identifiers of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ....................... 49
APPENDIX B Speech Therapy Ideas for Autism ................................................................ 51 APPENDIX C Sequencing Activities .................................................................................. 54
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INTRODUCTION This booklet is divided into two sections. The first section includes the slides from the parent trainings planned around the state of Alaska in 2012-2013. Because of the in-person, interactive nature of the trainings, the slides are often an abbreviated or outlined version of the topics which they address. Further discussion during trainings is intended to provide details and explanations for those attending. The second section was created to supplement the information outlined in the slides, and to provide additional resources for parents and advocates to use when seeking appropriate services for children who experience autism. None of the trainings or materials would be available for parents and advocates if not for funding from Autism Speaks™. Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Bob and Suzanne Wright, grandparents of a child with autism. Their longtime friend Bernie Marcus donated $25 million to help financially launch the organization. Since then, Autism Speaks has grown into the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.
These training materials were created by the Disability Law Center of Alaska (DLC). DLC is designated under federal law as the State of Alaska’s Protection and Advocacy agency. With offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, DLC’s mission is to provide protection and advocacy services to Alaskans with disabilities, through legal representation, education and strategic advocacy.
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Disability Law Center of Alaska
Two part test: ◦ 1. Child has a disability within the disability
categories, AND ◦ 2. Requires specialized instruction in order to get
meaningful benefit from education
Slides for Parent Advocacy Training
Evaluation 1. Parent obtains a private evaluation 2. Requesting and obtaining an evaluation by the
school district
Consent 1. Meeting to discuss and schedule evaluations 2. Sign the Consent to Evaluate form 3. Starts the timeline for getting special education
services for child
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Classroom-based interventions Supposed to be for identifying kids with
specific learning disabilities, but gets used for other learning difficulties
Can’t be used to delay evaluation for special education eligibility, if requested by parents
Can’t be used to replace an IEP, if a child requires specialized instruction due to disability
The IDEA outlines a process in which the school district must work with a parent to determine their child’s educational needs. The IEP should be developed in the following order: ◦ Student Strengths, Parent Concerns, Agency Comments ◦ Present Levels of Educational Performance ◦ Annual Goals (and Short Term Objectives?)
◦ Special Education
◦ Related Services
◦ Placement
An IEP is a written plan developed by a team of individuals which lists the special education and related services a
child needs to receive an appropriate education
Special Education is specially designed instruction at no cost to the parents that meets the unique needs of a child with a disability
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Information about the child Meeting date, Expiration date Eligibility category; eligibility report date Transfer of Rights Student Strengths Student and Parent Concerns Other agency comments Signatures of Participants in Attendance
Social/Emotional Cognitive Family Support Past Achievement Improvement
Strengths that relate to educational
environment, that can be used for getting other skills. (e.g., strong visual memory, etc.)
Not: “proud member of ROTC”, or “he vocalizes happily in the classroom”
i.e., Autism, Developmental Delay, Specific Learning Disability, Emotional Disturbance, Other Health Impaired, etc.
Category doesn’t limit services; once a child is eligible under a single category, can be given services related to another disability, if needed to have meaningful access to educational benefit
BUT, there are good reasons to have known disabilities that adversely affect educational performance included here ◦ Alert teachers to disability (i.e., Autism w/ PTSD) ◦ Procedural protections for behavior/discipline (i.e., Asperger’s w/
ED) ◦ Reevaluation by school for all known/suspected areas
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Any other reports that you want the team to consider should be referenced here
Any invitees from outside the school district should state any comments, recommendations, give summaries of conclusions ◦ DVR, ATLA ◦ Private evaluations ◦ NOTE: request that any comments by an outside agency
be put in writing and included in the final IEP
Watch for: ◦ Paraphrasing by school that changes what you
mean ◦ Bad note-taking (inaccurate, rushed)
◦ Objections/contradictions to your concerns that get
included in the “parent concerns” section ◦ If the “final” version is wrong, object to the errors in
writing, inform school of need to change and reissue
Parents’ opportunity to have views included in the actual IEP. ◦ Problems with implementation ◦ New difficulties for student at school ◦ Need for new goals, accommodations, services, supports ◦ Disagreements with current IEP: goals, progress notes,
placement
BE PREPARED. ◦ List of concerns written in advance ◦ Read the list, slowly and clearly ◦ Ask for the list to be added verbatim ◦ Ask the note taker to repeat them back
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Districts can decide which staff will attend IEP meeting. The team must include*: Parents or surrogate parent Child (if appropriate) One regular education teacher One special education teacher District representative who is able to allocate resources Individual who can interpret evaluation results
Other individuals who can attend: Related services providers, other staff Parents can invite others with special knowledge or expertise
*option to not attend must be agreed to by parents in writing
ting. The
Guidelines for statement: ◦ Easy to understand and free of educational jargon; ◦ Contains current information; ◦ Not just raw test scores, but should reflect
assessment data. If refer to assessments, should include the scores; ◦ If the Present Levels describe a problem, there
should be a corresponding goal(s), objective(s), special education and/or related service(s) addressing that problem.
Must address ALL areas of need as identified in the ESER. ◦ Be familiar with your child’s ESER
Based on: classroom-based assessments, recent reevaluations, progress toward post-school outcomes, parents’ input, input from service providers and teachers, state- and district-wide assessments, independent evaluations.
Must include: how disability affects progress and inclusion in general education curriculum.
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Watch for: general statements w/o context or details, i.e., ◦ “eye contact is improving . . .”, ◦ INSTEAD: Describe, describe, describe. “Last year,
Joey made little or no eye contact during one-to-one instruction. This year, he makes eye contact about three times during a one-hour of direct speech instruction.” ◦ Also, watch for old data sneaking in (“observations
from his last school . . ..”).
Watch for: ◦ Parent or child as the only actor
◦ Services limited by building resources, financial resources
◦ Services to be determined “at a later date”
◦ Outside agencies (i.e., DVR) as provider, but not invited to
the IEP meeting If they don’t provide services, school is responsible for following
up
◦ Transition goals that don’t have a corresponding service/activity (i.e., goal to be art teacher, no art or teaching related transition service)
Must be included for 16-21 year-olds ◦ Can start earlier, if appropriate: i.e., adaptive living skills
for child with developmental delays
Domains: training, education, employment, independent living skills (where appropriate)
Based on age-appropriate transition assessments (DVR, ASVAB, Avatar, etc.)
Must include: instruction; related services; community experiences; employment and adult living objectives; and when appropriate, daily living skills and functional vocational education
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Behavior? ◦ Not required to have BIP, merely “must consider”
English Proficiency?
Blind or Visually Impaired? ◦ Need for Braille? If so, shall be provided
Deaf or Hearing Impaired? ◦ Consider language and communication needs of child, including direct
communication with peers Including speech, if social development /communication with peers is
adversely affected
Assistive Technology? ◦ If necessary to access and benefit from educational program If you can get an expert to recommend it, request it.
Watch for: ◦ Progress stated only in percentages
◦ Criteria for assessing progress should include
quantifiable data, work samples; not just based on teacher observations (and ask for structured observations)
◦ Progress stated only as “continued”, “discontinued”, “mastered”, or “not initiated”
◦ Remember: Parents are equal participants of the IEP team! You need clear and useful information about your child’s progress to participate fully
Describes how parents will be informed of their child’s progress toward meeting goals
Includes the extent to which progress is sufficient to enable child to achieve the goal by the end of the IEP period
At least as often as parents of children without disabilities
Need not be lengthy ◦ Can be more frequent than quarterly; can be in any form
that the team decides is appropriate (i.e., ABA tally sheets) Use “Program Modifications/Accommodations” space for
describing alternative methods of reporting progress
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Should address needs summarized in the Present Levels
General statement of what a child should reasonably be expected to accomplish w/i year ◦ Challenging ◦ Written in easily understood language ◦ Written to increase successful participation in
general education curriculum ◦ Measurable; can be monitored frequently and
repeatedly ◦ Enhance decision-making in IEP process
Wouldn’t pass the “Stranger Test” ◦ Vague (“will read text fluently”) ◦ Not measurable (“will engage in reading for enjoyment”) ◦ Compound (“will engage in reading comprehension at school and at
home”)
Evaluation criteria used is not appropriate for the skill ◦ Oral reading fluency assessed by a “decoding” computer program
No baseline; meaningless baseline (reference to a grade in a class)
Reference to educational product ◦ Fast ForWord, TeenBiz, etc.
Baseline established by program that is not an accepted diagnostic tool
Three components: ◦ Objective Criteria 4 of 5 trials 50 correct responses in 3 minutes
◦ Evaluation Procedures Written performance Assessments Timed sample
◦ Schedules (how often measured) Twice weekly monthly
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1. Accommodations on HSGQE
2. Alternative/Optional Assessment 1. Modifications
2. Non-Standardized Assessment
3. Alternate- No Diploma
Discrete Trial Training/Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
Sensory diet Assistive technology Adaptive Equipment Community-based learning In-class communication strategies 1:1 aide
To allow the student to: ◦ Advance appropriately toward annual goals ◦ Be involved and progress in general education
curriculum; and participate in extracurricular activities and nonacademic activities
◦ Be educated and participate with other children with
disabilities and with nondisabled children
To allow the student to:
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Assistive technology needed, but not listed
Teacher training on specific accommodation necessary, but not listed ◦ Parent training, too
Reference in BIP to breaks, hot passes, etc., not listed ◦ Substitutes being made aware of BIP strategies is often
omitted, too
Extracurricular activities get overlooked ◦ Sports, social events, etc.
Services required to assist a child with a disability to progress in the general curriculum, meet IEP goals and participate in extra-curricular activities with non-disabled children. These services can include: ◦ Transportation ◦ Speech and audiology services ◦ Psychological services ◦ Physical and occupational therapy ◦ Recreation and leisure education ◦ Counseling ◦ Orientation and mobility services ◦ Travel training ◦ School health services ◦ Social work services ◦ Parent counseling and training
All services needed for the child to receive an appropriate education must be listed
Special Education is instruction needed to achieve goals
Related services are supports that are required to allow child to benefit from special education
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WATCH FOR AND CORRECT THESE PROBLEMS: ◦ Transportation counted in service hours ◦ Supervision counted in service hours ◦ Uncertified/unlicensed provider who is unsupervised
counted towards service hours ◦ Supervision by specialist not frequent enough ◦ Goals listed in IEP, but service not included in hours of
services ◦ Addition errors ◦ Location not appropriate for instruction ◦ Watch for how school counts TA or Aide time ◦ Watch for “access-based” services being counted as all
day
When All The People Who Teach A Child Need To Use The Same Methods And Tools
If necessary for the child to receive FAPE, federal regulations expressly authorize: ◦ 1. Counseling and guidance of parents regarding hearing loss, concerning
the related service of audiology 34 CFR 300.34 (c)(1)(v)
◦ 2. Planning and managing a program of psychological counseling for children and parents 34 CFR 300.34 (c)(10)(v)
◦ 3. Counseling of parents regarding speech and language impairments, concerning the related services of speech pathology 34 CFR 300.34 (c)(14)(v)
◦ 4. Group and individual counseling with the child and family 34 CFR 300.24 (b)(13)(ii)
◦ 5. Parent counseling and training 34 CFR 300.34 (c)(8)
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The 2006 IDEA regulations define the related service of "parent counseling and training" to mean: · Assisting parents in understanding the special needs of their child; · Providing parents with information about child development; and · Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP
“Generalization of skills across environments”
For many children who experience Autism, their IEP goals are essentially transition goals because they are necessary not only for communication and social development during school hours, but also in order for the child to be adapt successfully to life in an adult world.
“Consistency of instruction methods is necessary for progress on IEP goals”
Children with Autism often need continual reinforcement and repetition of the steps or the sequence of a skill in order to make progress. Time at home without that reinforcement can be a large enough period to stall progress.
“Consistency of expectations across range of environments and circumstances” Many children who experience Autism have difficulty adapting to change. When their expectations (about responses to their behavior; the level of assistance they get; or even the use of certain vocabulary, or phrases) are disrupted, it can cause sufficient anxiety to trigger behavior that affects learning at school.
“Practice on social skills and behavior goals occurs across environments” An important part of social skills goals is that they are transferrable from the known group of people to the less-known group of people.
· The student's behavior is being addressed with a behavior intervention plan. The parents might need to be trained in behavior management strategies to implement the program in the home environment · The student has speech/communication difficulties and requires assistive technology devices to progress in goals. The parent might require training on how to operate the equipment at home · A student can only benefit from her education by using sign language. If no other resources are available, the school district might be required to provide sign language training for the parent(s)
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What kind of place is it?
Where is that kind of place located?
INCLUSION
Modeling
Socialization
Child’s Expectations
Skills to support future integration
DIRECT/INTENSIVE INSTRUCTION
Quieter environment (sensory issues)
Discrete trial training (i.e., ABA)
Cover more curriculum material
Practice with direct 1:1 interactions
Not really a “place” ◦ Regular education classroom with support ◦ Regular education classroom with pull-outs ◦ Divided day between regular education classroom
and special education classroom ◦ Regular education environment in special education
classroom ◦ Segregated special education environment ◦ Homebound instruction
Describes what supervision there is, what kind of services are needed, staffing, etc.
in special education in special education
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Placement decisions (like the rest of the IEP) must be based on scientific research: ◦ Resulting from rigorous data analysis, based on
systematic , objective procedures to obtain valid data. ◦ Accepted by peer-reviewed journal or independent
experts.
Impact of the child’s presence on the classroom environment?
Are there appropriate accommodations and supports to enable inclusion?
Cultural note: traditional cycle of listening and respect, autism can look like rejection and disrespect. NOT bad behavior, but manifestation of disability
Are there appropriate accommodations and Are there appropriate accommodations and
Cultural note: traditional cycle of listening
supports to enable inclusion?
Cultural note: traditional cycle of listening
Placement decisions (like the rest of the IEP) must be specially designed: ◦ To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; AND, ◦ To ensure access of the child to the general
curriculum
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First question: Regular Education classroom? ◦ With or without supports from special education
staff? Adaptive equipment? Assistive technology? Specialized curriculum or material? ◦ Part-day inclusion: Pull-outs? Specials with general
education students? Group activities? Field trips? Quiet reading?
School said that Brodie wasn’t making academic progress in the Resource Room (because of cognitive impairment). His behavior was disruptive to other students in class.
School wanted to change placement to Life Skills 1, and setting to another neighborhood school that had that a LS 1 class for middle school.
But Brodie’s social and adaptive skills were much stronger than LS 1 classmates.
Discussion of options and strategies
Second Question: If not Regular Education classroom, then what placement? ◦ “continuum of alternate placements” ◦ Extended Resource ◦ Life Skills 1 ◦ Life Skills 2 ◦ What do they mean when they say: “self-contained classroom”, “behavior classroom”,
“quiet room”, “safe room”, “day school classroom”?
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“The school district must provide ESY programming to eligible special education students when ESY services are necessary to the provision of FAPE, a free appropriate public education.”
Extended school year (ESY) services means special education and related services that meet state standards and are provided to a child with a disability: ◦ Beyond the normal school year
◦ In accordance with the child's IEP
◦ At no cost to the parents of the child
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Children qualify for ESY services in three general areas: ◦ emerging skill, ◦ regression/recoupment ◦ or self-sufficiency
NOTE: Provision of ESY services for one year
does not mean that the child needs such services each year.
NOTE: Provision of ESY services for one year
Children qualify for ESY services in three
Regression refers to a decline in knowledge and skills that can result from an interruption in education.
Do progress reports and data show that the child demonstrates periodic regression, which is related to breaks in instruction throughout the school year? ◦ Winter Break, Spring Break, extended absences?
When few, if any, gains are made during the regular school year and;
a critical skill is in the process of emerging, and;
it is believed that with ESY services the child could make reasonable gains, then . . .
ESY SERVICES MUST BE CONSIDERED
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Recoupment: the amount of time it takes to regain the prior level of functioning. ◦ Are the benefits derived by the child during the
regular school year likely to be significantly jeopardized if he is not provided an educational program during the summer months? ◦ Do progress reports and data show that the child
cannot re-learn the skills in a reasonable amount of time following the breaks? ◦ Standard: would child be unable to benefit from
special education program?
Standard: would child be unable to benefit from
Must be based on individual needs! Child cannot be required to fail, or to go for
an entire year without ESY services simply to prove that a need exists;
Limited to achievement of IEP goals; IEP meeting may be convened any time
during the year to review the need for ESY; Related services may be included to address
those areas in which the student qualifies for ESY.
When an interruption in services threatens the acquisition of critical life skills that aid in the child's ability to function as independently as possible; ASK:
- is there documentation that identifies critical life skills that are needed for independence;
- would the failure to maintain acquired critical life skills cause major or permanent loss of the skills and create a dependence on caregivers?
- without ESY services, would child fail to maintain these skills?
When an interruption in services threatens the When an interruption in services threatens the
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Early enough for parents to exercise Due Process rights, if they disagree with the team decision ◦ In order to get a final agency decision before summer
starts (practically = 60 days before end of school year).
◦ If parents not given Prior Written Notice of refusal to provide ESY in a timely way, and they exercise due process rights, District must provide ESY during administrative proceedings.
◦ If parents don’t disagree within a reasonable time after notice of refusal, District doesn’t have to provide ESY during pendency of administrative proceedings.
Location of a student's ESY services
Personnel who will be assigned to provide ESY services, including related service providers; and
Transportation information such as bus route and pick up/drop off times
ESY services must be clearly delineated in an IEP. ◦ The District can meet this requirement by: amending the current IEP on an amendment form or developing a complete ESY IEP
Both require an IEP Team meeting Both require prior written notice to
parent(s)
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Progress Notes ◦ Measurable?
Additional Data ◦ Experts/specialists
Teacher Observations ◦ Contemporaneous notes
Before-and-After Snapshots
All Requests in Writing
After Snapshots
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Is an appropriate related service, IF: ◦ The student needs specialized transportation
because of disability in order to benefit from special education.
This includes travel to other communities for evaluations, or special services if they necessary for access to education.
Related Services: Speech, OT, PT, usually
Specialist is in another location, staff is in the school with the child
Requires well-trained support staff or teacher to be with the student
Shouldn’t be used for young children
Need frequent assessment of child’s progress and fidelity to the methods written in the IEP
Any removal from school because of conduct violations counts as a suspension.
If they give you a choice between sitting with the child at school or taking the child home it counts as a removal from school.
If your child refuses to attend school because of his disability, the IEP should be amended to add supports to address the refusal.
Any removal from school because of conduct
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Ways to Exit Special Education ◦ 1. Regular diploma ◦ 2. Reach the age of 22 years old ◦ 3. Reach the age of 18 and opt out ◦ 4. No longer meet eligibility criteria ◦ 5. Drop out
School must: ◦ 1. Provide PWN (change of placement) ◦ 2. Provide summary of the student’s academic
achievement and functional performance, with recommendations on how to assist the student in meeting post-secondary goals
The notice must include: ◦ Description of what is being proposed or refused ◦ Why action is being proposed or refused ◦ All other options considered and rejected ◦ All records used in reaching decision ◦ Other factors relevant to decision ◦ Information on procedural safeguards ◦ Who parents can contact about understanding their rights
Notice must be in understandable language ◦ Understandable to the general public ◦ In the parent’s native language
What You Can Do When The School Says “No”
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Peter’s story: Mom was a teacher at the school, family part of the village community a long time (school was named for the child’s grandmother); Special Education teacher was a friend/co-worker. Principal was Special Education teacher’s best friend. ◦ BUT, only 2.5 hours of education each day for 5 year old
with Autism (non-verbal, oblique-gaze, social delays, etc.).
◦ Family explained decision to object to their support network (close friends, family), then wrote to principal, put everything in writing (to protect against retaliation at work).
It isn’t disrespectful to tell the school what is not working for your child.
Example: Speaking and Listening Standards for Kindergartners: 1. Participate in collaborative conversations with
diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. ◦ a. Follow agreed‐upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening
to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion)
◦ b. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges
Staff shortages. A North Carolina district had to provide compensatory services to a student with autism after it failed to provide speech language services for two years. Wilson County (NC) Schs., 54 IDELR 33 (OCR 2009). The district in this case contended that it could not find a person to provide the service for one school year and that it had to cancel the contract with a provider the next year because of her failure to provide services.
Lack of funding. The district in Washoe County (NV) School District, 51 IDELR 52 (OCR 2008), violated Section 504 when it refused to provide one-to-one assistance to a high school student with a traumatic brain injury. The district's reason? Lack of funding. "During [an] interview with OCR, the [administrator] stated this . . . determination was largely a funding decision, based on available funds for aides," OCR wrote. The student was unable to participate in community outings, a key component of his life skills program, because of the lack of a one-to-one aide. Availability of funding should not drive decision-making concerning related aides and services. These decisions must be based on information from a variety of sources and made by a group of people knowledgeable about the student, evaluation data and placement options. 34 CFR 104.35 (c).
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What can parents do when they disagree with the school?
1. Request an IEP meeting 2. Write a letter of disagreement to the school district’s
Director of Special Education 3. Request mediation with the school district 4. File a complaint with the Alaska Department of Education
and Early Development 5. File a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights 6. Request a due process hearing
Anchorage Office 3330 Arctic Blvd., Ste 103
Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 565-1002
Fairbanks Office 250 Cushman, Ste. 3H Fairbanks, AK 99701
(907) 456-1070
Juneau Office 230 S. Franklin, Ste. 209 Juneau, AK 99801 (907) 586-1627
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Identifying Children Who Need Special Education
School districts must try to find children who have a disability that gets in the way of their learning. The law says that school districts have to “identify” these children through notices to the public, health screenings at school, and through testing in classrooms. This is called “Child Find” and even preschoolers in private schools or Head Start programs are to be screened. If a disability is found or suspected, a child should be evaluated and, if they need special instruction to benefit from school, they should have an educational plan made just for them that helps them progress and learn at school.
Identifying a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Alaska requires psychological evaluations by either a privately paid psychologist; a school psychologist; a neuropsychologist; a medical doctor; or in some circumstances, a licensed practical nurse. The quickest way to determine if a child has an ASD is for a parent to obtain an evaluation using their own money or with medical insurance. The parent may ask a pediatrician to refer the child for a psychological evaluation to determine developmental delays after a parent brings the symptoms to the doctor’s attention. Another way to get an evaluation is for the school to get it. This is done because someone at the school or a parent has requested in writing that the school test for a suspected disability. There is a form to make this request on the Department of Education and Early Development web site. It is important to put in writing that you suspect the child experiences autism so that the right tests are given.
Consent to Evaluate
When the district gets the request form, it will give the parents a consent form to sign. That form proves that the parent agreed to have the child evaluated to see if the child should have special education. No evaluations can start until the consent form is signed so make sure that happens as soon as possible. Often the school district will want to have a meeting with parents before giving them the consent form. The pre-evaluation meeting can be a good time to talk about what tests need to be done and to schedule them so that the child isn’t having them too close together. But, the district can’t wait to give the consent form to a parent just because that meeting hasn’t happened. Any decisions about what tests should be done and who should do them can happen after the consent form is signed by the parent. Once the parent gives written consent to the district, a timeline of 60 calendar days begins to complete the evaluations and implement an Individual Education Plan. (IEP).
Supplemental Training Materials
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Diagnosis + Need for Specialized Instruction = Eligibility
Identifying a child with ASD doesn’t always mean that a child will be eligible for special education services under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). To be eligible for special education a student must have a disability that requires instruction that is specially designed in order for the student to make meaningful progress in their education. Students who experience Classic Autism will often show a cognitive impairment and low academic achievement scores and their fine motor and possibly gross motor scores may be low. Language and communication scores for these children usually show significant delays and there are often severe deficits in their behavior and adaptive skills.
Students who experience Asperger’s Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, however, may not have low academic scores. They may do really well at specific academic subject areas, but have unusual ways of speaking; they may not answer questions directly or even in ways that seem sensible (called “pragmatic speech”). Eligibility for special education for these children can be shown by evaluations of social deficits and behavior challenges that make school difficult for the child. It is very important that the child is evaluated not just for needs in reading, writing and math; but also including social skills and skills for a healthy life. Academics are not the only area that would determine a student needs special education. In other words just because the student is getting passing grades in academic areas does not mean the student wouldn’t be eligible for special education services.
At the conclusion of the evaluations the school district will have a meeting to discuss the evaluations and eligibility of the child and provide an Evaluation Summary and Eligibility Report (ESER). If the student has a diagnosis of Autism and is found eligible for special education services, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting will take place to complete a plan for the child.
Getting Another Opinion: An Independent Educational Evaluation
If the child receives a school evaluation and the parent disagrees with the result of that evaluation, the parent may request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) after they notify the school district in writing that they disagree. The district will give the parent a list of independent evaluators to select from. Parents can also suggest someone of their own choosing who has the same level of education as the experts on the school’s list. If the parents follow the process for requesting an IEE, the school district will pay for the visit and for the report to be prepared. If the school district refuses to agree to an IEE, the school district must request a due process hearing in front of an administrative law judge to argue that an IEE isn’t needed. The district has to defend the school’s evaluation by showing it was complete, thorough, and covered all areas of suspected need, and that it was done by someone who had the right training.
If the child is not eligible under the IDEA, they may still be eligible for accommodations and modifications under the The Rehabilitation Act, Section 504, commonly called a 504 Plan.
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What about Response to Intervention (RTI)?
RTI is a classroom-based strategy used to identify children that have Specific Learning Disabilities and also to help children who don’t need special education to progress, just a little more of the teachers’ attention and extra help in their classrooms.
Often RTI has three different levels of help for children. Simple classroom strategies, such as paired reading time with an adult, or modified instruction materials, are tried first at the lowest level of intervention. If a child doesn’t show improvement, then he is given more help which increases if the child continues to not make progress. Each level of intervention is usually tried for a specific time frame (anywhere from 6-12 weeks) before attempting the next tier. After all RTI processes have been completed and the student is still not making appropriate progress the teacher refers the student for special education evaluations.
Sometimes schools spend a lot of time on these classroom strategies when a child actually needs special education and related services. If the parent suspects the student has a disability and needs special education, the parent should request an evaluation in writing, even during the RTI process. The school district must act on the request even if it is trying an RTI plan with the child. If the district chooses not to evaluate the student they must pursue a due process hearing against the parent to justify why they won’t evaluate the student for eligibility for special education.
Students who experience Autism may benefit from a RTI plan. It is important to keep in mind that a student who experiences autism will likely be impacted by multiple areas of need in addition to academic areas, such as social communication, social and adaptive behavior. Classroom-based interventions are one way to keep the child included in the general education classroom while the RTI process is implemented. However, RTI is not as thorough as a full evaluation across all suspected areas of need. It should not replace a full inquiry into a how a child’s disability impacts his education. Additionally, if the school uses RTI to provide related services, such as speech or OT, or in a way that removes the child from the regular education classroom, it is no longer RTI and the school should evaluate for eligibility for special education services.
The Individualized Educational Program (IEP)
The law outlines a process in which the school district must work with a parent to decide the child’s educational needs. After meetings to plan the child’s education and notices to parents about what will happen at school, the result is a written Individualized Education Program or IEP. It lists the special education and related services a child needs to receive an appropriate education. The IEP should be written to meet the unique needs of the child. Everything the child needs must be specifically listed in the IEP. The school district does not have to provide services or accommodations that aren’t written into the IEP. During the IEP meeting a parent should be treated as an equal partner in designing the child’s educational plan. To assist the parent in this process school districts need to provide all records and information requested by the parent before the IEP meeting so that the parent can participate as a knowledgeable partner. School staff can
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present a draft IEP for the meeting but they must allow changes to the draft. Parents can also come to the meeting with their suggestions for their child’s educational program. The IEP should be completed with input from all members of the team.
An IEP must be based on the individual needs of the child not on the programs the school district has available. A school district violates the law if it writes an IEP to fit the child into a program that it has already selected from the current district programs. This often happens when a school district selects a placement based on your child’s “label” or disability.
The IEP has several different parts that each have to be discussed by the team and completed before the IEP is ready to be used by the school. Some of the important ones are these, below:
Student Strengths, Parent Concerns, and Agency Comments
The first part of an IEP tells about the child’s strengths, parents’ concerns and agency comments. This is a place where parents can give important information for the whole team. A good practice is to make a few notes to yourself ahead of the meeting about what you want to include in this section.
Student’s Strengths
The IEP should be written so that someone who doesn’t know the child would be able to make an education plan that uses the strengths to help the child grow in other weaker areas. For example, if the student has a good memory for details, instruction can include using that strength to improve skills in problem areas. If the student can talk about preferred topics but not much else, the preferred topics can be a starting point for expanding the student’s preferences.
Parents’ Concerns
Parents can have a lot of different concerns about their child’s education. If there are some things that are more important to you than other things, make sure that the team knows what they are. The school needs to try to teach the child all the subjects that the state education department tells them to and also give them skills and resources for a healthy social life and transition into adulthood. But if a parent is more concerned about one certain behavior than another, for example, it should be written in the section of the IEP for parent concerns.
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Other Agency Comments
Parents can and should invite people to an IEP meeting who have information about the child that could help the team write a good educational plan. These people could be counselors, healthcare providers, aides, and/or specialists who are not from the school district but have helped the child (speech therapists, occupational therapists, etc.). If the child is on a Medicaid Waiver, the care coordinator should be invited. Any reports or information that these people give should be included in the section for Agency Comments.
Describing Areas of Academic and Functional Needs
The Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance describe how a child is doing in his academic subjects and also in other parts of his life at school (social skills and behavior, for example) as of the time of the IEP meeting. The IEP team, which includes parents, writes about a child’s needs and his progress in each area where the team has concerns. It is important that the present levels are a true and full picture of how the child is doing because this will be the starting point for deciding the rest of the IEP: the goals and objectives for the child’s school year, the accommodations or help he will get, any special services and what kind of classroom the child is in. Make sure that all the important information about the child is in this section so that if a teacher, or someone else who serves the child, leaves the school a new person in that position would know about the child and could follow the education plan.
Transition from High School to Adulthood
The Statement of Transition Needs is a bit like the statement of Present Levels of Performance. If there is something that a child needs to learn or do in order to be ready for adulthood, then there should be a transition goal written into the IEP that helps the child meet that need. To know what a child needs to prepare for adulthood and life after high school, the child must be tested for academic skills, daily living skills, personal skills, and social skills. They should also be given performance tests that show the student’s ability to perform specific job-like tasks. The student should be given the chance to do sample work which exposes the student to natural job responsibilities and other tests that measure a student’s interests, abilities, and work habits in actual work environments. Some examples of job interest tests are: Self-Directed Search (SDS), the Strong Interest Inventory; the Career Key; and the Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Assessment, second edition (OASIS II). Tests that show whether a student has the ability to do certain jobs are Differential Aptitude Test (DAT), the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), and the Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Assessment, second edition (OASIS II).
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Special Factors that the IEP Team Must Think About
The IEP team has to think about five factors to make sure that any special needs that a child might have get included in the IEP. The five factors are: behavior, English proficiency, blindness or visually impaired, deafness or hearing impairment, and assistive technology. For example, if a student’s first language is not English, then the team needs to include instruction that will help the child learn in math or science while the child becomes proficient in English (i.e., instruction in both languages).
Another special factor is behavior. If the student has been acting out in ways that make it hard for him to stay in school or that impedes his or another’s learning, it is important to address it in the IEP with a positive behavior plan. A Behavior Plan (sometimes called a “Behavior Intervention Plan” or “BIP”) is often a separate written document where the IEP team writes down what sorts of behavior the child is having, when and where it happens, what seems to cause it, and how the adults around the child should respond when the behavior happens. It is good practice to use the information from the BIP to write some IEP goals (“Behavior goals”) that seek to teach the child kinds of behavior that will work better for them at school.
Assistive Technology is also an important special factor especially for children who have difficulty with speech or who have a hard time looking at or being next to others in the class. Hand-held computer devices (like an iPad) have become important instructional tools for children with Autism across the country. Many programs and applications have been developed for these devices to help people with Autism. They are useful for communication, doing homework, keeping schedules, giving reminders for breaks, creating art and music, and for play (which can be a great reward for doing something difficult).
Annual Goals and Objectives
Annual goals must be measurable. It is important that a child’s IEP goals be described by what you can see, hear, count, time, or measure in some way. Many different people will be part of teaching the child. If a goal could be understood as meaning two different things to two different people, it is not measurable (i.e., “behave appropriately”, or “maintain focus”) and two different people may have different ideas about whether there is progress or not. Objectives that use “Student will recognize…” “Student will anticipate…” “Student will understand…” are objectives that are difficult to measure. The objective should state what the student will do but progress must be something everyone would know if they saw it and must be based on factual information such as work samples, data, observations, etc.
Annual goals must also be individualized. That means the goals the child will be working on will be ones that his IEP team has written just for him based on his own needs, not what is usually done or what is available. A student’s IEP goals should work on the problems with learning that were written in the Present Levels Section. The goals in the child’s IEP must apply to that student, not to autistic children in general.
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When developing goals and objectives, keep in mind the goals are meant to be accomplished in one calendar year. Since school is not in session for 12 months, it is important to think ahead to where the student should be on meeting the goals in that time frame. A school will have a meeting once a year to review the child’s IEP, to talk about the child’s progress, and set new goals. At the meeting, you will hear about the child’s progress on last year’s goals and you will have a chance to offer any goals you would like to see added to the next year’s IEP.
Sometimes examples can help explain what an individualized, measurable goal looks like. Here are examples of Speech goals for two different children, one who experiences Classic Autism and one who experiences High-Functioning Autism.
Classic Autism Speech Goal:
1. Tammy will respond to her name by looking in the direction of the speaker on four out of five opportunities daily as implemented by the speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
2. Tammy will meet the speaker’s eye gaze when requested to obtain a reward on four out of five opportunities daily as implemented by the speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
3. Using sign language or an assistive communication device application, Tammy will make a request or statement using her name and action word such “Tammy go ____”, “Tammy want ____”, “Tammy is _____” on four out of five attempts daily as implemented by the speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
Mastery at 100% of the 4 out of 5 times
High Functioning Autism Speech Goal:
1. Given daily opportunities, Max will give a verbal or non-verbal response to an adult initiating an interaction on four out of five opportunities as implemented by a speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
2. Given daily opportunities, Max will give a verbal or non-verbal response to a peer initiating an interaction on four out of five opportunities as implemented by a speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
3. Given daily opportunities, Max will sustain preferred activity with a peer or teacher for five minutes or longer on four out of five opportunities as implemented by a speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
4. Given daily opportunities, Max will engage in a two-way conversation with an adult or peer with at least 3 exchanges in four out of five opportunities as implemented by a speech therapist, special education teacher or paraprofessional.
Mastery at 100% of the 4 out of 5 times
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How Will the Student’s Progress Be Reported to the Team?
It is important for parents and other members of the IEP team to know how a child is doing during the school year, especially in the child’s work on the IEP goals and objectives. In order to get a clear picture of a child’s progress, the school must measure how much he learns to do and how many skills he gets. How the objective is to be measured and reported to parents and the rest of the team (by exams, data sheets, work samples, etc) should be discussed carefully with the team to make sure the measure will show accurate information. How often progress will be reported and how parents will get that information (weekly, monthly, and/or quarterly notes or emails) should be determined by the team, including the parents.
Related Services
Children who experience ASD are each unique, but there are some common areas of need that are addressed in IEPs through related services, such as Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Social Skills/Behavior Therapy, Adaptive Physical Education, and Parent Training. Some of these are discussed, below.
Communication/Speech
Typically, a speech therapist will help your child achieve communication goals. Many children with autism may excel at some areas of language, such as vocabulary, while being very delayed in other areas, like non-verbal communication. The services of a speech therapist are “related services” in the IEP and should be included in the IEP if a child has difficulty requesting help; asking for food, a bathroom break, or another necessary item; using language to interact with peers, or to initiate discussion; using and understanding gestures; understanding facial expressions, or other communication problems. Some ideas for speech therapy techniques can be found in the Appendix B at the back of this workbook.
Occupational Therapy
If your student is on the autism spectrum, he or she may work with an occupational therapist (OT) or occupational therapy assistant through the school district. An occupational therapist is a trained professional who helps people develop the skills necessary to function in home and school environments. The therapist completes an evaluation that determines if the individual has the appropriate skills for his age.
Your child’s OT will focus on fine motor skills, such as handwriting, tying shoes, using scissors, dressing, buttoning or zipping clothing, eating and drinking, play skills, and drawing shapes. Occupational therapy should focus on developing skills that encourage independence in everyday activities.
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Students with autism are often highly sensitive to their surroundings. The lights in the classroom may be too bright for your child or there may be too much noise. Perhaps your child craves spinning or running into things. The OT will work to make sure these sensory needs are met in practical ways within the classroom, allowing your child to focus on learning. The OT should use play as part of teaching a child to adapt to his surroundings.
Behavior
Children who experience autism also make repetitive hand movements or repeat words or actions. They sometimes have other behavior which can be obstacles to their learning and interacting with others. Not paying attention to the teacher, speaking out of turn, and acting out when frustrated are typical examples of this. If these behaviors interfere with your child’s ability to function in the school, his or her IEP may include some time with a behavior specialist as a related service.
You may also have noticed some habits that make life harder for your child. Consult the specialist, the classroom teacher, or special education teacher for more information on how to handle these behaviors at home. Bring a list of specific behaviors to the IEP meeting, as well as some goals you would like to see for your child, which might include handling frustrations without melting down; respecting boundaries; paying attention or listening to instructions; minimizing hand flapping/flicking, rocking, or spinning.
Social Skills
Social skills are an area of challenge for most students with autism. From initiating an interaction with peers to understanding the finer points of body language, your child may struggle to navigate the social world. Choosing developmentally-appropriate goals can make all the difference.
Often, a behavior specialist will help your child’s special education teacher and paraprofessional to teach your child these social goals. You can talk to the teacher before the IEP meeting to discuss where your child is running into trouble. You may also have noticed atypical social behavior in your child when you are out in the community. Choose goals that address the issues you have noticed which might include starting and staying involved in an interaction, respecting personal space, and understanding the feelings and perspectives of others.
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Specialized Training for Families and School Staff
When the adults at school and home use the same ways of teaching and communicating, children with Autism learn better. Having the same patterns or routines, the same phrases, and the same expectations about behavior at home and school can be very important for learning. Sometimes the differences between how school adults and family react to behavior, or the different expectations that adults have about helping children, can confuse the child so much that he can’t make progress.
One related service that the school can provide is parent counseling and training on how to deal with behavior in a positive way; how to use key phrases, words, or even communication aids; or how to give the same amount of help with everyday tasks as the adults at school. If the parents receive this information, their child will likely make better progress, and the parents will be better equipped to participate in IEP team meetings, assist their child, and plan for the future. They will also be better informed regarding their child’s disability. Pay special attention when thinking about Transition goals or Adaptive Skills goals, they are even more likely to require parent training to implement them.
The Hours of Services for Special Education and Related Services
Every IEP has a place to write in the amount of time that a student will be getting special education and related services. The services are divided up by area of need and will have the amount of time for each area such as Math, Reading, Behavior, Speech, etc. This part of the IEP will also describe where the services will be delivered and whether a special education teacher, a regular education teacher, a specialist, or an aide will be teaching the student. It is an important part of the IEP to review and make sure that the student is getting services in the place the team has agreed upon (the regular education classroom, for example), being taught by the appropriately trained person, and for the amount of time that the student needs to progress.
There are some common mistakes that can appear in this part of the IEP. One mistake is that transportation time should never be counted toward the total special education or related service time. Time spent between teachers when they are discussing or planning the child’s education (“consultation”) should also not be counted toward the total. Time that a teacher spends supervising an aide is also not included in the total hours of services.
For every type of goal in the IEP, there must be time scheduled. If a child has a goal in an area of need, for example a reading goal, then there must be time listed for teaching that child reading in the list of service hours. Also consider whether the place the child will be taught is right for the child and for what they are learning. If a child needs a quiet environment to work on speech goals, teaching him speech in the regular education classroom will not be appropriate.
If an aide is scheduled to be teaching, there must also be an amount of time included for that aide to be supervised by a special education teacher or a specialist (like an OT). If there is
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supervision by a specialist, think carefully about the amount of time the specialist is supposed to spend with school staff. In rural Alaska, sometimes an IEP will include only 10 minutes of supervision for a whole month. Think about how little information can be shared in that short a period and decide whether you want to request an increase in the supervision time for the student.
Accommodations and Supports
Accommodations and Supports are changes to the school day that allow your child to access his education equally to non-disabled children. Accommodations are the strategies, equipment, and tools that your child needs to have the same learning opportunities as all other children. Supports are ways that adults treat your child to reinforce developing strengths and help your child progress in his IEP goals (i.e., letting a child have a pass to leave class if it is over-stimulating and go to a quiet place). They are an important part of the written IEP because teachers look there to see what strategies and tools the team has agreed will help a child to access their instruction.
Classroom accommodations are important for children with ASD. Bright lights, smells, crowds, and loud noises are often distracting obstacles for kids with ASD. Higher functioning students can have an intense focus on specific subjects which can interfere with learning as well. Social skill deficits need to be considered since many children with this disorder struggle to interact with their peers. Often, they excel in certain subject areas, but their peculiar behavior sometimes impacts their accomplishments within the classroom. Teachers can make special adjustments to make teaching and learning easier in the classroom setting. Examples of accommodations may include:
1. Create and follow a predictable schedule. Prepare the student in advance for any changes in routine or other unexpected activities. Eliminate unnecessary movement from one location to another. Reduce transitions throughout the day.
2. Place the student away from distractions as much as possible, including other students who would be a distraction. Create a unique signal that can be used with the child to redirect his attention back to the assignment whenever necessary. Place the child at the front of the room to encourage his participation in class discussions.
3. Create social skills learning groups that will not only improve social skills but also allow the child to exhibit his abilities in certain subjects. Choose the cooperative groups carefully and provide ample monitoring of the behavior of the student and his peers.
4. Use positive reinforcement of good behavior whenever possible.
5. Set clear expectations regardless of the assignment. Break assignments and projects down into small sections that can be completed one at a time so that the child does not feel overwhelmed with the work. Allow more time to complete assignments, tests, and projects.
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6. Use visual instruction, particularly with younger children. Use pictures, images, drawings, and similar aids when discussing vocabulary words, history lessons, scientific subjects, and abstract topics.
7. Create a crisis plan in the case of emotional outbursts that might occur due to the student’s inability to cope or interact with others. This plan should be coordinated with other teachers, specialists, and administration and may include providing a supervised quiet place for the child to go, if needed.
These accommodation ideas can be as varied as the individual children that they serve. It is important to make sure that they are written into the IEP so that they are part of the program that the school must provide. Make sure that any discussion about these types of tools or methods ends with something being written into the IEP about what will be provided, who will be responsible for making it available to your child, how often and how long it will be available, and where it will be provided.
How the School Will Implement the IEP and Who Will Be the Teacher = Placement
Placement is not about the place where your child will be. It describes a kind of environment; the kind of supports that are in that environment, the special education resources available in the environment, and the amount of supervision and the degree of freedom of movement and independence that a child has within that environment. One court described placement as a “suite of services”.
An IEP team decides a child’s placement and it should be done only after all the other substantive parts of the IEP have been determined. Present levels of functioning, goals and objectives, accommodations and supports, and the number of hours of services should all be decided first because they dictate what placement is appropriate for the child. The range of special education placements is often described along a continuum starting with the “least-restrictive” (a full day in a regular education class with regular education curriculum and typically-achieving age-peers, but with some special supports or accommodations) and moving to the most-restrictive (segregated special education school or homebound instruction).
Placement decisions, like all of the IEP, must be based on valid scientific research about how to meet a child’s individual needs. Research on the experiences of children with ASD show a wide range of placements are appropriate because these children have such a wide range of needs, abilities, and sensitivities to their environment. Many children benefit from placement entirely in the regular education classroom where they can model the behavior of their age-peers and where they can practice communication and social skills. An inclusionary placement such as this is consistent with the child’s expectations of where they will be educated and also encourages them to expect and prepare for future integration into their adult world.
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To some children, however, the loud, busy environment of a regular education classroom is over-stimulating, confusing, and frightening. Additionally, some education methods that have great success with children with ASD, such as discrete trial training, require one-to-one instruction in a quiet environment. Some parents are also happier with the greater amount of curriculum that can be covered during instruction in a classroom with fewer students and more adults. Other parents may think their child will be less likely to be bullied if they are in the special education classroom with other children who experience disabilities. However, these needs may need to be addressed with appropriate support to keep a child in the least restricted environment, i.e. the regular education classroom.
Whatever choice or balance between inclusion and segregation you believe is appropriate for your child, remember that the school has to provide appropriate supports and accommodations to enable your child to be as included with non-disabled children as is appropriate to his needs and abilities. If your child needs an aide to help him stay in a regular education class or needs a note-taker or sound-cancelling headphones to be able to participate in the regular education classroom, the school needs to provide those things.
If a team has determined that the regular education classroom for a full day with regular education instruction is not the appropriate placement for a child with an IEP, the team must decide which alternate placement is the least-restrictive for the child given that child’s individual needs and abilities. The law calls this the “continuum of alternate placements” and school districts have to provide a range of environments if they have children that need them due to their disability.
Some terms that get used for alternate placements in IEP meetings are “Extended Resource Room”, “Life Skills I Class”, or “Life Skills II Class”, “Self-Contained Classroom”, “Behavior Classroom”, “Quiet Room”, “Safe Room”, “Day School”. These names can mean a different level of restrictiveness in different districts or even among different schools. If you don’t know what the name means or what the proposed placement classroom would be like for your child, ask questions. Important things to know are:
1. How much time will your child be in that room?
2. What parts of their instruction will be done in each place?
3. How many other children are in the room and for how long?
4. How many adults are serving the class and what is their level of training?
5. Have the teachers and aides received instruction on ASD and on Autism- specific teaching methods and strategies?
6. What are the opportunities in this placement for my child to be with the regular education class (if not during instruction, what supports would be
needed to allow inclusion during special classes, fieldtrips, specific subjects, group floor time, etc.)?
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Extended School Year (ESY)
Extended School Year (ESY) services are special education and related services that are provided by the school district after the regular school year has ended. They are provided to a child with a disability in accordance with the child’s IEP at no cost to the parent. While ESY services are provided during the summer break from school and may occur in the same location as summer school, they are NOT summer school. The services are determined by the child’s IEP team and are individualized based on the child’s needs. ESY services are necessary when (a) there is a likelihood of regression in skills and goals which will result in an unreasonably long period of recoupment; (b) there is an emerging skill that will be lost if there is an interruption in services; or (c) the interruption of services threatens the acquisition of critical life skills that allow the child to function as independently as possible.
IDEA prohibits schools from restricting special education programs and services to certain categories of students. For example, ESY services cannot be available to students with severe cognitive impairment, but not to students with learning disabilities. Conversely, it is not permissible to place students in ESY based upon their categorical diagnosis without considering the need for and effects of that decision, or can a school set a certain length of days for all special education students. A program specifically designed to meet a child’s needs cannot be automatically restricted to a standard number of days per summer. Such a limitation precludes the development of an education program that is truly individualized.
In rural Alaska, schools are often reluctant to include ESY services in a child’s IEP. Family subsistence activities mean that children are often not available to receive the services during the summer months. Itinerant teachers and specialists are not under employment contracts for the summer and may leave the village. However, neither of those obstacles should prevent a parent from requesting ESY services. And neither circumstance relieves the school from the legal obligation to provide ESY services if the child meets the criteria for including ESY services in the IEP (regression/recoupment, emerging skill, self-sufficiency skills).
Regression/Recoupment
Many children who experience autism readily meet one or more of the criteria for eligibility for ESY services. Children with autism often regress with disruptions of routine or without repeated and consistent reinforcement of acquired skills. If regaining skills is hard to do, frustration can easily lead a child with ASD to act out against teachers and peers which, in turn, limits his time for learning and recoupment. The child’s skill level or behavior may deteriorate significantly over summer break or over other extended breaks in instruction to the point where too much time has to be spent relearning those behavior controls or other skills when instruction is resumed. Consequently, the amount of time available to learn new skills is severely reduced. The school cannot require the child to fail first before offering ESY services; he or she only needs to be likely to regress.
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Emerging Skill
Another criterion that may be readily satisfied by the needs of a child with ASD is the emerging skill criterion. If a child is starting to learn a critical skill, but there have been few gains during the regular school year, AND the team believes that ESY services would allow the child to make reasonable gains, then extending the special education and related services is necessary. For many children who experience ASD, behavior and skills must be addressed simultaneously, therefore progress in skills is often measured in small increments and critical skills may take a long time to emerge. As a result, ESY services are justified to allow reasonable gains to be made in those skills that are emerging.
Self-Sufficiency Skills
Children with classic Autism may also easily meet the third ESY eligibility criteria. This is met if there are critical skills which are necessary to reduce the child’s reliance on caretakers or other institutionalized care which would be lost during the interruption of services over the summer. Self-sufficiency skills are those that are often difficult for children with high sensory sensitivity, such as independent hair-brushing, toileting, and other personal care tasks. Children who are learning to identify and communicate with safety symbols are also acquiring critical self-sufficiency skills. Any child who is “transition age” 16 or older and is learning independent living skills, such as cooking or operating household appliances is also acquiring critical self-sufficiency skills. If the progress on those skills would be lost if there was an interruption, then extended school year services are necessary.
If the child is on a Medicaid Waiver, the Plan of Care for waiver services is a good place to look for a description of these self-sufficiency skills. Documentation for the need for ESY to work on these self-sufficiency skills can come from medical doctor’s reports, Occupational Therapy reports, IEP progress notes, and notes and observations from care givers. If the child has a care coordinator, or personal care providers, they can be invited to the IEP team meeting to provide information about the need for ESY services to support the development of self-sufficiency skills.
Advocacy Strategies
Requests for ESY services, like all other requests for services, should be in writing. Conversations get remembered differently by the people who are in them and it is also important to know when something was communicated. Certain important rights that parents and children have under the IDEA are rights to have the school take actions within a certain amount of time. When that time period started can be proven best by a copy of something written to the school which has a date on it.
A written request for ESY services should be made in February to the special education director of the school (in a village, that may be the special education teacher) asking for a team meeting to consider adding ESY services to the child’s IEP. A written request in February will
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allow enough time for scheduling the IEP meeting and to settle any disagreements before the summer starts. It is important for the IEP team to make decisions regarding the provision of ESY early enough in the school year to allow parents time to exhaust administrative remedies, if they disagree with the IEP team decision. If the school district does not give a decision on ESY within sufficient time for the parent to object and file for a due process hearing before summer starts, then the district must provide ESY services if the dispute lasts into the summer. However, if the parents have not made a timely request for ESY services, then the district is not required to provide the child with ESY services pending the outcome of an administrative proceeding.
The timeline for ESY services can look like this:February – written requestMarch – evaluation/discussionApril – disagreement/negotiation/settlementMay – arranging services
It is necessary to show that your child experiences regression/slow recoupment or has an emerging skill or is at risk of losing a self-sufficiency skill to get ESY services. This can be demonstrated by work samples from class, quizzes and examinations, progress notes, conversations with teachers, letters or progress reports from specialists, your own notes, and/or recommendations from private providers to show what happens when there are gaps in services or breaks from school.
For showing regression, the best practice as a parent-advocate for your child is to collect information on what happens after any prolonged time away from school or from particular services whenever they happen (illness, school holidays, and vacations). Watch for behavioral changes during the break from school and see if they go away after the child returns to the school routine. You may request in writing that the teacher take data on critical skills before and after Winter break and Spring break.
For any of the criteria, it can also be helpful at the IEP team meeting to have some information with you about how children with Autism learn, generally (how constant reinforcement and consistency of environment and consistency in experiences are crucial to retaining skills; disruption of routine or patterns readily causes loss of skills). Good sources for information on Autism are in the Special Education and the Law handbook included with these materials.
Some points to keep in mind in planning ahead to advocate for ESY services:
1. IEP Quarterly Progress Notes are most helpful if they are described objectively. That is, something that has been counted (how many successes compared to how many times were tried, or the number of new vocabulary words learned, or the same task done in fewer minutes). If the teacher uses descriptions like “doing much better”, you have the right to ask for what proof she has for the statement. Ask to see test scores or work samples that show the progress. And at the next IEP meeting request that the progress be measured by something that can be counted.
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2. Specialists and care providers from outside the school can help you show what you need for getting ESY services. Keep those reports or notes where you can find them so you can provide them to the IEP team at the ESY meeting. Invite care providers who have information about the need for ESY services.
3. If a teacher tells you about difficulty with regression/recoupment problems after a school holiday or discusses an emerging skill, make a quick note of what was said and the date. It will remind you and the teacher of the difficulty when you are in an IEP meeting.
4. For showing the IEP team examples of regression/recoupment problems, it can be helpful to present the child’s regression as a summary of “before-and-after interruptions in services”. Even a handwritten list of dates showing what the child could accomplish on those dates can be very persuasive.
Common Problems in Getting Special Education in Rural Alaska
Transportation
Transportation in rural Alaska can be an obstacle to getting medical evaluations and also special services for a student, such as behavioral health counseling or physical therapy, if those services are located in a larger community or city. If an IEP includes a service and the child needs transportation to that service, the school district must provide the transportation even if it is to another community. It is important to write transportation into the IEP as a related service to make sure that it is provided when the student needs it.
Getting Related Services in Remote Areas Using Technology
Since the IDEA was implemented, schools have been mandated to supply specific specialty services such as speech, occupational and physical therapy. Because of their geographic locations and sparse populations, many rural Alaskan communities do not have allied health specialties. It is often a struggle for school administrators to secure these marginal services and some rural Alaskan schools may go for many weeks without a visit from a speech language pathologist (SLP), a physical therapist (PT), or an occupational therapist (OT).
One alternative to access specialty services is for the school to pay for the student to travel to a metropolitan area where these services are more readily available. This disrupts the child’s home life and education and causes stress to families who miss work and parenting other children to accompany the student. Another alternative for service delivery that has been getting increasing attention in rural Alaskan school districts is “teletherapy” or remote service delivery through computer, audio and/or video media.
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Related services such as Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy are not appropriately provided in this manner, unless given under the following conditions:
1. Technical problems posed by slow connections, oversubscribed bandwidth, or outdated hardware need to be solved and a plan for alternate delivery of sessions needs to be in place for unavoidable problems.
2. Staff that assists in delivery of the service needs to be trained in how to use the technology and also how to implement the methods and lessons being used in the sessions. Additionally, staff needs to know how to take data on the child’s progress. Consultation with the specialist must be regular, frequent and, allow sufficient time to review data collected.
3. The environment in which the student is located during the session must be quiet and free from distractions.
4. There must be frequent evaluation and reporting of a child’s achievement and re-examination of the methods of delivering the service.
5. Children should be seven years old or older; research has shown that younger children can’t access remote delivery education with much success as they tend to be less attentive to the session.
For many children with autism, speech or occupational therapy sessions involve the use of interactive speaking, hand-over-hand guidance, and subtle visual cues for a therapist in order to assess and guide a student. When combined with assistive technology to aid in communication or with discrete trial training techniques, sessions also require someone who is well-trained and experienced to be with the student, and modeling and manipulating objects with the child. It can be difficult to find staff who are already trained so it may be part of the child’s IEP that school staff will be given appropriate training.
If the school suggests remote service delivery for your child, ask for details about the methods to be used in the proposed instruction, make certain that the staff who is present with your child is well-trained, and that your child’s individual needs would be met by the methods proposed.
Discipline, Truancy, Absences, and the School’s Responsibility to Educate
In rural Alaska, particularly in smaller village communities, schools may try to remove children whose disabilities involve difficult behavior by sending them home or calling the parent to come and get the child. Often the school counts that removal as an excused half-day absence. Many times, the school does not write a disciplinary note or report on the child’s behavior, but treats the incident as though it were like any other excused absence.
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It is important to have a disciplinary removal counted as a suspension or expulsion from school when a child has an IEP. When a child with an IEP has behavior that violates the school’s conduct rules, there are special procedures that the school must follow if it wishes to send the child home for more than 10 days in any one school year. If the student is sent home for a total of ten days during one school year, either as a single 10-day removal, or all removed days combined, the IEP team has to meet and decide if the behaviors are manifestations of the child’s disability (or if the school didn’t follow the IEP correctly and the behavior happened because they didn’t follow it). If the team decides that either of those things is true, then the child can’t be punished or removed from the school. The IEP team also has to review the child’s education plan and make changes so that it will help the child with that behavior.
As a parent-advocate, make sure that anytime the school sends your child home because of behavior the attendance record shows that there was a suspension for that time period. Keep track of how many days your child has been sent home. It is a good idea to send a letter after 8 days of suspension asking if the school will be ready to have a meeting after the tenth absence to discuss whether the behavior is a manifestation of your child’s disability. If you believe that the behavior is being caused by teachers not following the IEP, then your letter should state what that problem is and ask for an IEP team meeting to talk about better implantation of the IEP.
When a child refuses to go to school, it can be because of their disability. Children who experience ASD can have anxiety about social interactions or changes in environment or the over-stimulating school climate, and want to avoid those things. Children with disabilities are sometimes bullied at school, which increases anxiety and can result in refusal to attend. When a child’s disability adversely affects their access to the learning environment, the school must try to provide accommodations, supports, and assistance that will give them access even if a refusal to attend school is the barrier.
If your child is refusing to attend school because of his or her disability, write a letter requesting that the IEP team meet to discuss the reasons for the refusal and to amend the IEP to add supports. Those supports would attempt to address the individual needs of your child and could involve having an aide to meet the child outside the house to walk to school, other transportation, highly-preferred activities at school before instruction, incentives for attendance, or other strategies to address the reason for the behavior.
Graduation and Exiting Special Education
In rural Alaska, students who are receiving Special Education services, but who do not graduate with a regular diploma, often leave high school with their age-peers because their age-peers graduate (at 17 or 18 years old). Those students and their families are often unaware that the school district is still obligated to educate them.
There are several ways that a student can exit from Special Education. The first is by graduating with a regular diploma from high school. The school’s obligation to provide special
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education services ends when the student receives a regular high school diploma. If the student graduates from high school with a regular diploma, the school must provide a summary of the student’s academic achievement and functional performance including recommendations on how to assist the student in meeting post-secondary goals. Graduation means receipt of a regular high school diploma. Participation in a graduation ceremony does not constitute graduation. Because graduation is a change in placement, the district will provide the parent with prior written notice before the completion of the student’s last semester of school. The notice will clearly state that the student will no longer be entitled to receive special education services from the district after graduation with a regular high school diploma. Students in Alaska must demonstrate proficiency on the Alaska High School Graduation Qualifying Examination (HSGQE) to earn a high school diploma. The HSGQE assesses students in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. Students with disabilities who do not demonstrate proficiency may be able to satisfy the assessment requirement and earn a high school diploma through an “alternative assessment process”.
Another way that a student exits from special education is by reaching the age of 22. For students who have not yet graduated from high school with a regular diploma, the school’s obligation to provide special education services to an eligible student who is age 21 on the first day of the school term continues for the entire school year, even if the student’s 22nd birthday occurs during the school year. If the student reaches maximum age, the school must provide a summary of the student’s academic achievement and functional performance, including recommendations on how to assist the student in meeting post-secondary goals. If a student reaches the age of majority and asks to be removed from special education, the District must follow appropriate exit procedures.
Also, if the school suspects that a student no longer meets the eligibility criteria for special education, the school will conduct a re-evaluation meeting to determine if the student still meets the eligibility criteria. The team will arrange to have additional assessments conducted, if necessary. If the student is not eligible, the school must provide the parent with prior written notice of this decision before discontinuing special education services.
Under certain other circumstances, a student may continue to be eligible for special education services, but the school’s obligation to provide services changes. If the child transfers out of the district or drops out of school, district is not obligated to provide services.
Disagreements between Parents and the School: Dispute Resolution
Parents who disagree with the school district regarding their child’s eligibility for special education, evaluations, IEP, placement or discipline have many options for resolving the situation. The first option is to write a request for an IEP meeting to talk about the disagreement. Often a disagreement is based on one side not having the same information as the other side, so make sure that the school has any reports or recommendations that you have that would help them get a better picture of your child. Sometimes IEP teams don’t understand why certain supports or accommodations are needed even when a parent assures them that they are. There are some
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common reasons stated by schools for not providing a requested service. The school may say that the requested services aren’t necessary for the child to progress or that teachers don’t see the problem behavior at school. Those objections can be addressed in the IEP meeting by providing data about the problem (i.e., from a medical expert or specialist who treats your child, from notes and observations of your child, from articles about children who experience Autism, etc.). If the school says that your child doesn’t have the “right kind” of disability to receive a type of service, remind them that once a child is eligible for special education under any disability category, that child has the right to services in any area of need that adversely impacts their education. Finally, in rural Alaska, it is not uncommon to hear that a related service (i.e., speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or counseling) cannot be provided because the needed specialist is not available in a place or at a frequency that the child’s disability requires. Under the IDEA, the availability of a specialist can never dictate whether a child receives a service that is needed to get meaningful benefit from education. Remind the IEP team of the law and request that you be given a prior written notice of the refusal to provide the service, including the reasons for the refusal.
Another option to pursue if the school doesn’t agree with you is to write a letter of disagreement to the school district’s Director of Special Education. That person may have fresh eyes to view the problem and may be able to propose a solution that the school had not considered.
If the relationship between parents and the school are strained, a third party could be helpful to set ground rules for discussions and facilitate meetings. To request mediation, contact Dave Thomas at Alaska Special Education Mediation Services at: 1 (800) 580-2209. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) will pay for the mediator. Mediation is provided at no cost to the parents or the school district. During mediation, the mediators act as facilitators. They help the parents and the school district come to a mutual understanding. Mediators can only assist the parties in resolving their differences and creating a solution. They are not allowed to make decisions regarding the issues.
A parent can also file a complaint with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) or with the federal education department’s Office for Civil Rights. Complaints to DEED must be in writing (a form is on the DEED website). Complaints should include a statement of the relevant facts of the situation, such as dates of incidents and meetings and when those occurred; who was at the meetings and what happened there; what has been done to try to resolve the conflict; and any proposed solutions you have to the problem.
As a parent-advocate, you should keep a copy of the complaint for your records. DEED will assign an independent investigator to look into the complaint. The investigator should contact the parents and the school district for additional information. They must complete their investigation within 60 days of receiving the complaint and issue a report of their findings. This report should address each allegation made against the school district separately and list the reasons for each decision. The complaint investigator can order corrective actions for the district. The school district must comply with the investigator’s findings. Parents can appeal complaint decisions by filing for a due process hearing or an appeal in court.
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Finally, a parent can request a hearing with a hearing officer by filing a due process hearing request. Parents should carefully consider how quickly a solution to the problem is needed as well as how much time and energy they are willing to invest in getting the desired solution. Parents have the right to request a due process hearing if they disagree with the school district regarding their child’s identification, evaluation, IEP services, or placement. Parents may also request a hearing if the school district refuses to identify, evaluate, or change the child’s IEP or placement. The right to an expedited hearing exists for issues involving discipline.
Before filing for a due process hearing you should consider:
1. Has the issue been discussed with the IEP team?
2. Has the concern been documented in writing? (letters to the IEP team, Special Education Director, etc.)
3. Have attempts been made to resolve this issue with the district’s Director of Special Education?
4. Has the option of mediation been considered to resolve the issue?
5. Is this an issue for the Alaska Department of Education (DEED) or the Office for Civil Rights?
6. The time it will take for the issue to be resolved. (Hearings and subsequent court proceedings can take years to resolve.)
7. Is it desired that the child stay in the current educational placement until this issue is resolved?
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APPENDIX A
Diagnostic Identifiers of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Some Common Characteristics include:
1. Elopement (intense need to run away ~ leaving a safe setting without understanding danger such as open water, fires, other dangerous area and situations) and failure to respond to directives.
2. Face Blindness (inability to distinguish individuals based on facial recognition).
3. Difficulty with time management ~ waiting, turn taking, ending a task.
4. Difficulty in transitions between activities ~ especially ending a preferred action or starting a non-preferred action.
5. Difficulty in sequencings ~ first this, then this, then that.
6. Problems with pragmatic language (inferences, idioms, etc) .
7. Executive Functions impairment ~ rote (memory) skills but little comprehension in meaning.
8. Meltdowns (inability to recover from a typical tantrum without significant “down time”).
Classic Autism (All before age 3)
1. Impairment in eye to eye gaze, abnormal facial expressions, body postures and gestures to regulate social interaction.
2. Impairment in communication: delay or lack of spoken language, inability to initiate or maintain conversation in those with speech, stereotype or repetitive language, lack of spontaneous play or social imitative play appropriate to age level.
3. Restrictive or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests and activities (echolalia ~parroting or repeating word for word what somebody has just said; saying a phrases over and over, etc): preoccupation with interests that is abnormal in intensity or focus, inflexible adherence to specific routines or rituals (certain schedules must be followed ~ dinner is at 5:00 and 5:00 only), repetitive motor mannerisms (hand flicking, flapping, rocking, toe walking), preoccupation with parts of objects (strings, wheels, lining up or stacking objects).
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4. Often individuals with “classic autism” are further classified with cognitive impairment under standardized testing as results indicate low verbal IQ and negligible ability to perform on most cognitive assessments.
Asperger’s Syndrome/Disorder (High Functioning Autism)
1. Impairment in eye to eye gaze, abnormal facial expressions, body postures and gestures to regulate social interaction.
2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to age level: Impairment in seeking to share interests, enjoyment, or achievements with others, lack of social or emotional reciprocity (give and take with others interests).
3. Restrictive or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests and activities: preoccupation with interests that is abnormal in intensity or focus, inflexible adherence to specific routines or rituals, repetitive motor mannerisms (hand flicking, flapping, rocking, toe walking); preoccupation with parts of objects.
4. No significant general delay of language before age 3.
5. No significant delay in cognitive development.
Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD/NOS or “Atypical Autism”)
1. Severe and pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction with impairment in either verbal or nonverbal communication skills or with the presence of stereotyped behavior, interests and activities, but the criteria are not fully met for Autism or Asperger’s Disorder.
Common Coexisting Diagnoses:
Cognitive Impairment Attention Deficit Disorder Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Anxiety Disorder
Language Disorders (Mixed Language Disorder, Expressive Language Disorder, Receptive Language Disorder, etc)Mood DisorderBi Polar DisorderPica (Eating of non-food items)Sensory Disorders (Impact the individual’s ability to sit, eat, walk, listen, touch, sleep, attend, etc.)
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APPENDIX B
Speech Therapy Ideas for Autism
Early Childhood Speech Therapy
Since many children with autism are first diagnosed in early childhood, an essential time for language skills, speech therapy can help build meaningful improvements in language and communication.
It is important to build a connection with the therapist and child. (For example, many children with autism have an affinity for animals and can build an emotional connection by using toy barns, animal trains, or any other toy that interests the child and first working on animal noises, rather than words).
“More” can be an important word for functional communication and using swinging or another favorite activity is a great way to encourage the child to try this out. Swing the child for a moment or two and then stop the swing and wait for the child to make the “more” hand sign or say the word “more.”
Place favorite toys or food items just out of the child’s reach but well within view. Having the child gesture or ask in some way in order to get the item. Encourage the child to take this to the next communication level, such as going from leading the adult by the hand to verbally requesting the item.
For many kids on the spectrum, routine is very important. Build conversational routines to help encourage language. For example, place the child at the top of the slide and keep him or her from going down. Say “Ready, set…” and wait for the child to say “Go!” When the child says “go,” reward him or her with the slide.
One of the hallmarks of autism in early childhood is that children on the spectrum may not turn toward their names. This will be an essential communication skill, so reward the child when they are successful in looking at the speaker when they are called.
Preschool Speech Therapy Ideas for Autism
In preschool the social use of language becomes more important. Children go from parallel play (side by side) to playing together. This can be a challenge for a lot of kids on the spectrum. Interacting or facilitating the child’s play by taking a turn every now and then can be a good strategy. For instance, if the child is playing with a car ramp, take the car from him or her and put it down the ramp. Then encourage the child to say “my turn” to get the car back.
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Further encourage turn-taking by using a game the child especially enjoys. Many children on the spectrum are highly visual so a game like “Memory” or “Connect 4” may be a favorite. Taking turns in games like this will help the child prepare for conversational turn-taking.
Practice phrases and strategies the child may use to interact with peers. This may include commenting on a shared activity, such as playing with blocks or using the sensory table at school.
Common pretend play games preschoolers enjoy that model and use age-appropriate language skills include playing house, playing restaurant, playing grocery store, and pretending to be a doctor or veterinarian. If the child is familiar with these routines and the associated language, he or she will be more successful with peers.
Practice shared attention skills with games like “I Spy.” To do this, stare at something obvious and have the child guess what you’re looking at. This will help the child with conversational perspective-taking.
Elementary School Speech Therapy Ideas
In elementary school, things often get more demanding for kids on the spectrum. They may need to negotiate complicated non-verbal social interactions and their communication differences may become more apparent to peers. Some strategies when working with elementary-aged children include:
Work on labeling feelings. Use cartoon drawings and stories to help children identify how a character is feeling and suggest appropriate language-based responses for that feeling. If the child has a favorite book or character, draw on this interest to illustrate this concept.
Teach children to ask questions. One way to do this is to hide a toy or object in a bag and have the child ask what it is. Expand this exercise by coming up with social questions the child can ask a peer.
Work with two or more children together to help facilitate social communication. It may help to have them work from a script. Reward the children with a favorite game or small treat.
Modeling non-verbal communication is important, especially body posture, such as turning away or crossing the arms and facial expressions. Script interactions that the child may actually encounter and provide strategies the child can use to succeed.
Many children on the spectrum have intense special interests. Use these interests to keep the child engaged in the interaction for longer periods of time. You can work on questions and answers, turn-taking, non-verbal communication, and many other important concepts.
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Middle School and High School Speech Therapy Ideas
In middle school and high school, social pressures become even more intense. It will likely be more important to focus therapy on non-verbal peer interactions and life skills the child will need to succeed after school. Try some of these ideas:
Go out into the community with the child, first observing how the social interactions take place and then having the child participate. For instance, have a child watch others place a lunch order at a restaurant, then talk about how the interaction happened. Move up to having the child place the order.
Work on responding to unpredictable people and interactions. Talk about strategies, such as active listening or labeling feelings that the child can use to negotiate these situations.
Dating and opposite gender interactions can be challenging for kids on the spectrum. As they get older, it’s important to work on the language skills needed for these interactions. Talk about asking questions and respecting boundaries.
Practice job interview skills with the child. Many kids have part-time or summer jobs during high school and these skills will come in handy.
Conflict resolution can be challenging for a child on the spectrum. Use videos, visual aids and practice interactions to help the child break down the interaction and participate in a productive and assertive way.
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APPENDIX CWhat Is Sequencing?
Sequencing is the task of putting things in order, which can make sequencing activities very appealing to people on the autism spectrum of disorders. The ability to put things into sequential order demonstrates a number of skills including recognizing people, places and objects as well as concepts of time. Sequencing is necessary for life skill tasks and communication.
Sequencing Activities
Sequencing activities for autistic students can help develop a number of different skills. Putting things into sequential order can be a challenge for many students on the spectrum and breaking tasks down into small parts is a great way to present this type of activity.
Skill Sets
Activities that involve sequential order can be used to help students with autism to reach goals outlined in their Individual Education Plan (IEP). The activities can be motivating because they naturally have a sense of order. Many students on the autism spectrum like having routines, which makes sequential tasks enjoyable.
Some things that use sequence are:
1. Following directions 2. Schedules (using timer, iPad apps, pictures, written lists, charts)3. Reading 4. Storytelling 5. Two-way conversation 6. Math 7. Writing 8. Science experiments 9. Cooking 10. Daily chores 11. Grooming
When you think about it, nearly every task that we complete has some form of sequence, from brushing teeth to playing a video game. Sequencing activities for students with autism can break down the process of putting things in order using a systematic approach.
Sequencing Activities for Autistic Students
Many different activities that focus on sequence can be used in the home and in the classroom environment. Parents and teachers can take an approach using elements of applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA is a method that breaks tasks down into small steps; one step is mastered before moving on to the next. This strategy is ideal for sequential projects.
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Daily Schedules
Many autism classrooms use visual schedules to help students understand what to expect. Each activity is represented by a small picture (usually 2 inches by 2 inches) and placed in sequential order on a schedule. The student takes the picture off the schedule and places it in the work area. When the task is finished, the picture moves to the “Done” folder. The next task on the schedule moves to the work area.
A large number of variations of the daily schedule exist and one classroom may have individual schedules for each student while others may have classroom schedules. A beginning student may have to start with a simple First/Then schedule that focuses on two activities. The First/Then schedule can be used repeatedly throughout the day.
Coordinating Speech and Occupational Therapy Activities
Speech and occupational therapy for children with autism are often combined to help the individual develop communication skills while adopting new self-help skills. Some activities that are common to both speech and OT are: oral motor activities including toothbrush and other oral stimulating tools like a NUB, blowing bubbles and whistles, pursing lips, banging a drum or tapping a table, and clapping.
Each activity encourages the development of skills necessary for communication while addressing self-help techniques in the process. Combining speech and OT exercises is a wonderful approach to creating a comprehensive treatment plan.
Sensory Integration
Autistic individuals often have a great deal of difficulty processing sensory input. This interferes with the ability to perform well and stay on task. Some OT exercises include different ways to address sensory problems while developing self-help skills in the process. These exercises can be combined with speech therapy:
Gross motor (activities that build strength and endurance): walking and running, climbing, walking backwards and sideways, tricycles.
Note: Often gross motor is address in adaptive physical education (APE).
Processing movement (vestibular): trampoline, swings, slides, ladders.
Balance (proprioceptive): sit on an exercise ball, balance stand on one foot or low standing balance beam.
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Fine Motor Skills (writing, pinching, picking up, holding, fastening, etc): drawing, dot to dot, writing using double spaced bold/dark lined paper, variety of fastening tools including slide locks, keys, zippers, and snaps, beading and stacking, puzzles, clay and putty.
Combining Sensory Integration and Fine Motor Skills
Sensory integration and fine motor skills can help an autistic person use both sides of the brain. Engaging in activities that involve more than one of the five senses is an ideal approach. When using fine motor activities, for example, the person engages both visual and tactile senses.
Any activity that requires reaching across the center of the body is a cross-modal action (turning the pages in a large book). These exercises engage both sides of the brain while developing important fine motor and gross motor skills. They also serve as wonderful pre-reading activities to train the person to move from left to right when completing tasks in the same sequence as reading.
Each activity provides opportunities to develop important skills. For example, balancing on a ball can help a child sit properly in a chair while attending to a task. The development of fine motor skills is crucial to an individual’s ability to perform well on daily living tasks. Occupational therapy for autistic people includes many activities that develop deliberate muscle movements in the hands. These activities require attention and hand-eye coordination.
Sequencing Cards
Sequencing cards are great activities for students with autism because they are visual and they promote a number of different skills. Felt boards or picture boards can also be used for sequencing activities. The sensory-friendly felt material is ideal for students on the autism spectrum because they are quiet and soft. The boards can be used to create a story from beginning to end and they can be used to teach letters, numbers, and other sequential learning activities.
Art is a great outlet and it can be a fantastic sequence-teaching tool. Crafts can require little more than following two-step directions or they can be very complex so parents and teachers can cater craft projects to the student’s level of ability. Crafting can be used for sensory integration in addition to sequencing.
Sequencing activities for autistic students come in many forms and other options are available. Activities run the gamut from two-step tasks to simple science experiments. Parents and teachers can get creative while encouraging students to make sense of their environments.
This publication was prepared by the Disability Law Center of Alaska, The Protection and Advocacy System for Alaska. This publication was
made possible by grants from Autism Speaks™, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The authors and publishers are solely responsible for
the accuracy of the statements and interpretations in this publication.
Autism Speaks does not provide medical or legal advice or services. Rather, Autism Speaks provides general information about autism as a service to the community. The information provided in this publication is not a recommendation, referral or endorsement of any resource, therapeutic method, or service provider and does not replace the advice of medical, legal or educational professionals. Autism Speaks has
not validated and is not responsible for any information or services provided by third parties. You are urged to use independent judgment and request references when
considering any resource associated with the provision of services related to autism.
“The author(s) of this publication hereby acknowledge Autism Speaks Family Community Grants as the funding agency for the project leading to this publication.
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily express or reflect the views of Autism Speaks or any other funding agency.
All laws are subject to change by legislation and by court decisions. The information is not intended to be legal advice.
It is a Public Education resource. Readers should use this guide for information, and then ask questions about their own individual needs.
Publication Date: November 2012
