Home > Ask the Advocate  > 10 Tips about Special Education Placements by Pat Howey


The Special Ed Advocate newsletter
It's Unique ... and Free!

Enter your email address below:

2024
Training Programs

Mar. 20-21 CA - Private

Apr. 11 - Denver, CO

June 5-8 - San Antonio, TX

Sept. 24 - MD via ZOOM

Full Schedule


Wrightslaw

Home
Topics from A-Z
Free Newsletter
Seminars & Training
Yellow Pages for Kids
Press Room
FAQs
Sitemap

Books & Training

Wrightslaw Storesecure store lock
  Advocate's Store
  Student Bookstore
  Exam Copies
Training Center
Mail & Fax Orders

Advocacy Library

Articles
Cool Tools
Doing Your Homework
Ask the Advocate
FAQs
Newsletter Archives
Short Course Series
Success Stories
Tips

Law Library

Articles
Caselaw
Fed Court Complaints
IDEA 2004
McKinney-Vento Homeless
FERPA
Section 504

Topics

Advocacy
ADD/ADHD
Allergy/Anaphylaxis
American Indian
Assistive Technology
Autism Spectrum
Behavior & Discipline
Bullying
College/Continuing Ed
Damages
Discrimination
Due Process
Early Intervention
  (Part C)

Eligibility
Episodic, such as
   Allergies, Asthma,
   Diabetes, Epilepsy, etc

ESSA
ESY
Evaluations
FAPE
Flyers
Future Planning
Harassment
High-Stakes Tests
Homeless Children
IDEA 2004
Identification & Child Find
IEPs
Juvenile Justice
Law School & Clinics
Letters & Paper Trails
LRE / Inclusion
Mediation
Military / DOD
Parental Protections
PE and Adapted PE
Privacy & Records
Procedural Safeguards
Progress Monitoring
Reading
Related Services
Research Based
  Instruction

Response to Intervention
  (RTI)

Restraints / Seclusion
   and Abuse

Retention
Retaliation
School Report Cards
Section 504
Self-Advocacy
Teachers & Principals
Transition
Twice Exceptional (2e)
VA Special Education

Resources & Directories

Advocate's Bookstore
Advocacy Resources
Directories
  Disability Groups
  International
  State DOEs
  State PTIs
Free Flyers
Free Pubs
Free Newsletters
Legal & Advocacy
Glossaries
   Legal Terms
   Assessment Terms
Best School Websites

 
10 Tips about Special Education Placements
by Pat Howey

boy writing in schoolMy son has been in special education since pre-school.  Some years, his material was too hard. Other years, he was with students who could not read or write. There was no support for him in the general education classroom. I feel like I must choose between his mental health and academics.

The school does not seem to have a good placement for my child.  Can you suggest any way to change this?

Do Not Put Placement Before the IEP

You must have an appropriate IEP before you can get an appropriate placement. Many parents make the mistake of putting the cart (the placement) before the horse (the IEP).

IDEA requires all IEPs to include present levels of academic achievement and functional performance.  (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(A)(i))

Start by making a grocery list of your child’s present levels of educational and functional performance. Without “present levels” there is no foundation on which to build an IEP.

You can list anything that affects your child’s ability to function inside and outside of the school setting! Not every child will need functional goals. You will not know that unless you include present levels of functional performance.

The IEP is the Blueprint for Your Child’s Program

The IEP is the blueprint the school must use for your child’s program. This includes placement.  It all begins with present levels of educational and functional performance. The "present levels" in the IEP guarantees that your child gets the right special instruction, related services, modifications, adaptations, accommodations, assistive technology, or any other needed item.

An appropriate IEP answers the following question. "In what setting (placement) can we appropriately put this IEP into action?" If the school does not have an appropriate placement, it must create one.

This process sounds simple. But, you may have to work hard to get there. You are the best person to do this. You know your child best. You may have to do these three things.

  • Convince the team that the current IEP is not appropriate.
  • Guide the team to use the IEP to find the placement.
  • Negotiate with the school to create a placement if the school does not have the placement your child needs.

A Good Placement Begins With an Appropriate IEP

To make sure the “blueprint” is appropriate you should follow this process.

   1.  Make lists of your child's strengths and challenges. These lists are your child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance.

   2.  Study your lists. They will guide you in teaching the team about what your child needs.

   3.  You will use your lists to help the team develop an IEP that builds on your child's strengths and corrects his areas of challenge.

   4.  Use information from the first lists (strengths and challenges) to make a third list. Your list should include the following.

  • The special education and related services your child needs. Remember that special education means "special instruction."
  • The adaptations, modifications, and accommodations your child needs in addition to special instruction. These are not substitutes for “special instruction.”

   5.  Use your three lists to help the team create an IEP that prepares your child for

  • Further education
  • Employment
  • Independent living

   6.  IDEA obligates the school to prepare your child for the three things in number five. (20 U.S.C. 1400(d))

   7.  When you have your three lists, you are ready to ask the team to meet again to change the IEP.

   8.  A few days before the meeting give each team member a copy of your list.
 
   9.  Ask the team to include your lists in the IEP under "Parent Concerns."

   10. Remember. You should not look at placement for your child until you complete the IEP!

More Tips

10 Tips about Placement

10 Tips for a Successful School Year

10 Tips for Schools on Avoiding Confrontation with Parents

10 Tips for Parents: How to Listen to Your Inner Voice

10 Tips for Good Advocates

10 Tips for Ending the School Year

14 Tips for Reviewing Your Child's Educational Record

10 Tips on Hiring an Advocate

18 Tips on Filing Complaints


Meet Pat Howey

Pat HoweyPat Howey has a B.A. in Paralegal Studies from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and is a member of Lamba Epsilon Chi. She is an Indiana Registered Paralegal, an affiliate member of the Indiana and the American Bar Associations, and a national known parent advocate with over 35 years of experience helping families.

The author of Special Education: Plan and Simple, Special Education, The Commentary series. Pat has numerous articles published on the Wrightslaw website, Ask the Advocate. Pat has been a member of the Wrightslaw Speakers Bureau since 2005 and has presented on special education and advocacy from coast to coast.

Pat is a charter member and past Director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) and a faculty member of the Institute of Special Education Advocacy at the College of William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia from 2010 through its closing in 2021. She currently works as a paralegal in the Education Division of Connell, Michael, Kerr Law Firm in Carmel, Indiana.

Pat presents From Emotions to Advocacy programs. In these programs, parents learn how to assess their children's strengths and weaknesses, build healthy working relationships with school personnel, about the "gentle art of disagreeing," and how to participate as equal members of the IEP team.

"Changing the World -- One Child at at Time.
"

Contact Information

Patricia L. Howey, B.A., IRP
POB 117
West Point, Indiana 47992-0117
E-mail: specialedconsulting@gmail.com
Webpage: https://cmklawfirm.com/



To Top

Created: 09/16/10
Revised: 01/17/2023

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon The Special Ed Advocate: It's Free!