Un élève ayant des besoins spéciaux n’a pas de mesures d’adaptation pour le PEI. Comment pouvez-vous assurer leur réussite éducative ?

Assessing needs is a complex process that IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, outlines and state regulations dictate. The first step in assessing a child's educational needs is to request - in writing - a comprehensive evaluation. If the parent is requesting this evaluation, then the parent or guardian should include their reasons for suspecting a disability, and state that they give their consent to the evaluation. Importantly, the age of consent in each state should be noted, as it could be that the student also must give consent. Once the school district (LEA - local education agency) receives the request and consent, there is a certain number of days in which they must complete the evaluation.

The team must also assess the student’s strengths along with her/his needs and use those strength’s to enlighten the teacher to improve the needs.

The initial evaluation, or triennial or annual reevaluation, should assess all areas of suspected disability. This includes assessing academic, social-emotional, functional, physical, and other areas of development. To be in compliance with IDEA, the evaluation must use a variety of reliable, valid assessments, and must include parent and teacher input.

In my years as a parent, educator and advocate, I have never seen an IEP without accommodations. If additional accommodations are being considered, the child's IEP team - not the school special education team - should meet to discuss. When considering new or changed accommodations, I work with the parent/guardian to review the recommendation's from previous/recent evaluations, as well as the recommendations from peer-reviewed research, national organizations, medical and community-based service providers and the parent's expertise to evaluate potential A/M. We also generate an Advocacy Action Plan and a Parent Input Form (PIF), and provide the PIF to the IEP team prior to the meeting.

Advocating strongly, in my practice, means advocating effectively. IDEA requires all communication to be in writing, so I train my clients on how to write professional, positive letters that are added to a child's permanent educational record. We document everything, so that we have records of the child's educational experiences. I also encourage my clients to build a positive relationship with the members of the IEP team and to provide input and questions prior to the team meeting, so that the team can prepare. Collaboration is key, especially considering that IEP team meetings can be intense and emotional. Building a positive, functional, collaborative team requires intentional actions from all parties.

Monitoring a child's educational progress is the most important, and most challenging, aspect of IEPs. I work with my clients to track and graph state-, classroom-, and school-based assessments over time. We always include a communication log in the IEP, as well as determine a assessing and reporting of progress. If an accommodation is not being implemented, we document that in writing to the school.