Delivering Related Services Remotely During the COVID-19 Crisis The COVID-19 emergency has prompted school districts across the United States to rethink how they provide related services to students with disabilities, many of whom are presently receiving limited educational supports and no services at home. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA), related services include speech and language therapy; occupational therapy; physical therapy; and counseling services. One way to deliver related services remotely is known as telepractice. Under telepractice, related services are delivered remotely using a web conferencing tool, web camera, laptop, tablet, or smartphone to deliver services. [More]
Conducting IEP Meetings During COVID-19 By Matthew Korobkin, Senior AdvisorOver the next several weeks, school districts and families of students with disabilities may be concerned about how IEP meetings will be convened and how timelines will be met. During a time of “social-distancing” because of COVID-19, school districts should consider hosting remote IEP meetings in order to meet the timeline requirements set forth by their state education agency. [More]
Happy new year from the EDPlan team! To help you make the most of EDPlanTM and its suite of modules, PCG will be hosting a series of webinars this winter (“What’s Up Webinars”) to explore the following EDPlan modules, highlighting new features and offering insights into how these modules can provide even greater value to you, our valued partners. We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about all that EDPlan has to offer by registering for one or more of our upcoming “What’s Up Webinars.” [More]
Leveraging Progress Monitoring for Student Success For students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), progress monitoring has meaningfully changed in recent years – from a required, compliance-driven exercise to one that truly provides data on a child’s progress, thus informing his or her instruction. At the same time, educators continue to struggle with it. When conducted effectively, progress monitoring can be used as a critical tool to drive instruction. But when conducted poorly, or nonexistent, a lack of progress monitoring can hinder a student’s academic and functional growth and have avoidable, distracting, and costly legal ramifications. [More]
A Guide for Special Education Directors: Planning for Ambitious, Data-Driven, and Measurable IEPs In most school districts, the Special Education Director (or Director of Pupil Personnel Services) has compliance oversight of the district’s Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). [More]