Least Restrictive Environment

Least restrictive environment is one of those concepts under IDEA that can be incredibly confusing for a family.  The concept of least restrictive environment, or LRE, is one that basically says a child should be educated, as much as possible, with their peers who are not disabled.  Sounds simple, right?  Wrong. 

There are many factors that come into play in deciding LRE.  In a perfect world, and in a perfect situation, you would hope that every child could be educated in their home school, with their non-disabled peers, with supports flowing into the classroom that allows the child to access the curriculum to his or her maximum potential.  Unfortunately, the perfect world simply does not exist.  Now, there are situations in which a child with a disability can be educated in the home school, in the regular education classroom, with whatever necessary supports flowing into the class.  More often, there are other factors that impact the placement decision. 

In some situations, the child may simply not be able to function in the swirling world that can often be a regular education classroom.  Or, a child may be better served by being in a different school that has a center based program where the child can receive more intensive services.  There are, for instance, discussions that the center based, self-contained classroom can be a valid, LRE option for a student who is deaf or hard of hearing and uses sign language.  If that classroom presents full access to native language in a way that is not matched by the general regular education class, then this may actually be the LRE for that child.    Many districts use a hybrid approach, where a child is mainstreamed into a regular education classroom, but is then pulled out for specific, intensive, therapy or educational needs where needed services are provided.  Of course, the reverse situation may also be used – a child in a self-contained class leaves that class during specific times of the day to go to specific subject matter classes or therapies as needed. 

In other words, there are many options that can fit the description of least restrictive environments, based on the needs of the child and the resources available to a district.  One thing that needs to be clear is that LRE does not necessarily mean mainstreaming.  In all cases, however, LRE is determined by the IEP team at the IEP meeting.  Determination of LRE should be made on a child by child, and situation by situation environment.

One area that I will voice an opinion on is that we are hearing about more and more requests for one-on-one aids for a child.  Honestly, I am not in favor of them, and actually find this situation to be highly restrictive.  I have yet to see a one-on-one aid situation end positively for the child.  Too often the aid becomes the go-between for the child and his/her peers, or assumes the role of a school-based grandparent or parent, crossing that line of being a support for the child and becoming overly supportive of the child.  As the child becomes older, the aid often winds up being a human firewall, acting to limit normal social interactions because the child or the peers are not willing to have normal social discussions with an adult involved.

The bottom line is that I am not recommending any particular approach for a child’s least restrictive environment.  That is the decision of the IEP team.  I am simply trying to make it clear that each situation is different, and no one-size-fits-all approach can be taken. Everyone involved needs to be flexible and open to all considerations in making the determination of what is right for the child.

Choices

No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.
                                                               - Thomas Hobbes

 

Life is full of choices.  Every day we make new ones.  We cannot avoid them.  To paraphrase the band Rush, even when you choose not to choose, you still have made a choice.  That is, simply, life.  Choices are, in many ways, what drove the music of the ancient spheres that controlled the world (as was once believed).  For those of us whose families reside in the sphere that houses the world of special needs, all too often those choices seem to be Hobbesian in nature. How many times have you been through that situation where no matter what choice is available, it seems to be fraught with danger and risk for you, for your family, and for your child?  It does happen way too often for many of us.

There have been many times in the life of my family – particularly when our son was little - that we have felt like a Minoan, about to be cast into the labyrinth underneath the palace, left in the dark to face the Minotaur with no way out.  So what do you do?  The bottom line is you just make the best choice you can, with the facts you have on hand, keep evaluating, and hoping the monster doesn’t show up and bite you in the backside. 

What about when you make a mistake?  And in time, you will make a mistake.  Well, if you have done your research, used the facts at hand, and made the best decision you can, well then you can move forward.  Will you kick yourself a bit?  Yes.  But, you can still live with yourself because you made the best decision you could with the information you had at the time you made the decision. 

Then, of course, you start that decision making process all over again, and hope you will get it right the next time.   One of the worst things you can do in all of this is to freeze up.  Don’t suddenly become so scared or timid that you don’t want to make decisions.  Indecision can often be your worst enemy, especially when you know something needs to happen, or change needs to occur.  Remember – by not making a choice you are, in reality, making a choice not to choose.

It does sound crazy, this process of making choices.  Truth be told, it is.  Often I feel like Sisyphus, condemned to pushing that boulder up the hill, only to watch it roll back down and have to start all over again through all eternity.  But, over time, you will begin to see the cumulative benefits of those choices.  The benefits to your family and your child accrue.  Over time, that will make a difference.    You too will learn and grow.  It is funny how your priorities will change with time and experience.  There was a time when my most important driver was making money.  That was a long time ago.  Now I see so many other things that are more important.  Don’t get me wrong, income is important, but does that trump the needs of the family or of the spouse or of the child?  Is it necessary to have all the money in the world, or to be able to do things with my family?  Once again, all are choices that one has to make when evaluating every situation.  How you prioritize is up to you.  Just remember to be willing to keep evaluating every situation and make the best choices you can.

Isolation

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.
 - T.S. Elliot

There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.
 - Ben Jonson

 
  

Whenever I do a particular workshop for families who have children with disabilities, there a specific section of that workshop where we talk about  social issues and how they impact those families.  I always ask these families how many of them find that since their child or children who have a disability was born, that their social world and number of friends have shrunk.  The answer that I get back from pretty much every group over these many workshops has been very consistent.  The answer is that the vast majority of these adults find that they lose friends and their social world often shrinks considerably.  Quite a number of those parents also mention the feeling of social isolation.

The first thing any parent of a child with a disability in this kind of situation needs to understand is that they are really not that unique.  Their situation is not at all uncommon.  So why does it happen? 

While I do not have any hard evidence that I can point to, I can point to a number of conclusions based on personal and anecdotal experience, and I believe that these conclusions will prove to be accurate if any serious, hard research is ever conducted on this topic.   

First, part of it is human nature.  People often distance themselves from stressful, emotional situations.  The truth is (and any parent who tells you differently is not being honest) that having a child with a disability is very stressful and emotional.  Friends and even family often are uncomfortable with those situations or they do not want to hurt their friends, and pull back.  Over time, the friendships and sometimes, familial relationships stretch, weaken, and dwindle. 

Second, parents, especially of school age children, often find that their friends are the parents of the friends of their children.  Usually this people are nearby families in the local school.  Often, for our children with disabilities, they are in a center based program that may not be local, or maybe a self-contained program with few children, or, if mainstreamed, simply may not have strong friendships with any of the children they see during the day.  So what happens?  Parents aren’t exposed to those other adults, reducing their social circles.   It also can often be hard to develop friendships with other parents when they do not have many of the same experiences that those of us with children with special needs do. 

There really isn’t a right or wrong here, this is a ‘just is’.  It is something that we need to be aware of, and if necessary, work hard to overcome, because isolation is not good for anyone.  Personally, I have never had great numbers of close ‘friends’, but a small coterie of people who I trust deeply and call friend.  I have lots of acquaintances, but few that I let into the most interesting parts of my life.  My wife has far more friends, but hers seem to come and go more over the years.  I think a lot of it has to do with definitions of what the word ‘friend’ means and maybe our individual makeups. 

So, the bottom line is that isolation is a concern.  People are social animals. At some basic, and I think, primal, level we crave interaction with others.  We need our tribe, so to speak.  Be aware of this.  Work against it, but realize as well that if you feel isolated, you are not unique or weird.  Do not let that feeling control who you are.  You do have the ability to work through it.   What I say about raising a child with a disability also applies to parents.  Get out and experience the world.

Retreating to the Man Cave

There are times that I need to go the man cave and hide for an hour or two.  I promise you I am not the only man out there who does this.  In truth, I would expect that there are far more of us dads who have their own personal version of the man cave than do not.  The man cave does not need to be an actual place.  It is, in reality, more a state of mind. 

The man cave is a place where many of us go that lets us clear the head, remove some of the stresses of life for a period of time and re-balance our priorities.  It is also a place that if we are allowed to visit every so often, allows us to be a better father and a better husband.  You see, many of us we are brought up to believe that it is our responsibility to take care of, provide for, and protect the family.  It is our job, and our job alone, to do those things.  As much as we may love our spouse and as much of a partnership our relationship is, there will always be that piece in each man that says that it is his job alone to lead the family successfully through the shoals and vicissitudes of life and into a safe harbor.  No matter how rational or understanding a guy is, this belief has been ingrained in us by our fathers and grandfathers, like it was by their fathers before them.  Unfortunately, this is very stressful.  Much of it is self-made stress, but it is still real and to some degree, debilitating.  It impacts reason and impacts decision-making.  It impacts relationships and how we deal with those around us. Often, it can be compounded by stresses that don’t go away, such as worrying about raising a child with a disability, and maybe not being able to figure a way to ‘fix’ all the problems and issues that come about.   And, if you are a woman, please understand that for a man, the impact of the stress and the resulting behaviors can be something uniquely male. 

Please understand, also, I know and accept (as all men do) that there can be just as much stress on the woman in the family.  Truth is, you just seem to deal with those stresses better when it comes to raising a family.  I know I am constantly amazed, even after 25 years of marriage and 20 years of raising a child with a disability, by my wife’s ability to push through frustrating issues and concerns and stresses while still maintaining an incredible level of calmness and control.

The retreat to the man cave is often our way of resetting the mechanism.  The cave allows us to take some time in our heads to think through or reorder what is happening.  We can prioritize and take that breath, and get our act together without interruption to break up that process.  Take my word for it, that little bit of time matters.  Maybe it is kind of like going to your ‘happy place’ for a while.  All I know is when I need that time, my wife has been great about letting me take it.  I find that I usually come out of my cave as a better person.  I am happier, calmer, less stressed, more able and willing to discuss things, and overall, feeling better about myself and more willing to take on the normal challenges of that occur in any family.  So, ladies, just a quick thought.  When you see your husband getting that urge to go to the man cave (either mentally or physically), let him.  You just might be surprised how much it can make dad more a part of things, and may help the rest of the family stop needing to feel like they are walking on eggshells, or living next to Mount St. Helens.

Summer is Coming

Summer is coming, and with it, time off from school and maybe time off from work.   What are you going to do with that time?  If you are a parent, and especially if you are the parent of a child with a disability, I hope you will take them out into the world and do things.   Getting out does not necessarily mean going across the world.  It can mean going to go the local park or the county fair or a local historical site or the zoo or a museum or even the beach.  The bottom line is that I hope you are making plans to take your child out to experience the world. 

This is a constant theme for me, and a pretty strongly held belief.  That is, if you want to truly educate your child and want them to make connections to the things they learn in school, then they need to get out and see and do things, to touch things and make contact with them.  Not only will you be helping them make those links between what they read or talk about in school, but you will be helping your child develop memories and links to you as a parent and to the family.  You will also be helping to shape some of your child’s interests and helping them to develop that sense of curiosity and wonder that is critical to learning.    Paraphrasing the author Antoine St. Exupery, who wrote both The Little Prince and Wind, Sand, and Stars, you don’t teach someone to build a boat by issuing directions on building the boat, but you teach them to build the boat by helping them to learn to love the sea so that they will want to learn how to build the boat to go out on the sea.  In other words, help someone to develop a deep interest in something, and they will do what they can to find a way explore that interest. 

In our family, with our son, we made a decision long ago to do whatever we could to expose him to as much of the world has we could.  To let him not just read about something or see it on TV, but to try and see it in person and to touch it when he could.  I know this helped him in school.  Too many times over the years, teachers would tell us how wonderful it was that Ian could discuss, often in detail, places they were talking about in class or things he had seen or done.  Those experiences helped to form his interests, and have helped to enhance his education.  They have helped him be successful in school.  Let’s be honest, there is a difference between reading about something and actually experiencing it for yourself. 

So, help your child learn, help your child want to learn, and help your child’s education.  Take them out into the world and let them experience things.  It will also allow you and your family to build links and memories as well.  It is worthwhile.

Learning

I understand that the economy is tight, and I understand that stress levels for all of us are high, and I know that those things, in combination with all the other stresses in life can be somewhat paralyzing, but if you are the parent of a child with special needs, it is time to move, not freeze up.  I also understand that for many parents, the end of the school year is seen as a time to take a breath again, to try and relax a little from all the school-year needs and concerns.  As the school year ends, so many of us parents love the thought of pulling back into the family shell, and hiding out for a bit of time and taking a breath.

But, no matter how much we want to crawl into our caves and hide, we need to keep learning and educating ourselves as parents.  For those of you who follow this blog, you know I harp on this theme.  The truth is that knowledge is power.  Knowledge allows you as a parent to operate on a level playing field with the professionals and allows you to understand the rules by which the special education game is played.  How do you expect to be successful if you don’t have the information you need to play the game?  One part of this educational process that every parent should figure out a way to take part in is attending conferences for parents.  There are quite a few of them, from smaller, ½ day, local events to webinars to day-long regional conferences to multi-day statewide conferences.  They are all places where a parent can learn, and can make connections with other parents and professionals.  They are places where parents can gain knowledge and power.

One conference is coming up here in Florida that if you are a parent, you should seriously be looking at attending.  That is the Family Café.  This conference is held every year in June in Orlando, and has attendance of between eight thousand and ten thousand people.  Two and ½ days of workshops, dozens of activities, and networking opportunities for families abound.  I have been going for years.  Honestly, the first time, as a parent, it was a little overwhelming, but I quickly discovered how welcoming the conference was and how much information was available.  Now, I go every year and present a number of workshops.  I get to meet families and professionals – some new, some that I see only sporadically and some I work with all the time.  Also, from the parent side, I get the chance to look around and remember that my family is not alone and not really different.  We are much like so many of the other families that are out there.  That is good to know, and something that is good to be reminded of every so often.

Take a look at Family Café (just Google it – you will find the conference) and the dozens of other conferences and training opportunities available to families.  They can help you with making your way through the special education world.  They can also help you gain knowledge.  Remember, knowledge is important because knowledge is power.

The Return of Farley Mowat, or Mom is NOT Happy

I’m counting the days.  They are coming quickly now.    It started as a flash of an idea about 4 months ago and has now grown into an actual event.  The reservations are now in place, the additional gear bought, and a rough schedule made.  You see, I learned a long time ago that when it is time for an adventure, schedules and agendas are made to change.  Sometimes you just go with it, and the most interesting things can happen.  My coworkers are probably reading this now and trying to figure out if I’ve slipped a gear, based on how scheduled I am at work.  But, when I’m travelling, the schedule (other than things like being on an airplane at a particular time) is just a rough guide.  The time is coming soon.   There was, however, one very early change that has me very surprised, very happy, and has one Mom a little upset.

I am going to take a week off this spring and go back to a place where I actually find a true sense of peace.  I don’t find that feeling in many places in the world.  I can think of two.  I’m going back to Yellowstone.  This year, to my surprise and happiness, I have a companion coming with me.  Ian’s classes will be out in April, and he pointed out that we had not had a father and son trip since Boy Scouts.  So, Ian is coming with me.   Yes, Mom is not happy. 

Mom was interested in going, but Ian asked her to please let just us go.  She understands, but I think feels a touch left out.  I get that.  Even so, she wants us to go have a good time.  Without her blessing, the trip wouldn’t be happening.  Her big concern, I think, and one she has voiced to me, is that now she has to worry about 2 of us doing something ‘stupid’ and finishing our days as grizzly bear poo.  As she likes to point out, it isn’t a theme park and the critters are not animatronic.  Both Ian and I remind her that we both have a reasonable amount of the male version of common sense, though somehow I think she equates that to tying pork chops to our belts and running through the underbrush to try and get the bears closer for a picture.

Ian and I have talked about what we want to do.  We both want to see if we can arrange a horseback trip up into the Blacktail Plateau.  Ian wants to get back to Old Faithful and see the southern end of the park, which we did not get to when he was there before, but I was able to see last year when I was there.  And of course, we want to see the wildlife.  For me, I want to find the wolves and the grizzlies.  In particular, I want to try and find the Canyon Pack.  They were the first wolves we ever saw.  I don’t know if I will ever lose the memory of the beautiful white-furred alpha female of that pack as she moved past us at a distance of about 6 feet.  Maybe we will get lucky again.  However, to see wolves usually means getting up really early to get out to the Lamar or Hayden Valleys.  Like 4:30 AM early.  But the big thing is that Ian is ok with that.  Mind you, his idea of early rising is usually getting up in time for lunch when he has free time.

The other thing I’m excited about is something that I realized as the two of us have planned this trip.  It may be a father-son trip, but it is also something else.  It is a trip being taken by two adults.  Ian is contributing to the trip and he is also been an equal partner in the decision making, from deciding airline flights to picking the motel.  For those interested, Super 8 won out (not a lot of choices in Gardiner, MT) – I had a different, mom and pop motel targeted, but Ian made a cogent argument for inside hallways, indoor pool, and the fact the Super 8 is right across the street from the town grocery store, should we be trapped at the hotel by a freak, late season blizzard.

So, let’s see how this trip goes.  I’m guessing Ian and I will see our relationship continue to evolve.  That evolution is necessary and it is a good thing.  It is natural.  Ian isn’t a little boy anymore, no matter how hard it still is for me to let go of some of that.  I’m guessing this trip will help me continue to grow with that idea as well. For him, the process is slow, and not fast enough.  For me it is sometimes too fast, and leaves me feeling like I’m clutching at air, trying to find something to hold on to so it all doesn’t fall away.  But the change is something I need to continue to do, and these kinds of touch points in life are the things that seem to help me do that.  I often get the feeling that Ian is just humoring me, and that he understands a bit of the conflict that I always go through in letting my no longer little child really be the adult he has become and is still becoming.

Oh, and if any of you have actually read far enough, and are still wondering who Farley Mowat is, then here is your answer:  He is one of Canada’s most read authors, writing a number of books about the natural world and, in 1963 wrote a book that I read as a middle school student.  It was a book that kind of stuck in the back of my mind for a long time, but in the last couple of years, has come to mind again due to the discovery of some interests I have.  The book I’m referring to is titled, Never Cry Wolf.  

Here Be Dragons

On old, and I mean very old, maps, you will see some version of Europe and those sections of Asia and Africa that are contiguous to it, but certainly not those parts of those continents that are farthest from Europe.  No Americas are present.  At the edges, the maps would drift off into an emptiness of the unknown.  Further, the Mediterranean would be considered the center of the world – often centering on Italy, or specifically, Rome.   

I was lucky enough a few years ago to get to see a room in the Vatican that was filled wall to wall with globes and old maps.  You could not enter the room, as it was too crowded with old globes and map cases, but from the doorway, you could get a pretty good look at a number of the maps and globes.  The room sat right off a very large, dramatic hallway that was completely covered in a map painted on the walls and ceiling as if you were standing in Rome looking outward in every direction on the rest of the known world as it existed about 1600 A.D. 

On one of these old maps, in that hazy, empty area on the fringe, was written in a version of old English, “Here be dragons.”   While not overly common, such phrases were used.  Such phrases meant, for all intents and purposes, here is the unknown, and with it, dangers and adventures that lie within the unknown.

If you are the parent of a child with special needs, you have probably figured this out already.  If you are new to the world of special needs parenting, then pay attention because if you are on that map, you are standing in the hazy section, labeled ‘here be dragons’. 

One thing all of us know as a parent of a child with special needs is that there really isn’t a road map or a GPS system to allow us to find our way to the ultimate destination.  You are in a brave new world, with exciting possibilities and many dangers, all of which you have to navigate.  You can go out and read the books, and you can talk to other parents and learn from them, but the truth is, everywhere you go in your journey with your child will be virgin territory, unseen by other men.  No child is alike, and the impact of a specific disability, while somewhat similar in many children, will always be unique to your child and your family.  You have entered, in the words of a far more contemporary author, a ‘Brave New World’. 

So, the question you have to ask yourself, parents, is how do you respond to this undiscovered country?  How do you respond to all the challenges and threats and wonderful things that you will find in your unmapped journey through this strange land?  Will you freeze, or allow yourself to lose hope and collapse?  Or, will you stand up to the challenge and bring yourself and your child through the wilderness?  I hope the latter of these choices will be yours.   

Maybe, you will find yourself, much like me, reading books and watching movies that follow the themes of the great quest.  Everything from the Arthurian legends to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, to the ‘Eaters of the Dead’ (a retelling of Beowulf – you might know the movie as the ‘13^th Warrior’) to the Indiana Jones sagas to many other similar stories.  What do they have in common?  Well, they all are stories about overcoming odds, and persevering through great adversity to reach your goal.  They are important to me in that they help me continue to keep fighting forward.  They are a sort of literary kick in the pants that I sometimes need. 

So, anyway, should you make this second choice, the choice of hope and perseverance, you will be making a choice that gives your family and your child the opportunity to succeed.  Hopefully you will find the route for your family. Keep persevering; no matter how bad things may look, do not allow yourself or your family to quit.  Remember, if you do not give up and keep moving forward, you can weather the storms and challenges along the way.  You see, those who freeze and collapse have no chance of success.  On the other hand, while the road can be hard, those who keep moving and stand up to the challenges will always have a path into the future.  And with that path comes the possibility of success for you and your child.

Come Home With Your Shield

Go tell the Spartans, you who passeth by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. 

                                                            -Simonides of Ceos;

epitaph for the Spartan Dead at Thermopylae

It is said that in ancient Sparta, when the men went to war, their wives sent them off by telling them, “to come home with your shield, or on it.”  In other words, come home victorious or come home dead.  When Greek allies asked for assistance from Sparta in war, it was not unusual for Sparta to send one battle commander.  When one ally supposedly questioned the value of sending only one Spartan warrior, the Spartan supposedly replied that Sparta had sent more soldiers than the ally had.  The meaning was that Sparta trained their men as soldiers as a career.  The other city states of Greece, the men were soldiers when needed, but not by vocation.  The Spartans were renowned for their bravery and their willingness to fight against all odds, and to resist surrender.  Whenever they felt they were threatened, they were ready to go to war.

Not too long ago I met a family that reminded me of the Spartans.  As a matter of fact, I meet a fair number of families who would have been right at home with some of these concepts from ancient Sparta (we won’t talk about the other things the Spartans did – particularly how the dealt with children who were disabled).  My point is that when it comes to defending a child, especially one with a disability, and especially if they believe that child is somehow being wronged, these parents will fight against all odds and all evidence they may disagree with, for what they believe their child needs.

I truly and fully understand where these parents are coming from, being the parent of a child with special needs myself.  Too often, they do not have the right information, or do not have all the information, or have developed strong beliefs and will not listen to that which goes against their beliefs.  I respect this obstinacy.  They are doing what they believe is in the best interest of their child.  What else should a parent do?

So what should a teacher or other staff person do in these situations, especially if it is one where the parents may not, in the opinion of the staff and the face of all information and evidence available, be making a wise set of educational choices for their child?  First, you have to be honest with the parents with your beliefs and why.  That is your professional duty to the family and to the child.  But there is more that you need to do. 

Try and reconnect with the family.  Try and help them understand that you are not their enemy.  Try and help them understand you also want to help their child succeed.  Try and help them understand that while you may disagree, you still respect their support for their child, and you would hope they would respect you for giving your honest, professional assessment and recommendations on how to help their child, even if they disagree with you.  Too often the emotion of the situation for a family (and sometimes for a professional) can turn what is an honest disagreement about educational needs into a personal animosity.  If you can keep the situation as an honest disagreement – and this is very, very hard to do with all the emotion involved in special education – you have the opportunity, at a minimum, to keep lines of communication open.  As long as those lines of communication stay open, the possibility of eventual positive resolution, no matter how faint they may be now, still exist.  Try and do what you can. 

I also understand, from the professional’s viewpoint, how frustrating these situations can be.  Remember, no matter how much you may care about that child, it will not touch the feelings that the parents deal with 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  Those feelings are hard to put aside or control, especially when advice goes against the parent’s deepest desires.  Keep alive the flame of opportunity.  Keep alive the hope that against all the adversity, the lines of communication can be kept open between district and family, and will one day be able to bear fruit for that child.  That often becomes your task, as a teacher and as a professional.

The Ties that Bind: IDEA, IEPs, and Paperwork

Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                                                - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954

One of the most boring, yet necessary things that a parent or professional must deal with in special education is paperwork.  Who enjoys going through page after page of forms, check boxes, notes, and documentation?  No one I know.  Yet the whole of the IEP process, and all of the guidance that comes out of IDEA is wrapped and infused with paperwork.  The truth is there is nothing you can do about it.  It is endemic, and it is necessary.

Throughout the whole of special education, IDEA, and the IEP, one overarching requirement flows through all their processes.  That is paperwork.  Why?  The answer is simple.  There is an unwritten rule that appears nowhere in the law, but sits over all these processes and binds them all together.  That rule is; if it isn’t written down, it did not happen.  This paperwork, you see, is the ring that binds the whole process together.

Fortunately, unlike the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien, there is no mountain of fire to cast it all into, even though we might like to do so.  This paperwork, while time consuming, boring, and sometimes frustrating, is not evil, but an important necessity.  This paperwork does bind everything together, and binds things together in ways that will benefit the child to which it is tied.  You see, that paperwork holds immense power to those who know how to wield it, to help make those special education services effective and successful for that child. 

Remember, if it isn’t written down, it did not happen.  What is documented in the IEP, what is written down, is very powerful.  What all participants in the process must understand is that the IEP is the guiding document for all the educational and functional services a child will receive from the school district. The IEP is, for all intents, a functional legal document.  In a dispute, what is written here will have a major impact on that dispute’s resolution.  If the IEP is well-written and clear, all members of the IEP team, from parents to district personnel will know and understand how the special education puzzle should be fit together for this particular child.  However, if poorly written, or if the IEP does not accurately document information about the child or the services to be provided, or is vague, then it can open doors to confusion, misunderstanding and conflict. 

Just taking that little bit of extra time to ensure you have a clear understanding and written description of the child’s disability or disabilities, the current level of performance, educational needs and the supports that go into providing those needs, measurable goals, how progress will be measured, and a host of other elements will go a long way to making the IEP process and IDEA a success for that child, the parents, and for the district. 

Outside of the IEP, good documentation is critical as well.  Are there pieces of information from doctors or others outside the existing school district?  If so, remember that the district cannot consider what can often be highly technical information on just an assurance that it occurred.  Instead, documentation is needed from those outside entities.  Something that can go into the files and be assessed equally by all participants and retained for long-term evaluation over the years a child will be in the Exceptional Student Education and will be covered by IDEA is essential to keep the processes moving forward smoothly.

The truth is that this topic is one that can be discussed for hours, and it is a topic that any person knowledgeable about IDEA and IEPs understands is essential to make the process work effectively.  Paperwork is the fuel that feeds the process and also what binds it together.

Remember, if it isn’t written down, it did not happen.  Also, take that extra time to make sure that information is written clearly, so all parties understand what the written words mean and how they are being applied to the IEP process.  Keep your records, organize them. You would be surprised how often a misunderstanding 6 months down the road after an IEP can be cleared up simply by referring to well organized and documented paperwork.    The bottom line is that it is important and a little extra time now may save a lot of time and headache later.

You see, if you make sure things are written down, you will have your ring of power.  Except there will be 3 of them, and they will be sandwiched inside a binder….