RLASD Special Education News

It's hard to believe we are halfway through the school year! This month marks the end of our second marking period, so look for report cards and progress reports on your students' IEP goals this week, if you haven't received them already.

This month, we will review the extended school year eligibility determination process. This is timely as teams will be reaching out to update IEP documents to reflect your student's data and eligibility status in the coming months.

Some exciting news for our K-6 families: we have a new supervisor! Mrs. Nicole Persing has recently taken on the role of supervisor in our elementary buildings, but she is not new to our District. She has been serving as a school psychologist at all levels for several years, and brings a great deal of experience to the role.

A new feature we are thrilled to include in this edition is a piece by one of our very own parents and community members, Mary Beiler. Mary serves on our parent advisory group and took some time to share from her perspective.

Feel free to contact us if there is a topic you would like to see covered in a future edition.

Mrs. Amber Mentz, Interim Director/Supervisor, 7-12 Programs

Mrs. Nicole Persing, Supervisor, K-6 Programs

Our second parent training took place on December 12, where we discussed special education assessments and reports. Please keep an eye out for information on our website and through Skyward regarding our next training this spring. We are planning to discuss behavior, discipline, and manifestation determination reviews.

Our Parent Advisory Group began meeting during the 2021-2022 school year, and has some great participants representing a diverse group of students with exceptionalities. During these meetings, we discuss general special education concerns or questions that might be prevalent in our community. If you are interested in joining us, please contact our office.

Mary Beiler is a mother of 3, two of whom are on the autism spectrum. Mary has lived in the Red Lion Area School District for nearly 20 years. After her children were diagnosed in 2009, Mary went back to school to become an Occupational Therapist Assistant. She now works in Early Intervention, helping families to identify the early signs of autism. Mary also serves on our Parent Advisory Committee and we are thrilled to have her perspective as our first parent feature!

When you’re preparing to have a baby, your thoughts are filled with expectations of what your child will be once they arrive. I think I can say with honesty that no one anticipates that their child will be born with special needs. And once they do get that diagnosis, it’s not like the doctor hands you a nice neat “to do” list. It takes patience, trial and error, a lot of self-growth, and determination on this journey with your child as they age and grow. Here are just a few things that I have learned along the way:

1. IT’S NOT EASY. Allow yourself this one simple truth, throw yourself a pity party when you need to, then move on. It does no one any good – particularly your child – to live in the “what if’s” or “what could be’s.”

2. IT’S ISOLATING. When two of my children were diagnosed with autism just 6 months apart, I was spending time driving around the tri-county area to get them access to services that they needed. This left little to no time to coordinate play dates with their peers or socialize with the other moms. And while other kids were participating in extra-curricular activities while their moms got to watch and smile from the sidelines, I was often right up in it, physically assisting my child so that he could participate to his fullest capacity. My friends felt uncomfortable around my children with autism. They stopped returning my calls and hanging out. Even family members started backing away, not sure how to approach or interact with a nonverbal child. I quickly learned who my true friends were.

3. FIND YOUR TRIBE. After the isolation really starts to hit, it’s important to “find your people.” Join a support group, go online and find local groups of parents of special needs kids, connect with other parents in your child’s classroom, or just start a conversation with another parent in the waiting room while your child is in therapy. These parents are walking the same life journey as you. They “get” you and what you’re going through, they won’t judge your child or situation, and will be a support for you. Too often parents focus on what the child needs, but you as the caregiver have needs too. Having a group of people that you can go to for advice or even just a listening ear goes a long way!

4. TAKE TIME TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Avoid caretaker burnout! If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have energy to take care of your child. Take time to enjoy things for yourself, whatever that may be. Maybe you take a walk by yourself every day, go to the gym, or go out with friends once a month. Whatever the activity is, and whatever the frequency you need to keep your sanity, do it! This is where the support of your tribe comes in – whether it’s a supportive spouse, a neighbor or a friend – they can help you care for your child while you care for yourself.

5. YOU ARE YOUR CHILD’S BEST ADVOCATE. It’s easy to trust the “experts” – you know, the doctors, the therapists, the professionals. But YOU know your child better than anyone! YOU know their strengths and weaknesses, YOU know what makes them tick, YOU know what sets them off. Be vocal! Use your voice, especially if your child is nonverbal and can’t speak for themselves. And if they are verbal, then it is your job to SHOW them how to advocate so that they can learn to one day advocate for themselves.

6. SEE YOUR CHILD’S STRENGTHS/YOUR CHILD WILL DO THINGS IN THEIR OWN TIME. As soon as you find out your child is developmentally delayed, the first thing you should do is forget the milestones. Forget what other children are doing. Forget what your child should be doing, and just focus on what they ARE doing! Each pathway down the road to development is unique, and your child isn’t any different. Instead of focusing on what your child can’t do, I encourage you to focus on your child’s strengths – focus on what they do best and nurture those skills to make them stronger. Is your child good at memorizing things? Tap into that and put him in a play where he will memorize lines. Is your child good at noticing details? Get him a Lego set and have him build it without the instructions. We all have strengths and weaknesses, but aren’t we all more motivated to participate in things that we’re good at? Your child will achieve milestones when they are ready. And let me tell you, it is SO much sweeter when they do! I had to wait over 3 years to hear my child say “I love you,” but I can tell you the exact moment it happened because having to wait for it made it that much more special.

7. WORK WITH THE SCHOOL TEAM, NOT AGAINST THEM. I’ll be the first to tell you that I hate IEP meetings. They induce a strong anxiety within me and I’m not even sure how that started. It makes me want to go into fight or flight mode, and I’m more of a fighter! However, what I have learned is that things work so much more smoothly when we all work together as a team. Your child’s teachers love them and want what’s best for them. The “give and take” that occurs in an IEP meeting is essential – I may have the bigger picture idea of what I want to see my child be able to do, but the teachers may have a more day-to-day picture of where my child is functioning in the moment as they see them in class every day. It’s a balance between respecting what school district representatives are telling you and pushing for your child’s best outcome.

8. TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CHILD’S IEP. This is not meant to be in contradiction to #7 above, but my point here is that YOU are driving this train. If there’s something that you want your child to learn or be able to do, put it in the IEP! For our family, it was important that our son learn how to read and do basic math. We worked with the school staff to find adaptive programs to teach him these skills, but my husband and I were instrumental in putting these goals into the IEP because we spoke up. In addition, if your child wants to participate in an extra-curricular activity but they may need some extra assistance or accommodations, put it in the IEP! This is a safety net that ensures these supports will be provided for your child.

9. ASSUME INTELLIGENCE. When you have a child who is nonverbal, this is especially true. Society tends to equate verbal ability with intellectual ability. I guarantee your child knows 10x more than what they can say! And imagine the impact that will have on your child, when they can feel that you believe in them, and then they start to believe in themselves. If you’re not sure if they understand something, give them the benefit of the doubt. You will begin to see their confidence soar and their personality really come out!

10. IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START TEACHING LIFE SKILLS. Parents of special needs children all want the same thing – for our children to be as independent as possible. How are they going to get there? Basic life skills are a good place to start. Can they take care of their own basic self-care needs (brushing their teeth, getting dressed, tying their shoes, bathing themselves), or do basic household chores around the house (laundry, loading the dishwasher, making their bed, cleaning the table)? If these foundational skills are not met, how will they ever learn higher-level skills, such as driving, getting/keeping a job, balancing a checkbook? Maybe all these skills are unreasonable for your child, and that’s ok, but shouldn’t we take initiative to teach them all the skills we possibly can to set them up for success? Trust me, it’s never too early to start working on independence.

11. PLAN FOR THE FUTURE, BUT LIVE IN THE NOW. Now we’re getting into the real scary part. If you have a child with special needs, you have asked yourself at least once, “what will happen to them when I’m gone?” While it is important to have a vision for the future, don’t get locked into that mental space. Not only will you lose out on what’s happening now, but it’s way too hard to predict where your child will be years down the road. I’m sure your child has surprised you with things she has accomplished even in the last year – who is to say what she might be doing 5 years from now? My youngest son has taught me what the gift of “today” is, and he reminds me every day to slow down and just enjoy life. It is one of the things I admire most about him. Yes, plan for the future – think about what needs to be done

to help your child get there – but don’t stress about things that you can’t control right now.

12. DON’T FORGET SIBLINGS. This ties into planning for the future. The greatest gift we can give our children is each other, and the best way to facilitate that relationship is to involve siblings from the start. Your other children are going through the same process you are – the learning, the isolation, the fear for the future – they need the education and support as much as the adults do. As a therapist going into homes for Early Intervention, I too often hear parents tell their other children to go away as this is time for their special needs sibling. Instead of making them feel excluded and feeling animosity toward all the attention their sibling is getting, why not involve them in the process? This is not only empowering for

siblings, but will teach them all they need to know about their special sibling so that they can be a source of support in the future.

Every parents’ journey is different, but I hope I have highlighted what I have learned and that you have found something useful in this checklist. When all else fails, remember that you know your child better than anyone, and no one else is better equipped to be their best advocate in life.

ESY must be considered each year for every student with a disability. Especially important and time sensitive are decisions around those in the Armstrong Group; this group includes "students with severe disabilities, such as autism/ pervasive developmental disorder, serious emotional disturbance, severe intellectual disabilities, degenerative impairments with mental involvement, and severe multiple disabilities." There is a strict mandated deadline of February 28 of each year to review the eligibility of these students.

ESY services are not a summer recreation program or other programs or services that are not required to ensure the provision of FAPE ...even if they provide some educational benefit.

There are seven factors that the IEP team must consider to determine if a student is eligible for ESY services. However, no one factor by itself can be used to determine eligibility for ESY services. The child may be eligible by meeting just one of the criteria, but all seven factors must be considered by the IEP team. It's not just about regression and recoupment!

The seven factors for consideration are:

1. Regression - whether the student reverts to a lower level of functioning as evidenced by a

measurable decrease in skills or behaviors that occur as a result of interruption in educational programming

2. Recoupment - whether the student has the capacity to recover the skills or behavior

patterns in which regression occurred to a level demonstrated prior to the interruption

of educational programming

3. Regression/Recoupment - whether the student’s difficulties with regression and

recoupment make it unlikely that the student will maintain the skills and behaviors relevant

to the IEP goals

4. Mastery - the extent to which the student has mastered and consolidated an important skill or behavior at the point when educational programming would be interrupted

5. Self-sufficiency and independence - the extent to which a skill or behavior is particularly crucial for the student to meet the IEP goals of self-sufficiency and independence

from caretakers

6. Successive interruptions - the extent to which successive interruptions in educational programming result in a student’s withdrawal from the learning process

7. Severity of disability - whether the student’s disability is severe, such as autism/pervasive

developmental disorder, serious emotional disturbance, severe intellectual disabilities,

degenerative impairments with mental involvement and severe multiple disabilities

Those are probably familiar if you've ever read an IEP; however, did you know that there are several service delivery options for ESY? They are based on student need, of course.

School districts are not required to create new programs merely to provide ESY in an

integrated setting if they do not provide services at that time for students without disabilities.

ESY service delivery models may be one-to-one or group instruction. Services may be delivered in the student’s home, in the community, or in a school classroom setting. The school district may deliver ESY services in the district of residence, or may contract through another agency to provide ESY services outside the boundaries of the school district. ESY services may include related services, such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy, as well as instructional academic goals, based on the student’s individual needs and as stipulated in the IEP.

ESY services may include:

• “Take home” instructional materials

• Behavioral or other training for parents or program staff

• Itinerant teacher and/or related service provider services

• Consultation

• Tutorials

• Services contracted through community or outside agencies

As a parent, what should I expect?

Your child's annual IEP must reflect determination and data for the upcoming summer, or a revision must reflect the same. You should be contacted and/or a meeting to revise the IEP will be held. In addition, you will be presented with a NOREP/PWN if:

• your child is eligible for ESY
• your child was eligible last summer, but is not this year

Our team is working on developing ESY plans for this summer. If your child is determined to be eligible, your child's team will be in touch to discuss what it will look like for them.

Each year, we also consider for each student whether the PSSA/Keystone Assessment or the PASA (PA Alternate System of Assessment) is appropriate for each student. For the majority of students (per PDE, 99%), the standard assessment is to be administered. For students with IEPs, we do have flexibility to provide accommodations. Accommodations must be aligned with individual student need, documented in the IEP, and things that they use on a regular basis.

LEAs are required to consider PASA where appropriate; this is "an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards," per the PaTTAN website. It is only administered in grades 3-8, and 11. Teams must follow strict guidelines when making a determination whether PASA is appropriate, meeting all six criteria outlined by PDE. If all six criteria are not met, the student is not PASA eligible.

The question for parents then becomes, but what if the PSSA/Keystone is too difficult for my child?

Recently, Act 158 established a greater spectrum of pathways for students to graduate; the education of your child does not have to begin and end with a test.