Happened upon an interesting discussion elsewhere - curious to hear how it is at your schools: when do your students start receiving special services matching their IEP? First day? Second day? Second week? (Legally it's supposed to be day 1, but I've heard that many/most don't start immediately)
Out of curiosity (I promise! I'm just curious now that I had read that conversation), being an admin, have you ever had any parents bring up to you that legality issue?
I've only worked in one district, but every site I've worked at within this district has always started around the 3rd week of school. No one has ever questioned it. To be completely honest, though, I'd never given it a second thought until this thread! I don't even know how I'd respond if someone asked because I truly don't know the reason.
We start going in with our students on the first day. We support during routine/procedure building so that they can be successful in their regular education classroom. We start working on IEP goals and skill checks the second week or so. Pullouts begin the second week or so as well. This year we had a schoolwide focus on relationship building and not starting academics right away. So we did more in class support and we just started pullout support this week.
This was me, except with the other discussion! Granted, I actually prefer that the pullouts not start until the second week, because of the beginning of year activities, classroom community building, and building the culture of reading (needed even more by those with IEPs often) and doing our Week of Inspirational Math (during which those kiddos who receive services tend to have opportunities to show strengths that wouldn't come out throughout the usual curriculum). After hearing the legality though, it has me curious if things have come up with that whole "day 1" thing anywhere!
When I was a special educator, I generally followed my schedule from day 1, but didn't start pull-out until after the first week (unless it was a kiddo that had behavioral concerns requiring it from day 1). Now, when I do have special education students... well... let's just say that two years ago, I had to cc the AP on an email to the special ed department chair with two weeks left in the quarter asking when they were planning on beginning services.
I've worked in two schools as a sped teacher and neither has allowed me to start pull outs on day 1. The reason given is that kids need to learn routines and rules in their gen ed classes. At my current school under a previous P, we were instructed to "help" in Kindergarten the first few weeks. While I understand that this seemed fair to everyone, I really hated it. It set me up as an aide in the eyes of the teachers and students, and we were providing supports that were going to be abruptly taken away as soon as pull outs started. New P didn't want us doing that for exactly those reasons. Now, I am in charge of sending records to schools our kids have moved to, tracking down records for new kids we get, and doing the transfer paperwork/meetings for all of those kids. Since we have a highly transient population, I also have to wait to see who shows up at the beginning of the year in order to make an instructional schedule. Working around specials, STEAM, lunch/recess, whole group core, and other services for four grade levels takes quite the organizational skills and often requires several tries. We're also asked to schedule IEP meetings on the calendar for the entire school year within the first two weeks. We also have to make paperwork changes for students whose case managers are changing, and go through each IEP to double check dates, disability category, service providers, and hours and send a detailed caseload list to the district. Inevitably we get at least one transfer kid who has severe needs but their IEP doesn't really reflect this, so I can't just send them right over to whatever program they actually belong in and we spend the first couple of weeks setting up things like visual schedules, if/then or other visuals, individual work baskets, providing 1:1 support for them to learn the routine, etc. In my six years at my current school, there has been exactly ONE year where this didn't happen and I was able to start my regular schedule like the 4th day of school. I know the other teachers in the building think I get this time as "extra planning time" to prepare for my groups. That couldn't be further from the truth. Most days, I didn't have any time at all to plan for instruction or set up materials or anything like that at the beginning of the year. I STRONGLY prefer doing my regular pull out schedule to the crap I get stuck with doing at the beginning of every school year. I've never had a parent bring it up as a concern. I feel like 99% of parents would understand the explanation that their students need to get used to new routines/rules/procedures in gen ed since that is in fact where they're spending most of their day. ETA: If one was really concerned about this, it could easily be written into the service delivery statement or put into the dates of the IEP that services would start on xyz date at the beginning of the next school year so as to allow students to learn new routines and procedures in their new grade level general education setting. I'm required to attend data teams for two days every 6 weeks instead of pulling students. Even though no one has ever noticed or brought it up as a concern, I started writing it into the service delivery statement just to cover myself.
Day 1. The district was sued because IEPs were not even being handed out to teachers, except for special education case managers for weeks and weeks. Now there is a procedure and documentation to ensure every teacher who needs the student's IEP has it on day 1 and can implement services and accommodations. I understand how you want kids to learn classroom routines, but pull outs is part of the daily routine for students who have IEP services that require them to be pulled out. Classroom routines can be taught around these pull outs if the teachers are aware of them before school starts. They can structure whole group classroom activities around some of this.
We work on a Day 1 - 5 cycle. Withdrawal of students begins at the start of the second cycle. During the first 5 days, Special Ed teachers visit and observe students in their homeroom classrooms, assess needs of students who are new to us over the summer, and develop their support timetables. (For students who spend their entire day in a withdrawal setting, placement begins Day 1.)
For students with IEPs, we get a notice on the second or third day that they student has an IEP and then a copy of the IEP by the end of the first week. For students with IAPs, we get a note with the students' mods and accommodations by the end of the first week, and a copy by the end of the second week. Of course, there are always a few transfer students who it takes longer for all of their paperwork to make it in.
It supposed to start the day it says start but most times it doesn't happen due to scheduling and such.
OK I have to ask.... If teachers aren't receiving IEPs for days or weeks after school starts, does that mean that no work is being done for weeks?
It probably depends on the child, as many can function well, but just may struggle with concepts that are taught (much like students with IEPs tend to engage incredibly positively with the Week of Inspirational Math activities due to their naturally differentiated nature). That said, outside of situations where it might be impossible (i.e. suddenly transferred student), IEP information really needs to be given to teachers immediately.
We've been in school for 6 weeks, and there are still a lot of students who haven't received services
Although we don't start services until like the 3rd week, all teachers get IEPs and "student at a glance" during the first few days and we sign off that we received it.
We follow the IEP as soon as we get our hands on it. Unfortunately, many of our students have transferred from schools who are slow with record requests, causing a delay of up to two weeks. However, we have other students who walk in with a copy of their most recent IEP, and then we are able to start the accommodations on their first day.
I was very happy when our district was sued and students were having their needs met day 1. I always think about accommodations and services like this: if we have a student with more visible disabilities, we would never think of not giving them accommodations or services. We wouldn't withhold a braille book, but we might not give a student assistive technology or extra time/support. We wouldn't tell a student they couldn't wear their glasses for two or three weeks which for many could take away their learning during that time. Or tell the student with CP he could use his crutches to manage the stairs starting in week 3. I know scheduling is a pain, beginning of year testing is needed, etc, but if the general education students are receiving their services (teaching of the standards) so too are the learning disabled and other disabled students required to have their services started at the same time. This may all mean that the district needs to extend contracts by a few days to help everyone get ready for everything to be set on day one, but it really is unfair to not give students what they need from day one. It sets a bad precedent for them, especially if they know they are supposed to have an accommodation and are told they are to do what the rest of the class does or worse they are reprimanded for their avoidance behaviors or behaviors from their disabilities.
The existing IEP should be followed immediately with services. If a new IEP needs to be written, that needs to be done as soon as possible. It seems lucky that the school hasn't been sued such as a2z.
