Deer Creek Special Services Scoop

The October 1 Child Count is fast approaching! The purpose of child count is to :

• Identify the number of students in our district who have disabilities being served under IDEA
• Determine total special education weights to affect district funding though the Average Daily Membership formula
• Collect other data required for oversight and reporting through th year

Here are a few ways you can assist with making sure our special education data is accurate.

• Make sure all students on your caseload have a finalized eligibility and IEP events by September 30
• Students who are categorized as DD (move-in students) must have a finalized eligibility to reflect a disability category by September 30
• Students with grade PK must have an updated early childhood environment recorded and saved in the services section
• Services for LRE should be reviewed for accuracy
• Make sure total service time is less than the total hours of instruction
• Remember LRE is collected from the services section of the finalized IEP, not the workspace in EdPlan.
• Every student should have an Enrollment Type marked in Edplan
• Enrollment type can be added on the Personal tab in EdPlan under the Enrollment Section. Note that this is not a field that autogenerates from the WAVE. It must be entered by hand.
• A daily report is pulled so that the Special Services Admin team can assist with adding missing enrollment types.
• Check student data in EdPlan for accuracy
• Is the student's enrollment status accurate?
• Is the students grade code correct?
• Is the student's data of birth correct?

"Transportation is a related service if special arrangements resulting from the student’s disability are required to assist a student with a disability to access and/or benefit from special education. The student’s individual needs concerning their education are the main considerations in determining services—including transportation services." (OSDE Special Education Services Policies and Procedures Manual, 2022)

The IEP team must consider the following when determining the needs for transportation as a related service:

• whether the student's disability related needs prevent the student from using the same transportation provided to students without disabilities
• what specific supports are needed, if any, including use of an aide or nurse, seat belt, car seat, lift, or other special equipment.

If a student requires special transportation, it must be recorded on the IEP and the DC Special Transportation Google Form must be completed. Keep in mind, if a student requires a special accommodations on the general education bus the information should be included in the IEP and the Transportation Department must be informed to ensure compliance.

DC Special Transportation Google doc

Students that have an IEP and EL flag in Infinite Campus must have documentation in their confidential file (EdPlan) indicating that EL personnel were invited to participate in IEP and Eval meetings. If a student qualifies for special education services and is EL, please remember to include the site EL coordinator on IEP and Evaluation meeting invites. Even if the site EL Coordinator is unable to attend the meeting, an invitation must be provided.

What is an accommodation?

Accommodations include any changes that allow students with disabilities the same opportunity as students without disabilities. They may involve setting, communication, modality, equipment, and/or supplemental aids and services. Accommodations make education accessible, but do not reduce learning expectations.

Who determines necessary accommodations for instructional and assessment purposes?

Instructional and assessment accommodations are determined by the IEP team based on the student's needs.

When can accommodations be used for state assessments?

State Assessment accommodations identified by a student's IEP team as necessary, can only be used for state assessment purposes if they are used regularly by the student during instruction and/or classroom testing. Accommodations for statewide assessments should mirror accommodations listed under classroom accommodations as closely as possiblie.

Can a student receive instructional accommodations beyond those identified for state assessment accommodations?

Yes. Some accommodations selected for instructional use may not be state-approved for use on standardized assessments. For example, a nonstandard accommodation, such as a read aloud, during instruction does not necessarily qualify a student to receive the same nonstandard accommodation during state testing. Additional eligibility requirements would have to be met for a student to receive a nonstandard accommodation on a state assessment,.

2023-2024 OSTP IEPP/504 Accommodations Manual

If you have a student that participates in the Alternate ACCESS assessment or the WIDA ACCESS 2.0 assessment, remember to identify whether or not the student requires accommodations in EdPlan. Both assessments are included on the Accommodations page in EdPlan under the Participation in State/District section.

The following tools are intended to assist educators who implement IDEA. Each of the tools help guide our practices as well as monitor the confidential documents we develop for students. Although the documents are not required by the state, it is highly encouraged to utilize these tools to ensure we are compliant.

IEP Checklist

MEEGs Checklist

Student File Monitoring (used by OSDE when monitoring districts)

Disability Categories and Evaluation Components (used by OSDE when monitoring districts)

FBA/BIP Training

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Special Education Services (OSDE-SES) 2022 Policies and Procedures (P. 56): OSDE Guidance/Fact Sheet

“Due to the complex nature of variables associated with behavior assessments, individuals who conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA), or for those who conduct a Functional Analysis (FA) should have training on data collection and behavior assessment.”

The following professional development opportunities meet criteria as acceptable training for meeting criteria to conduct an FBA/BIP.

• OSDE Connect: Everyday Behavior : Behavioral Principles in the School Setting (**note that you must select the 20 hr session to meet criteria) Send certificate of completion to Dr. Blankenship (tracyblankenship@dcsok.org) once course is completed.
• Training series provided by Oklahoma Autism Network: Reducing Challenging for Students with Autism and Conducting Functional Behavior Assessments & Writing Behavior Intervention Plans. (**note that both trainings must be attended to meet criteria) If you are interested in attending this training series, please email Dr. Blankenship (tracyblankenship@dcsok.org).

EdPlan Trainings - September 2023

EdPlan training offerings for September can be found here.

Alternate Diploma Collaborative

OSDE, Office of Special Education Services holds a Secondary Transition/Alternate Diploma Collaborative meeting monthly. Zoom meetings are typically held on the 4th Thursday of each month at 3:00 p.m.

The schedule of monthly sessions and known topics through the November of 2023 are listed below:

• September 28, 2023 @ 3:00 p.m.
  • ABLE Tech/DRS/Pre-ETS: New Online Courses
• October 26, 2023 @ 3:00 p.m.
  • TBD
• November 30, 2023 @ 3:00 p.m.
  • TBD

Join us via Zoom for all sessions scheduled through November 2023.

Meeting ID: 160 702 2023

Passcode: 393839

Deer Creek Hosted Trainings

The link for Deer Creek Special Services led trainings can be found here. Location of the trainings will be updated as we get closer to the training date.

Upcoming Mandt Certification and Recertification Training Dates:

Initial or Expired Certificate: October 11 &12 (Please email Colin if you are interested - colinraley@dcsok.org)

Initial, Expired, or Recert: November 17 (invite only - Colin will send an email)