Mandatory Special Education ESY PLC

Please see the following materials to learn more. These are for Staff members only.

Mandatory Special Education ESY PLC

ESY 2022 Presentation

Amending Evaluation Plans

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU NEED TO CHANGE AN EVALUATION PLAN AFTER THE EVAL PLAN MEETING?

Scenario: You have held an eval plan meeting, and everything went great! After the meeting, the parent emails you and says, you know…I did have an additional concern I’d like you to look at. What do you do next? Does it matter if the concern is in a totally new disability area vs. just an additional question to be asked within an already agreed upon domain?

According to our friends at the Vermont Agency of Education, there is a best practice for amending and evaluation plan.

• You should ALWAYS get team consensus on the change. It doesn’t matter if it’s just another question, or an entirely new area. You should begin this conversation with the provider who the request will impact. For example, if a parent brings about an OT concern after the eval plan has concluded, you should first contact the Occupational Therapist. There is the chance that a new questions may require, for example, additional testing supplies that will impact the feasibility of complying with the originally identified evaluation results date. If the OT DOES feel they will struggle to comply with the already identified date given the new question, you would need to hold a new meeting to proceed with an additional question. Likewise, if the OT disagrees with the new question, you would need to hold a new meeting to discuss the issue. IF the OT agrees to adding the new question, and they CAN complete the testing within the originally agreed upon timeline, you would email the remaining team members to advise them of the potential change and offer them the opportunity to disagree. This remains a team process at every level.
• ALSO, a new consent form needs to be signed by the parent/guardian for ANY change made to the eval plan, and the new consent form does not reset the 60 day timeline.
• If the proposed/requested change to the eval plan comes about too late in the evaluation process to be completed before the end of the 60 day timeline (or the student’s triennial due date), the original evaluation should be completed and eligibility determined. Subsequent to this, a new evaluation should be initiated to address the additional question/concern.

Extending IEP Dates

DON’T BE FOOLED…EXTENDING IEP DATES WHEN AN EVALUATION IS OCCURRING …

Often times an IEP will be due just prior to the completion of an evaluation. Naturally, you don’t want to develop an IEP with outdated information, though you know you need to hold an IEP meeting… but what type?

We MUST hold an ANNUAL meeting before the one year annual review date on the IEP. If the plan type “radio button selection” in Goalview is set to “Amendment” this creates a critical Goalview error and we are left with an IEP that is out of compliance.

To reiterate, there MUST be an ANNUAL IEP within the date cycle selected on the front cover of the IEP. You are able to just update the dates of goals and services and indicate within the “other considerations” section of the IEP that an evaluation will be completed and the IEP will be amended with current information subsequent to the evaluation results meeting, pending eligibility.