West Kutztown

School District

At West Kutztown School District, we take every

aspect of your childs educational experience into
consideration when providing the different array of
services that they may need. A good education
relies on good communication between the school
district and the students parents, which is why here
at West Kutztown School District, parents play a key
role in the success of their childs educational plan.

Legislation for Special

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with
disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how
states and public agencies provide early
intervention, special education and related services.

Education
Six Main Principles of IDEA

Each Principle will be referenced throughout

this brochure to show you how it is

Zero Reject:throughout
Every child is
entitled
to a free and
implemented
the
process.
appropriate education.
2.
Nondiscriminatory Evaluation: Requires our school
to evaluate your child fairly to determine if they have a
disability.
3. Appropriate Important
Education: Requires
our school to provide an
Acronyms
individualized education tailored to your childs strengths
and areas in which they need assistance.
Throughout
this brochure, there will be a variety of acronyms
4. Least Restrictive Environment: We must educate your
being
used
when
discussing
the special
process.
child
with
students
without disabilities
to education
the maximum
To extent
help you
better understand
appropriate
for your child.what is going on, a list of
commonly
acronyms
listed
5. Procedural
Due used
Process:
Protectsisyou
and below.
your child from
our actions, including the right to sue in court.
Education Program
6. Parental IEPand Individualized
student participation:
We must collaborate
with you and your child when designing and carrying out the
RTII- Response to Intervention and Instruction

1.

Key
For
Know:

Terms
You to

MDT- Multidisciplinary Team

LRE- Least Restrictive Environment
ER- Evaluation Report
LEA- Local Education Agency
FAPE- Free and Appropriate Public Education
These six principles will be mentioned throughout the rest of the
brochure.
brochure. Education Act
IDEA- Individuals
with Disabilities

The Special Education Process

START
Child Find

Universal Screening (RtII)

Referral for Special

Education
Parental Permission

Assessments

Identification

ChildIEP
Find
Placement
FAPE in LRE
Every child is entitled to FAPE, which stands for Free and Appropriate Public
Education, which complies
with the zero
reject policy.
Progress
Monitoring
All students receive an education at no cost under FAPE from ages 3 to 21 if the
child qualifies for special education services. Along with specifically designed
Annual
Review
instruction, students are provided
with materials
and student fees with no cost.

Reevaluation

What exactly is child find?

This mandate from IDEA requires all school districts to identify,
locate and evaluate all children with disabilities.

Children with disabilities can be identified from birth through age

21.

Multiple times throughout the year, public notifications are sent

out through the newspaper, media to make parents aware of the

Does support start only with Special Education?

School districts follow a method of screening, which observes and
records all students levels of performance.
SCHOOL DISTRICT uses RTII, which is a three tiered model of
support services in the general education classroom, which
enables us to identify students that may be at risk of falling
behind their peers.
If a child is at risk, a referral process for special education will
What is
the referral process?
begin.
A parent or legal guardian can initiate the referral process if they
believe that their child shows characteristics that negatively
affect the students learning by signing a legal document.
After observing the data collected from the universal screening
and through progress monitoring in RTII, a school psychologist
may refer a student between the ages of 3 to 21, after asking for
parental consent.

What is due process?

The parent can either approve or deny the process. If it is

process
continues
if it is denied
the there
process
Dueapproved
processthe
is legal
right
that isand
brought
up when
are
will
stop.
In
some
cases,
if
the
process
is
denied
but
the
school
concerns with a procedural process. It is the principal of
district believes the child is in absolute need of the services then

fairness in all legal matters.

What am I approving of when I give my consent?

The parent or guardian must understand and agree in writing
with future assessments and with related services for the
student.
Consent may be revoked at any time throughout the process by
the parent or guardian.

Who will be evaluating my child?

After there is permission provided from you, the parent/guardian, the
process of evaluation will begin. This will be a nondiscriminatory
evaluation which means under IDEA there will be no bias towards your
child including culturally and racially. Any assessment that is provided
to your child will be done in his or her native language. The MDT
(Multidisciplinary Team) will begin the process of evaluation. Members
of this team may include the following:
Parent/ Guardian
School Psychologist
Special Education Teacher
General Education Teacher
Occupational Therapist (OT)
Physical Therapist (PT)
Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP)
Physician

How will my child be evaluated?

As the parent/guardian to the child being evaluated, it is important to
understand your role in this process as well as the roles of the other
members. You may be asked to partake in a survey, questionnaire,
and/or interview, etc. regarding your child. This goes along with
parental participation under the six principals of IDEA. Each of the
previously mentioned evaluators will perform assessments in order to
better understand your child and their needs. The evaluation will be
nondiscriminatory for the child which means they will have a nonbiased evaluation in their native language. The evaluators must have
some form of a written report describing the results of each of the
following tests:

General intelligence and academic performance

Social and emotional status
Psychiatric evaluation
Motor abilities (fine/gross)
Neurological evaluation
Physical from physician

What happens with the information from the

MDT meeting?
The school psychologist will be provided with data from the MDT
meeting. He or she will review over the information and fill out an
Evaluation Report (ER), which will determine your childs eligibility for
special education. At this time, your child will be labeled with a
disability if one applies. Disabilities include the following:
Autism
Deaf-Blindness
Developmental Delay
Emotional Disturbance (ED)
Hearing Impairment
Intellectual Disability (ID)
Multiple Disabilities
Orthopedic Impairment
Visual Impairment
Other Health Impairment (OHI)
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
Speech or Language Impairment (SI)
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Once the Evaluation Report has been compiled, a copy of it will be

provided to you within 10 days of the IEP meeting for review. Along
with that, the IEP meeting must occur within 60 days of the completion

What happens with the Evaluation Report?

Once the Evaluation Report is completed, a date will be set for an
IEP meeting to occur.
An IEP is a written statement for the child with a disability that is
developed, reviewed, and revised by the IEP team.
The purpose of the IEP is to create annual goals for your child
during the school year and to state the special education and
related services (classroom aides, OT, PT, etc.) that the child may
need in order to be successful in the classroom setting he or she
is placed.
Also, the curriculum, activities, accommodations, supports, and
the projected date for the beginning of services will be discussed
at this time along with any other specifications the child may
need.

How will I know when the IEP meeting will take place?
Where
will my child
be placed
for are
instruction?
As the
parent/guardian,
it is important
that you
involved in the IEP
process. Because
of this,will
a letter
bebe
sent
home to you regarding
How often
thewill
IEP
reviewed?
information
about when
it willyour
be taking
place.
At this
you could
When it comes
to placing
child in
a setting
fortime
instruction,
it
also
make
it
known
whether
you
will
attend
the
meeting
or
not.
will depend on their specific needs.
The
IEP team will evaluate and review your childs IEP at
They will be placed in the least restrictive environment (LRE). It is
least once a year (annually). This can be done more
our goal to make sure that they are put in the environment
frequently
on the setting
parent/guardians
request
closest
to thedepending
general education
where they will
benefit
whichfrom
willinstruction.
be stated in the IEP.
most
This will be discussed by the IEP team, which includes you, the
parent.
placement
canoff
beof
any
of data
the following
The
IEPYour
willchilds
be revised
based
the
that is
locations
least monitoring
to most restrictive:
collectedmentioned
from the from
progress
that is performed

General
Education
classroom
and changes will be made if necessary or upon parental
Special classes
Special schools
Home instruction
Who helps develop the IEP?
Hospital/Instructional Instruction
team
As theconsists
parent,of
it a
is group
important
to remember
that with
if at you,
any time you
The IEP
of professionals
along
do not agreeAccording
with a decision
made
during
this time
you are able
the parent/guardian.
the IDEA,
the
following
individuals
to express
However,
if therethere
is a disagreement
between your
MUST attend
the IEPit.meeting
UNLESS
is written permission
and the school district, it may go into due process.
from therequest
parent/guardian:
Parent/Guardian
Special Education Teacher
General Education Teacher
School Psychologist
Representative of Local Education Agency
How will
my childs progress be kept once the IEP is in
Related Services (If needed)
place?
The Child (If applicable)
After
thethose
student
receives
support above,
services,
school
personnel
Along
with
who
are mentioned
the
parent
is able to
collects
data
through
progress
monitoring.
Progress
bring an advocate to the IEP meeting. Also, to follow through with a
monitoring occurs
consistently
throughout
to see
if the
nondiscriminatory
evaluation,
a translator
willthe
be year
provided
if one
is
student
is
responding
to
the
services
that
are
provided
to
them.
necessary. Its also important to remember that confidentiality is
Ways inimportant
which theto
school
implement
progress
monitoring
extremely
us asmay
it is a
legal matter.
The information
arethe
through
simple
assessments
aswho
activities
and
tests.
from
IEP will
only be
shared withsuch
those
were at
the
The data
is then
by the
to be ableitto assess
meeting
along
with collected
anyone who
will teacher
be implementing
how the child is performing
with the
support
services.teacher,
The data
(paraprofessionals,
special services,
general
education
can be shared with parents at any time based on requests that

Still have questions?

If you still have questions on the special education
process please feel free to contact the personnel listed
below for further information. Also, a list of resources that
are accessible to you at all times is provided for more
information based on what was discussed previously in
this brochure.
How often will my child be reevaluated?

Special Education Director:

Theothe
Reed
The MDT team conducts
reevaluation process within a
60-calendar day (610)-683-9827
timeline after parental consent is
received. treed@westkutztown.edu
Every student School
will be reevaluated
every 3 years, with the
Psychologist:
exception of students
who
have an intellectual disability
Clair
Huxtable
(ID). These students
will be reevaluated every 2 years.
(610)-683-3847

clahuxtable@westkutztown.edu

The parent/guardian will receive the reevaluation report

within at least 10 schools day prior to the next IEP team
meeting, unless the requirement is waved in writing, by

Parent Resources:

Council for Exception Children

http://www.cec.sped.org
IDEA under US Department of Education
http://www.idea.ed.gov
Pennsylvania Department of Education
http://www.pde.state.pa.us
Pennsylvania Department of Education: Bureau of Special Education
http://www.pattan.net
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
http://www.nichcy.org