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Cory Maloy
Education Dive
IEPs altered to reflect distance learning service changes, but at cost to schools
Special educators say they are burdened with more paperwork
requirements and seek more guidance on replicating in-person services
to distance learning formats.
Kara Arundel
Oct. 6, 2020
When schools closed to in-person learning in the spring, some
individualized supports for students with disabilities were easily
transitioned to remote or virtual learning. But other services were
harder to adapt to new learning formats due to the specific
interventions that require physical or behavioral supports and other
intensive services.
To help all students with disabilities, schools are looking at the most
important document in special education and a requirement under the
federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) — a
student’s individualized education program (IEP). These documents are
being scrutinized and, in many cases, altered or expanded in order to
reflect pandemic realities of how best to replicate in-person services
to full or hybrid virtual learning approaches.
IEP reviews ensure students with disabilities receive the services they
are legally entitled to even during this public health crisis, but it’s
also an undertaking that is daunting and difficult, say special
education leaders.
Phyllis Wolfram, executive director of the Council of Administrators of
Special Education (CASE), which represents district-level special
education directors across the country, said a lot of thought and time
go into the IEP development for each qualified student.
Each IEP meeting requires a minimum of one or two hours of preparation
by the special education teacher to review the current plan’s services
and goals, get input from the student’s other teachers, and analyze the
student’s present levels of performance in order to propose changes to
their plan. Changes to plans, however, are a team decision with parents
included in that process.
“Teachers could virtually spend the first month of school doing
paperwork,” Wolfram said. “That means they have less time with
students.”
Schools are eager for guidance on best practice approaches for IEP
adjustments during the pandemic. Although the U.S. Department of
Education has issued several guidance documents about the obligations
of schools to serve students with disabilities in whatever learning
format is available, Secretary Betsy DeVos has declined to recommend
that Congress allow waivers to IEP timeline requirements set by IDEA.
State guidance varies
Some state education departments have provided very little guidance as
to a change in approach to IEPs due to school closures, while some
state school departments or governments give very explicit instructions.
For example, Washington state's Office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction said it is the discretion of each IEP team to create a new
IEP or amend a student’s program to reflect changes in services if
there are unplanned, temporary school closures. In states without
specific guidance, local approaches can vary from district to district.
In contrast, the California 2020 Budget Act set a new requirement that
IEP teams detail how individual student instruction and special
education services will be provided if a school building is closed for
more than 10 days. In New Hampshire, an emergency order from Gov.
Christopher Sununu requires schools to hold an IEP meeting for every
qualifying student within the first 30 days of the 2020-21 school year.
At those meetings, IEP teams must determine additional services
students may need due to missed services or a student’s regression of
skills.
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