Resources for Families of Durham Students with Disabilities

IEPs & 504 Plans

Overviews: Disability and Education in North Carolina

A Parent’s Guide to Special Education in North Carolina (Duke Children’s Law Clinic)

Parent Rights & Responsibilities in Special Education: NC Notice of Procedural Safeguards (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction)

Derechos y Responsabilidades de los Padres de Familia en Educacion Especial

Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction)

Special Education Determination Process

Durham Public Schools EC Referral Process Overview for Parents & Guardians Video [Video]

1. Identification

Who can refer a child for Special Education Services?

Durham Public Schools is responsible for locating, identifying and evaluating students with disabilities who are enrolled in a school within the district. This process is referred to as Project Child Find Learn More about on the Child Find FAQ page
Parents/Guardians of children ages three to twenty-one years old that suspect delays in the development of academic, speech-language, readiness, motor, social-behavior, and self-help skills. Parents should contact the EC Services Coordinator or the 504 Coordinator at their student’s home school and submit a written request for an evaluation for services consideration.
Students may contact their school or exceptional children program once they reach 18, the majority in the State of North Carolina, because the ability to make educational decisions and procedural safeguards transfers to them at that time (unless a guardian has been appointed to represent the student.)

The district provides special education and related services according to the federal mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Act and the regulations of North Carolina Public School Law, Article 9.

2. Referral Meeting

Meeting Overview

The IEP team will review some basic information about your child – name, school, grade, etc.
The IEP team will review your child’s strengths.
The IEP team will discuss reasons for the referral.
The IEP team will summarize what we know about your child.
The IEP team will decide if it is necessary to conduct an evaluation.
Formal evaluations require parental consent.

Information parents can expect to share at a referral meeting:

Strengths…

What are your child’s academic strengths? Does your child do well in reading, math, writing?
What are your child’s strengths in daily living skills at home and in the community?
What can your child do independently?
What are your child’s behavioral/social skill strengths?
What are your child’s study/work skill strengths?
Does your child work on homework independently? With some parent support?
What are your child’s communication skill strengths?
Does your child communicate effectively with children in the community? Family members?
What are your child’s motor skill strengths (gross/fine motor)? Does your child play sports? Enjoy art?

Reasons for referral/Areas of Concern…

What are your child’s areas of need? What about your child’s performance at school concerns you?
Is your child having problems in language arts? Reading? Writing? Spelling?
Is your child having trouble in math? Basic math concepts? Problem solving?
Is your child having trouble with behavior/social skills? Having problems with peers?
Is you child having health/medical problems that are affecting school performance?
Is your child having trouble communicating? Is your child having trouble with motor skills?
Is your child having trouble studying or getting work done?
Is your child unable to take care of basic needs for daily living – feeding, toileting, dressing?
Do you have other concerns about your child’s performance at school?

Results of outside/previous evaluations…

Any information you have from previous or outside evaluations that would help the IEP team more fully understand your child’s strengths and needs can be shared with the team, including documented medical and/or mental health diagnoses from a licensed medical professional.

3.Eligibility Meeting

What makes student Eligible for Special Education Services?

The Public Schools of North Carolina, Exceptional Children Division provides local educational agencies with detailed procedures for the delivery of special education services. These rules and regulations are detailed in Policies Governing Services For Children With Disabilities.

Services are provided under the following areas of eligibility:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. This Definition is also used by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The definition of dyslexia was added to the NC Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities in August 2017.

More information can be found at https://ec.ncpublicschools.gov/disability-resources/specific-learning-disabilities/dyslexia-and-dyscalculia/dyslexia-and-dyscalculia.

Meeting Overview

The evaluators will share the results of all of the evaluations. You will have time to ask questions.
The special education teacher will share your child’s scores on the evaluations.
The team will consider ALL potential areas of eligibility, including the impact of the disability on your child’s education and need for specially designed instruction.
If the IEP team determines your child IS eligible, they will determine a primary area of disability. The team may consider a secondary area of disability based on the eligibility areas you discussed earlier in the meeting.

Information Parents are asked to share at an eligibility meeting…

Any additional evaluations or medical information that was not provided at the referral meeting should be shared with the IEP team to be included as part of the eligibility determination.
Any changes in the student’s home environment that may have occurred since the referral meeting

As member of the IEP Team parents will help answer the following questions:

Does your child meet criteria for one or more of the fourteen disabling conditions?
Does the disability have an adverse effect on educational performance?
Does the disability require specially designed instruction?

4. Evaluation Determination

Meeting Overview

The special educator will lead a discussion about what we know about your child from school records. This could include attendance, grades on report cards, discipline reports, progress on IEP goals, etc.
The special educator will lead a discussion of previous assessments. This could include the evaluations done in the past for special education.
The special educator will ask for any evaluations and information that you would like to share. The special educator will summarize this information.
The special educator will lead a discussion about your child’s performance in the classroom. This could include things like academic performance and behavior.
The special educator will ask for other observations related to your child’s performance in school. This may include things like how your child does in non-classroom settings like lunch and recess and/or information from other people who work with your child.

Information parents should expect to share at a reevaluation meeting:

Evaluations & information provided by the parent…

Do you have any medical, educational or other evaluation results that would help us understand your child’s needs? It is helpful if you can share that information with the rest of the IEP team.
As the teachers talk about school, you can share what you are seeing at home related to homework, comments about school, etc.

Determination of need for additional data (if any)…

The IEP team will be answering these questions about your child:

Does the student continue to have such a disability* and educational needs?
Does the student continue to need special education and related services?
Do we need information about the student’s present levels of academic achievement and developmental needs?
Does the student need any additions or modifications to special education and/or related services to meet measurable annual goals and participation in the general curriculum?

* “such a disability” = the disability he/she currently has

How to collection additional data (if needed)…

If the IEP team answers YES to any of the 4 questions above, the team will decide how to collect the data:
1. collection of specific information without formal assessments
2. completion of specific formal assessments which require parental consent
If the IEP answers NO to all 4 questions, they can explain why there is not a need to collect additional information.

5. IEP Meeting

Meeting Overview

The IEP team will discuss your child’s strengths, performance on assessments, and progress on current IEP goals.
You will be asked about your concerns for enhancing your child’s education and your vision for your child’s future.
The IEP team will ask you about any transitions/changes coming for your child in the next year.
The IEP team will consider other factors that may be affecting your child’s education, such as behavior, vision, hearing or communication problems, etc.
If your child is 14 or older, the IEP team will invite the student to the meeting to discuss transition.
The IEP team will discuss the goals your child needs to work on in the coming year along with a method to monitor progress.
The IEP team will determine the general education classes in which your child will be participating and whether classroom and testing accommodations are needed.
The IEP team will determine special education and related services (if necessary) that the student requires to meet his/her goals.

Information parents should expect to share:

Beginning of the Meeting:

Your child’s strengths/growth…

What are your child’s strengths? What skills have you seen your child learn at school (from IEP, curriculum) and use at home? How have you seen your child grow and develop this year?

Enhancing your child’s education…

What would you like to see to help you child continue to grow as a learner? Are there skills that you want your child to develop so he/she can develop as a student?

Vision for your child’s future…

What do you want/wish/hope for your child in 1 year? In 5 years? In 10 years?

Transitions/change…

Are there any major changes coming for your child in the coming year?

During the Meeting:

Ask, answer, and participate…

As a member of the IEP team you are able to contribute throughout the meeting. You can ask questions, suggest goals, suggest accommodations that will provide your child with access to non-disabled peers, discuss the amount of time your child will receive special education and related services.

6. Programs & Services

IEPs

Understanding IEPs (Understood.org)

Exceptional Children (EC) Services (Durham Public Schools)

IEP Meeting Invitation

Prior Written Notice (PWN) Module

Individual Virtual Instruction Plan Overview (IVIP)

504 Plans

Understanding 504 Plans (Understood.org)

Section 504 Services (Durham Public Schools)

What is a 504 Plan for Students

(Understood)

This website is the product of a partnership between Durham Public School Exceptional Children Services Department, the Durham Special Needs Advisory Council, and the Community Equity, Data & Information Lab at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science.