Mini-Courses

9:00-11:00 AM

Morning Mini-Courses

A

Special Education Administrator Boot Camp – Handling Rigorous Demands and Challenging Issues

In this challenging time of higher accountability for educational achievement for all students, (as illustrated by the Supreme Court Endrew F. ruling), rigorous 21^st Century Core Standards, increased litigation challenges, the challenges of distance learning, and the ongoing issues of hiring and retaining highly qualified special education staff, the role of Special Education Administrator can be overwhelming and daunting.  Mary Schillinger, former Deputy Superintendent, and Special Education Director, will provide guidance, tips, guidelines, and sage advice for handling the daily tsunami of issues that cross a Special Education Administrator’s desk.  Author of Special Education publications in the areas of; Comprehensive programs for students with Autism, Special Education Compliance and Documentation, Supporting Special Education student success in the Common Core, Access to Rigor for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities, as well as a professional development guide for accessing the rigor of Common Core, Mary will provide strategies, guidelines, checklists, and helpful hints to help you stay focused on the priorities for your district program.  From managing post COVID Comp Ed claims, maintaining compliance, making critical decisions relating to litigation, to planning the professional development necessary to prepare staff for ensuring Special Education student achievement in the rigor of the core state standards, this session will provide you with a renewed ability to strategically address challenging issues.  Critical information shared with humor and practical solutions will be the focus for this session.

B

Making Defensible Manifestation Determinations: When, Why, What, Who and How?

Perhaps the most difficult challenges for educators in the area of special education are understanding and correctly implementing compliant procedures in the area of discipline.  One particular piece of the discipline puzzle is that of making the manifestation determination—sometimes referred to as the “Manifestation Determination Review” or “MDR.”  This session will examine the provisions of the law related to the MDR and will examine judicial/administrative decisions regarding the validity of manifestation determinations.  In addition, a practical summary of key questions and factors for MDR Team consideration when making a defensible MDR will be provided.

C

Why Do Children Act the Way They Do? How to Shape Emotional and Behavioral Competence

Children must have a sense of well-being to access new learning challenges and changing social/community expectations. If they have not learned the critical competencies for school success, or exhibit them at such a low rate, they struggle to access the positive consequences that encourage behavioral health. Emotional and Behavioral health can be shaped and Self-regulation taught with effective caregiving by effective caregivers. Teachers work in prescriptive environments where certain practices are favored, they need the right information at the right time to help them think critically and make important decisions wisely about what children may need. This session will focus on children who may need to be taught how to belong or need help learning skills that allow them to manage stress in school and at home.

11:00-12:30 PM

Break

12:30-2:30 PM

Afternoon Mini-Courses

D

Process Issues under IDEA and Section 504 in COVID-19 School Closures

The need for schools to quickly shift to developing at-home educational services and activities due to COVID-19 closures has raised various questions on making the changes in compliance with procedural requirements under IDEA and §504. This session will address the USDOE guidance on the procedural questions, address whether changes to at-home services are changes in placement under the laws, ways in which schools can accomplish the change in services under a COVID closure, holding IEP meetings during school closures, making use of the IEP amendment procedure, ideas for language on prior written notices (PWNs), practical tips for combining the IEP amendment and PWN requirements in one document, ideas for making the necessary changes in services under §504, dealing with parent disagreement with at-home services, documenting situations of lack of parent response or refusal of services, and monitoring and measuring progress in at-home services, among other questions.

E

Compensatory Education Services: What are They and How are They Determined?

The issue of “compensatory education services” as a remedy for a denial of FAPE under special education laws has become a popular topic for discussion, particularly in light of national school closures due to COVID-19 and the challenges related to the forced provision of distance learning services to millions of students nationwide. This session will examine the historical and legal origins of “compensatory education” as a legal remedy in special education cases, as well as its court-created definition and purpose. Relevant case law with respect to what form “compensatory education” may take and how it is calculated will also be highlighted, as well as suggestions for determining what “compensatory education” should look like when assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of FAPE.

F

Your FBA is a Fantasy: Creating Trauma-Informed, Neurologically-Grounded, Skill-Focused FBAs and Behavior Plans that Improve Emotional, Behavioral, Social & Academic Performance and Build Resilience

Stop chasing “temporary compliance” and start building skills! Traditional approaches to FBA’s and Behavior Support Plans have long fallen short of getting the results we hope for and continue to fail many of those children to whom they are applied most. With a foundation of the “why” of behavior being based in something kids want to “get” or “avoid”, it has left us with little to do but attempt to externally motivate through rewards and consequences, or to try to teach replacement behaviors with didactic instruction to a cortex that is largely unavailable for learning.

Come learn how conducting an FBA and creating a Behavior Support Plan that is grounded in well-defined trauma principles and the most current research in neuroscience, coherence, and resilience can result in not only emotional/behavioral gains, but gains in academics and increased resilience in children with the most challenging behavior or the most significant trauma histories.

Overview will include:

• Strategies for looking deeper, beyond what a child is trying to “get or avoid”, to assess the underlying needs and skills to be built
• Comparisons of how neurobiologically-based, skill-focused FBA’s & BSP’s more effectively address the impacts of trauma than traditional models
• Processes to assess and plan proactive regulation and resilience-building routines to help a child become more accessible for intervention
• Strategies for intervention components of the FBA and BSP to ensure that the brain can tolerate and grow from the experience

2:30-3:00 PM

Break

3:00-5:00 PM

Late Afternoon Mini-Courses

G

Ethics Seminar: Ethics and Professional Responsibility in the Practice of Special Education Law

Ethics Seminar: An interactive ethics seminar specially designed for attorneys to meet State Bar Association CLE program standards; includes problems and hypotheticals with ethical considerations based on real life school law practice; issue identification, participant discussion; and recommended professional practices.

H

School Choice, Accelerated Classes & the Student with Disability

All students are regular education students first. Consequently, if nondisabled students have the opportunity to participate in school choice and accelerated classes, students with disability eligible under either Section 504 or IDEA should also have that access. In this session, veteran school attorney Dave Richards examines that access issue and the complications that arise from the fact that (1) not all special education services can be provided in all settings, and (2) not all placements can be made appropriate for the disability needs of all students. We’ll look at the tension between rights of access and the demands of the IEP and consider some strategies to discuss with the school attorney on what to do when IDEA FAPE cannot be provided in the choice school, program or class.

I

Building and Maintaining Legally Defensible Programs for Students with Autism: Essential Elements & Guidelines

District procedures including assessment, IEP development, and programming for students with autism are frequently areas of contention and litigation. This presentation will cover the critical attributes of comprehensive and defensible programs from preschool through high school for all functioning levels of students with autism.  Find out what the essential components are that must be addressed in any IEP and program for your students with Autism.  Learn about common program gaps that cause districts to lose litigation challenges.  A model for building capacity within district staff for the training and implementation of Applied Behavior Intervention in all settings will be described with suggestions for addressing the unique needs of your district and students.  Find out how a well-trained behavior team can reduce disruptive behaviors and conduct in class models for intervention.  Checklists for use in conducting a gap analysis of your district programs as well as resources, strategies, and forms will be provided.  Tools for compliance, communication, collaboration, and de-escalation will be shared.