SPECIAL EDUCATION HANDBOOK

1 Oklahoma State Department of SPECIAL EDUCATION Services405-521-3351 EDUCATION HANDBOOKP a g e | 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .. 1 HOW-TO GUIDE ON USING THIS MANUAL .. 9 NAVIGATION .. 9 A. Option 1 .. 9 B. Option 2 .. 9 INTERACTIVE LEGAL CITATIONS .. 11 A. Accessing Federal Regulations .. 12 B. Accessing Oklahoma Statute & Regulations (Oklahoma Administrative Code) .. 13 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .. 14 17 CHAPTER 1: FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION (FAPE) .. 40 SECTION 1. DEFINITION OF A FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION (FAPE) .. 41 SECTION 2. PROVISION OF A FAPE .. 41 A. LEA Obligation .. 41 B. LEA Provision of a FAPE .. 42 C. Limit to LEA Obligation .. 42 D. When LEA Obligation to Provide a FAPE Ends.

2 42 SECTION 3. FAPE CONSIDERATIONS .. 43 A. Incarcerated Students .. 43 B. Funding Sources and Insurance .. 43 C. Accessible Instructional Materials and Assistive Technology .. 44 D. Physical EDUCATION .. 45 E. Residential Placement .. 45 F. Extended School Year .. 45 G. Charter Schools and Virtual Charter 45 H. Medication .. 46 SECTION 4. CASE LAW INTERPRETATIONS OF A FAPE .. 46 CHAPTER 2: CHILD FIND .. 49 SECTION 1. LEA RESPONSIBILITY .. 50 SECTION 2. LOCATING STUDENTS .. 50 A. Coordination .. 50 B. Public Awareness .. 50 SECTION 3. IDENTIFYING STUDENTS .. 51 A. Screening .. 51 B. Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) .. 51 SECTION 4. SPECIAL EDUCATION REFERRAL .. 52 SECTION 5. EARLY CHILDHOOD CONSIDERATIONS.

3 53 P a g e | 2 A. Transition Planning Conference (TPC) .. 53 B. Late Referrals to SoonerStart .. 54 C. Late Referrals to LEA .. 54 CHAPTER 3: INITIAL EVALUATION & ELIGIBILITY .. 57 SECTION 1. REQUEST FOR INITIAL 59 SECTION 2. PARENT RIGHTS .. 59 SECTION 3. REVIEW OF EXISTING DATA (RED) .. 60 A. No Additional Data Needed .. 60 B. Additional Data Needed .. 60 SECTION 4. WRITTEN NOTICE/PARENTAL CONSENT .. 60 A. Written Notice .. 60 B. Request for Parental 60 C. Failure to Respond or Provide Consent .. 61 SECTION 5. EVALUATION .. 61 A. Evaluation 61 B. Parent Participation .. 62 C. Timeline .. 62 D. Evaluation Procedures .. 62 E. Definitions of Evaluation and Assessment .. 64 F. Evaluation Comprehensiveness.

4 65 SECTION 6. EVALUATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR ELIGIBILITY .. 65 A. Observation .. 66 B. Academic/achievement/developmental .. 66 C. Social/cultural factors .. 66 D. Disability Category 67 E. Autism .. 68 F. Deaf-Blindness (DB) .. 68 G. Deafness - Hearing Impairment (HI).. 70 H. Developmental Delay (DD) .. 70 I. Emotional Disturbance (ED) .. 72 J. Intellectual Disabilities (ID) .. 73 K. Multiple Disabilities (MD) .. 74 L. Orthopedic Impairment (OI) .. 74 M. Other Health Impairment (OHI) .. 75 N. Specific Learning Disability (SLD) .. 75 O. Speech or Language Impairment (SLI).. 79 P. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) .. 81 Q. Visual Impairment including Blindness (VI) .. 82 SECTION 7. ELIGIBILITY .. 83 A. Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation and Eligibility Group Summary (MEEGS).

5 83 B. Consideration of Data .. 85 C. Eligibility 86 P a g e | 3 CHAPTER 4: INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS (IEP) .. 90 SECTION 1. SPECIAL EDUCATION AND IEPS .. 92 A. Purpose of Meeting .. 92 B. Team Decision Making .. 93 C. IEP Team Members and Roles .. 94 D. Parent Participation .. 96 E. Method of Parent Participation .. 97 F. Excusal from the Meeting .. 99 G. Recording Guidelines .. 99 SECTION 2. IEP TIMELINES .. 100 SECTION 3. IEP DEVELOPMENT .. 100 A. Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance .. 100 B. Consideration of SPECIAL Factors .. 101 C. Parent 101 D. Goals and Benchmarks/Objectives .. 101 E. Progress Toward Goals .. 101 F. Service and Support Components .. 101 G. State Wide and District Wide Achievement Testing.

6 103 H. Extended School Year Services (ESY) .. 103 I. LRE Explanation .. 105 J. Consent for Initial Placement in SPECIAL EDUCATION .. 105 K. Assistive Technology Devices and/or 105 L. Transportation .. 106 M. Secondary Transition .. 107 SECTION 4. IEP REVIEWS .. 108 A. Annual IEP .. 108 B. Following the Annual Meeting .. 108 C. IEP Amendments .. 108 SECTION 5. IEPS FOR MOVE-IN STUDENTS .. 109 A. Within Oklahoma LEAs .. 109 B. From Out-of-State .. 109 SECTION 6. IEPS FOR CHILDREN FROM IDEA PART C TO PART B .. 109 A. IDEA Part C to Part B Transition Planning .. 109 CHAPTER 5: LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT (LRE) .. 114 SECTION 1. LRE CONSIDERATIONS .. 115 A. When to Make and Review Placement Decisions .. 115 B. Considerations in Placement Decisions.

7 115 SECTION 2. LRE & CONTINUUM OF SETTINGS AND SERVICES .. 116 A. Explanation of the Continuum of Settings and Services .. 116 B. Continuum of Alternative Placements and LRE Decision Tree .. 117 C. Nonacademic and Extracurricular Activities .. 119 D. Program Options .. 119 P a g e | 4 E. SPECIAL Circumstances .. 119 F. Continuum of Alternative Placements for Preschool Age Children (3-5) .. 120 SECTION 3. FEDERAL REPORTING OF LRE .. 123 CHAPTER 6: DISCONTINUATION OF SERVICES, .. 126 GRADUATION, AND GRADING .. 126 SECTION 1. DISCONTINUATION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES .. 127 A. Students Who Are No Longer Entitled to SPECIAL EDUCATION Services .. 127 B. Change in LEA Obligation to Provide Services .. 128 C. Parent Revokes Consent for SPECIAL EDUCATION Services.

8 128 SECTION 2. GRADUATION .. 128 A. IEP requirements regarding graduation .. 129 B. Graduation Ceremonies .. 129 SECTION 3. TRANSCRIPTS AND DIPLOMAS .. 129 A. Transcript .. 129 B. Diploma .. 129 SECTION 4. GRADES, CLASS RANKING, AND HONOR ROLL .. 129 CHAPTER 7: REEVALUATION .. 132 SECTION 1. REEVALUATION AND CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY .. 133 A. Purpose of the Reevaluation .. 133 B. Need for Reevaluation .. 133 SECTION 2. PARENT RIGHTS .. 134 SECTION 3. REVIEW OF EXISTING DATA (RED) .. 134 A. No Additional Data Needed .. 134 B. Additional Data Needed .. 135 SECTION 4. WRITTEN NOTICE/PARENTAL CONSENT .. 135 A. Request for Consent .. 135 B. Written Notice .. 135 C. Failure to Respond or to Provide Consent .. 135 SECTION 5.

9 REEVALUATION .. 136 A. Members of the Reevaluation Group .. 136 B. Parent Participation .. 136 C. Conducting the Reevaluation .. 136 D. Definitions of Evaluation and Assessment .. 136 SECTION 6. DETERMINING CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY .. 137 SECTION 7. REEVALUATIONS FOR A CHILD IDENTIFIED AS DEVELOPMENTALLY DELAYED .. 137 CHAPTER 8: CHARTER SCHOOLS .. 141 SECTION 1. DEFINITION AND PARENT/STUDENT RIGHTS .. 142 A. Definition of Charter or Virtual Charter Schools .. 142 B. Rights of Charter or Virtual Charter School Students and Their Parents .. 142 SECTION 2. RESPONSIBILITY FOR 142 P a g e | 5 A. Charter and Virtual Charter Schools Sponsored by LEAs .. 142 B. Charter and Virtual Charter Schools Sponsored by One of the Entities Listed in Section.

10 143 SECTION 3. ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A CHARTER AND VIRTUAL CHARTER SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM .. 143 SECTION 4. FUNDING .. 144 A. State Funds .. 144 B. Federal Funds .. 144 C. Establishment and Funding for a New Charter School .. 145 D. Sample Template/Free and Reduced Lunch .. 147 E. Sample Template/Child Count .. 148 F. Expending Funds .. 149 CHAPTER 9: PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS .. 153 SECTION 1. PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS .. 155 A. Definitions of Private Schools: .. 155 B. Definition of Offering a FAPE: .. 155 SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS OF PRIVATE SCHOOL 155 A. Definition of Voluntary Enrollment by a Parent .. 156 B. Definition of LEA Placement .. 156 C. Definition of an Unilateral Placement .. 156 SECTION 3.