Session 1 | Informed & Ahead | Legal Landscape Changes

Hi everybody, I'm Summer Allison, and I want to thank everybody for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today. I know as special educators, your days are already packed with putting out constant fires, dealing with staffing challenges, parent issues, and about 47 emails that all have the term urgent in the subject line. Good news is this webinar is probably the only meeting on your calendar today where nobody's going to ask you for more funding or more staff. So hopefully you get something out of it and it was well worth your time. And I'm excited to kick off our session, our first session of our Informed and Ahead series. And I really want to thank all of our Parallel partners who joined and are listening today on the webinar. So you might ask, like, who is Parallel and why are they hosting this webinar about Informed and Ahead? Well, Parallel provides support to special education departments with virtual SLPs, school psychologists, social workers, and special education teachers across the US. But we believe in truly partnering with our customers, which is why we feel it's important to provide professional development learning opportunities for them, their staff, and all of the potential schools out there that we may partner with someday. So I hope you find today's session very beneficial. And any questions that you might have, because we do want to make sure that you're able to pose those questions and get those answers. You have those throughout the session. Please put those in the Q&A that you see at the bottom of your toolbar. So if you go to the very bottom, look at the toolbar that comes up, you're going to see a little Q&A icon, and that's where you can put in any questions that you may have. We will have a dedicated Q&A time at the end of the presentation. Okay, so today's topic, um, really honored to have Dr. David Bateman with us. And I was joking earlier, no, not the David Bateman that is my cousin that I saw yesterday, or the David Bateman that my friend is married to, but Dr. David Bateman, who is well known in our field and a trusted voice. And let me tell you why we're excited to partner with him. Over the years, we've attended countless case conferences, some of us many more than others. We'll just kind of leave that there. And without fail, Dr. Bateman's sessions are some of the ones that we find ourselves gravitating toward. And that we hear chatter about in the vendor hall when people come through and talk about their sessions. There's just something about his approach, the way he combines, like, legal expertise with the understanding of the real-world situations that you're dealing with in your districts that just consistently resonates with us and also sets him apart from other speakers. He's also presided over more than 580 due process hearings. Whew! Glad it was him and not me. It gives him an insider's perspective on how these legal challenges unfold, and more importantly, how are districts successfully able to defend against them? So this isn't theoretical knowledge. It's battle-tested insight from someone who's been in the trenches alongside you guys. But here's what we value most. Dr. Bateman brings over 3 decades, not to age him, but over 3 decades of hands-on experience in special education, which is invaluable. He's walked in your shoes. He understands the daily pressures, the competing demands, and the real-world complexities of serving students with disabilities while staying legally compliant, which we know is a true balancing act. And when he shares strategies for developing sound IEPs or navigating due process situations, you know it comes from someone who truly gets the challenges that you guys face every day. So his track record speaks for himself. He's helped districts across the country build stronger, more defensible special education programs. So with that, I am thrilled to turn it off over to Dr. Bateman to get started. Let's all be inspired together, and most importantly, let's all keep working together to make a difference.

Thank you, Summer. I appreciate the opportunity to be with all of you, and I appreciate how Parallel set this up, and I look forward to the additional workshops that we're gonna be putting together. Obligatory legal disclaimer. I just want to make sure that you understand this is for information and educational purposes only. And if you, if you have questions, legal questions, you need to talk to your attorney. Don't talk to me, talk to your attorney, because I'm going to give you— I'm going to do my best to give you good legal advice, but I have to remind you, and good practices of what we can do relating to this, but I'm going to remind you that the law is constantly changing. It's kind of like my Saturday runs as I'm training for another marathon. It is— some days it's good, some days it's not bad. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. So you have to remind yourself that these are changing and it's an ever-changing landscape. We're going to do our best to keep you as hypercurrent about what's going on as possible. I've spent the past 24 hours talking to experts and policy wonks from across the nation to talk about what's going on and give you some guidance about where we can go as a result of this. So that's what we're going to do as a part of this. Okay, so we're going to see. This is what we're going to cover. For those of you looking for information about me, there's 2 ways you can get information about me. I have a blog that I do with Mitch Yell at spedlawblog.com. And we go there and we put— we update things at least twice a month, constantly giving you information about what's going on, about the legal updates and information out there. I highly recommend you sign up for it. I know that pretty much every SEA leader across the nation reads this, and it's one of the top blogs and education. I don't know who ranks these things, but we were told this recently. I think they wanted money from us. The other thing, the other thing is I have a website. Um, my wife is an art and architecture historian, and she has told me my website sucks. But if you want to go there to get great more information about me and this and what I do to provide help for people, I recommend that you go there. Uh, but it's, it's a way to provide information and understand where we are with this. Keep this in mind about where we're at. So let's just give you a sense of what we're heading, just to talk fast. And yes, even though I grew up from the South, I can talk like an auctioneer. So stay seated and just strap in. Today we're going to be talking about the foundations and just what we need to do, paying attention to where we're going. We'll move through these sessions. Today's focus, the next one will be on monitoring, and the last on problem solving. These 3 elements work together to ensure compliance and protect students' rights. Today you'll leave with some practical steps on a foundation to start the year. We'll build on how to sustain compliance and address challenges as they raise, and you'll just— you'll get a lot real fast. Alright, so Other thing, and this is a common phrase, it's a play on the phrase we have relating to kids with autism, which have been in the news a lot lately. Not sure why, but they've been in the news a lot lately. But you have to pay attention to this one, that no 2 schools look alike in practice. Each has different cultures, staffing, and challenges, which can make applying IDEA rules and Section 504 complex as you go from building to building. While the legal standards remain the same, And we have to pay attention to this. Implementation has to be context-specific. You need to balance consistency and not only compliance, but flexibility in practice. That's something we need to pay attention to as a part of this and address this one. So this is, this is what we're doing today. And yes, I can talk faster. Setting the tone for compliant and effective school year. That's what we're going to push for, and that's what we're going to pay attention to, and that's what we're going to address as we go through this. All right, so stay, stay, just lock in. Let's get ready. All right, so let's talk. We got 2 big anniversaries. And just what some people often forget, the first one, but just to remind you, Section 504, the anniversary of this is tomorrow. Some of you don't remember 1973 very well. Don't raise your hand, just, it just pisses me off. But September 26th, 1973, Section 504 came about. And we, and we're going to be talking more about Section 504 in the next session and give you— and we actually have a great handout for you, which we'll give you at that point. But it's interesting about this, we often don't think about the needs relating to Section 504, and we'll talk about that in a few minutes a little bit more. But tomorrow is the anniversary.

Okay.

And it passed, it passed before IDEA, and we have to remind ourselves of this. Okay, these both laws fundamentally changed the rights of students with disabilities, and they continue to anchor our work together. Many of you don't remember that IDEA, which is turning 50 this year, it's a big deal. And I say this because prior to this, it was legally— it was legal to prevent kids with disabilities from attending school. I speak of this in personal terms, as my brother-in-law, who's labeled as having autism and profound intellectual disabilities, was legally prevented from attending school for the first 17 years of his life. And so it was legal to prevent him from attending school, and it's an interesting part of this process and something that we need to pay Okay, but we now— so there was a time when parents did not have the opportunity to send their kids to school, when kids did not have the opportunity to learn. Could he have benefited from education? Yep, absolutely, absolutely. There's some things we could have taught him, things we could have provided for him, and opportunities we could have shared with him. Okay, but the other thing about this one, and I'm going to be talking to you about this and about the legal aspects, but I also want to make it personal. I truly want to make it personal, that it's a moral thing. These individuals who have disabilities live in our communities. The kids who are coming to our schools who are eligible for special education-related services have disabilities at no fault of their own. They're just trying to make it through the day, and we need to do our level best to provide supports for them so that they can be as independent as possible. And that's what our goal should be. So whether we have a law or not, as a moral thing, we should pay attention to this and provide appropriate services for these kids so that they can move forward and receive a better education. Okay, so let's talk about what's going on. Let's talk about it, okay? Because you've likely heard proposals to move IDEA oversight from the Department of Education to Health and Human Services. I mean, this— I'm just going to try to talk about where we are with this. There are also discussions of consolidating funding streams, expanding parent choice, and reducing federal oversight. What these have done, and I'm willing to stipulate, what these have done is they have created uncertainty for districts and raised concerns about enforcement And parents and teachers aligned are upset and unsure about what's going on about this one. So there's concerns about what's going on, okay? But keep this in mind as we address this. Why is this important? Okay, but why these proposals haven't changed? Let me make sure that you understand, and this is absolutely information you need to share with your staff. The law still stands. Keep this in mind: IDEA is statutory. Executive proposals alone cannot undo the legal requirements. There's a lack. There's there's been lack of details about timelines, operational clarity, and but we have many of our states and districts already have entrenched systems. And keep this in mind as we address this one. Parent at parent advocacy and disability rights organizations are preparing. I'm talking about this one and addressing this one. We need to make sure that we're addressing this and keeping this or just so what what's what's the big kicker on this one?

I D E A.

As what you're doing with kids eligible for special education in their classrooms has not changed. Students eligible for special education are still entitled to a free appropriate public education with IEPs and appropriate services. Federal education, special education funding from the federal level largely remains stable, at least as of this moment. We're not sure, the government may be shutting down next week. Okay, but it's interesting about this. Daily practice. No federal policies have altered classroom instruction. Keep this in mind. And despite the political noise— so this is the, this is the ticker on this one, and this is the precipitating force, because I can't tell you how many parents— because I've met many parents who are reaching out to me on a daily basis asking what does this, what does this forestall for their children. And I was on PBS's news show in February asking the same question because people were concerned about this one. Despite that, students with disabilities are still served under the same legal framework. So has it changed? Yeah, there have been changes, but we have to keep this in mind, is the law still obligates us to provide kids eligible for special education and related services a free appropriate public education. That has not changed. So keep that in mind as we address this one. Okay, so, but wait, wait, there's more. You're going to hear that phrase multiple times. Stay seated. Okay. Special education disputes are on the rise. And I have some data here for you. And there's— so if you're looking, you're looking for more expansive use version of this data, there's 2 places you can go. CADRE, cadre.org, has done some great work on there. Melanie Reese and her team do an amazing job on sharing what's going on about this one. But state complaints are rising, and state complaints are rising dramatically, reaching nearly 10,000. And that's important. That's it. That's a dramatic rise over previous years and 80% over the 10-year average of this one.

Okay.

And so keep this in mind. Most of the state complaints include typically California, Massachusetts, and Texas. This trend reflects broader strains on both state systems and local capacity. But we're seeing a rise in this one. This is something to pay attention to as we're addressing this one, and it's an opportunity for parents to get their voices heard and make sure that what they're doing is appropriate. Okay, there's also been a rise in due process complaints. I'm not a fan of due process. I get parents who reach out to me 4 or 5 times a week asking, how do I file a due process hearing against their school district? And I do my level best to talk them out of it. I truly do. You may not be aware of this, but 68% of all due process hearings in the United States occur in the great state of New York. Keep that in mind. Keep that in mind as you're thinking about this one. But if you exclude New York, due process complaints also rose by 5%. Okay, mediation. I am a huge fan of mediation, having worked as a mediator in multiple states and, and one of our territories. Mediation continues to be the most effective tool with high agreement rates and much lower costs than litigation. So I'm a huge fan of mediation and pushing that as a part of this one. Districts should invest in preventative approaches that help address this and pay attention to this one. Conflict is inevitable. I mean, we are a field defined by a law. We are absolutely a field defined by a law, and that's something we need to pay attention to. But unresolved conflict is what harms students, and we need to do a better job of increasing and making sure people are aware of what we can do as a part of this one. So what I want to pay attention to as we're going through this is I'm going to give you tips. I'm going to give you some tips, and I'm going to go through the tips rather rapidly, but I want to make sure that you understand These are things that special education leaders need to pay attention to this month, not in a few days when the calendar flips to next month, but this month. We need to be aware of this and help with where we are with this one. Evaluations and eligibility processes begin immediately once concerns are raised. I can't emphasize this enough. Courts are very clear that delays in the processes expose districts to legal liability. Keep that in mind as we address this one. You need to make sure that everybody, everybody in your school district, if they see a kid who's having academic problems, social skill deficit problems, functional problems of some form, anything, that they're reporting this to somebody else. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that each and every one of these kids is going to get the full shebang of a special education evaluation. But at least these kids need to be considered whether an evaluation is necessary. And that's what's important. And that's what we need to pay attention to as a part of this one. But you need to tighten your referral processes. So make sure you train bus drivers. Make sure you train classroom aides. Make sure you train lunchroom monitors about this. They see something, they say something. And if you, as a team— this is— here's another tip. If you, as a team, determine that the child doesn't need an evaluation, That's great, but meet as a team about 3 to 4 weeks later and see if that child still needs something. Don't just drop the kid. Drop them— keep that kid on your radar screen so that you have a better sense of what's going on with this child. You can have a better sense of where we are with this one. Keep this in mind as you address this one. Okay, wait, more. Okay, audit early. What I want to make sure that you're doing is now is the time. We've spent a lot of time writing IEPs. And we spend a lot of time holding the meetings and getting the goals and everything as a part of this. What you need to do is make sure that right now the kids are actually receiving the services to which they're supposed to be getting. Do an internal audit right now. Make sure that they're getting what they're supposed to be getting. So if a child is supposed to be getting 2 hours of language arts instruction on a daily basis, make sure they're getting 2 hours of language arts instruction on a daily basis. It's that simple. Make sure that there's a tie between what's going on, between what is written and what is actually being delivered for the child. That's what's vital. That's what's vital. We need to pay attention to, okay, but make sure these services begin as much on day 1 as possible. If there are delays, track compensatory time and communicate with parents. Transparency. Transparency reduces frustration, protects against legal challenges. Catching problems early is always better than defending them later. Trust me on this one. Trust me on this one. Okay, some— I've been to some of your— but some of your districts, and it's not always good when I come, so I apologize. But it, but it is what it is. Okay, so keep this in mind also. Compliance is the floor, right? Checking boxes may satisfy compliance, but it doesn't necessarily serve students. Compliance alone keeps you legal, but strong systems prevent burnout and disputes. It's got to be more than just compliance. Effective leaders create processes That are both safely— that satisfy requirements and support meaningful instruction. We've got to do something that makes sure that kids are receiving meaningful instruction, and that's what's important. A system that only tracks paperwork won't build trust with families. You must aim higher than the minimum. And I mean this, that you need to think about this as what we're doing with kids so that they're getting more than what we're supposed to— they're supposed to be getting, that they're actually getting, they're actually making progress. Andrew said this very specific— Andrew Effick said this very specifically in 2017. I've written extensively about that one, but keep that in mind as we address this one. Okay, more. Wait, just to, just to keep you aware, the legal landscape is shifting. Okay, there's new guidance, there's new case law. There's been an explosion in case law, especially relating to 504, since, since February. Um, and so we'll talk more about that in our next session in October. Okay, but it's constantly shaping how IDEA is being implemented. These changes have direct practical impacts on how districts make decisions every day. In fact, I'm going to talk to you about a case in a few minutes that is a recent case that you need to pay attention to. Leaders who stay informed can anticipate problems rather than being surprised by them, and that's what we need to pay attention to. It's not enough to react after changes occur. I mean this literally. You need systems to track and implement updates. Okay, so keep this in mind and stay, stay, stay abreast of what's going on. But as I said, as I said about the legal landscape, it is constantly shifting, and we need to make sure that we understand what's going on. We're addressing this one, as are the demands, as are the demands, because you may not be aware of this, but there's this thing out there called the Facebook, and parents are sharing information on the Facebook about what they're expecting from their school district and what they're hearing. So keep this in mind as we address this and move forward as well.

Thank you.

Okay, so keep this— ask these questions. Okay, which— ask these questions. So ask early, ask early, ask this now. Now's the time to do this. Did services actually start on time? And are accommodations being used correctly? So it's not just are the IEPs being implemented, are the kids getting what they're supposed to be getting from the general education classrooms? Are the general education classroom teachers aware of what their responsibilities are relating to implementation of the IEPs. Do not wait for parents to raise concerns. You should verify this yourself. You need to verify this yourself. Parents deserve meaningful progress updates, not vague assurances. We'll talk more about this in October. We need to do a better job of ensuring what's going on about this one. Regular checks keep the district accountable and, and help reassure families. This is about building trust through data and follow-up, follow-through on this one. Because I can now— I'm willing to stipulate that most of the due process hearings that I'm involved in are breakdowns in communication where there's a lack of trust. And I'm brought in as— when I'm brought in, typically, when I was brought in as a hearing officer, they just wanted someone from the outside to verify that they weren't being jerked. And keep this in mind as we address this one and keep this in mind as we pay attention to this one. Okay, more progress monitoring. If you learn nothing else today, I want you to learn this. And I mean this with all sincerity, I truly do, okay, is that progress monitoring isn't optional. If there's one thing that— if there's a bit of advice that I could give to all school districts out there is to up your progress monitoring. And I mean this with all seriousness, up your progress monitoring. When I do witness preparation for due process hearings, witness preparation for speech-language pathologists is easy. Because they take data every single time. Now, do we have to take data every single time? No, I don't think we need to, but you need to take more. I don't care how much data you're taking, but you need to take more data. Okay, without consistent tracking, you'll be scrambling at the end of the quarter. And how many data points— I'm talking, and people say that's a lot of testing. You can get a lot from a 5-minute math probe. You can get a lot from a 5-minute cold reading of the kid. You can get a lot observing a kid on a playground about the number of interactions they have. with their peers. You can get a lot on this one. And the data that you need to have— and I am a huge fan of anecdotal data, but you need to have data that you can graph. You absolutely need to have data that you can graph as a part of this one. And this needs to be regular data and consistent data. Well, again, we'll give you some. We actually have— we're developing some handouts for you that we'll give to you in October. I'm baiting you, trying to get you to come back in October. Yeah, it's going to be good. But we're going to have handouts that will help with this one. But we have some information that you need to pay attention to as a part of this one. Because you need to be able to graph this, because I'm a huge fan of what's called interocular analysis. You need to eyeball the little sucker and be able to determine whether the child is actually making progress. If you could put a graph in front of a parent showing that the child is making progress, put a graph in front of— and just demonstrate to your team the child's making progress, you're doing well. The key is not just in collecting data, but analyzing it for instructional decisions. Okay, keep this in mind. Keep this in mind as we address this and keep this in mind as we pay attention to this. Okay, more. Okay, don't wait for complaints. Most state complaints are preventable. You just— with stronger systems. We need to talk about walkthroughs. We need to talk about observations that help leaders catch problems early. Keep this in mind. By resolving small issues quickly, by ensuring that the kids are getting what they're supposed to be getting. But I mean, go back to progress monitoring. I'm going to stand on a soapbox on this one, but you learn— use it for information. So if you, for instance, and we'll talk about this one, but use it for information. So keep that in mind as we address this. Prevention saves time. Prevention saves time and money and protects students' rights. And we need to do a better job of ensuring that we're protecting and saving time as a part of this. Because I'm willing to stipulate that most of the school districts who are participating in this do not have as much money as you need. There are some of you who do, you know who you are. But there's some districts out there that don't have as much money as they need, and we need to do a better job of providing supports.

Thank you.

Okay, more collaboration behavior supports. This depends on general— we depend on general education teachers. We absolutely depend on general education teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service personnel to work together to help with one. If one group is out of alignment, students suffer and disputes rise. Behavior intervention plans in particular must be implemented consistently. One of the big things that I spend a lot of time talking about is making sure that the behavior plans that we're writing for these kids are being implemented with fidelity. That we're writing them so that we can actually implement these things and doing this. We spend a lot of time writing these things. Make sure you implement the little suckers. And then take data. This is what we see. This is where the big fallout comes with it. We write these behavior plans and then we don't address what's going on. We don't pay attention to what's going on. And then a month later, things aren't any better, but we haven't paid attention to this one. The same thing we go is like, I'm working with a number of districts right now where they've provided a child a one-on-one aide. Take data to determine, did the one-on-one aide that you've spent a lot of money recruiting and providing and training for, does that aide actually help with the behaviors that they're supposed to address? Some of these aides make things worse. Some of these aides make things better. Show me the data on this one. But we have to understand what is best as a part of this, so we have a better sense of what we can do to provide appropriate services for these kids. Okay, so are our staff trained? Okay, one of the big things that I often see when I'm doing witness preparation is teachers do not know what— general education teachers do not know what part of the IEP they're responsible for. Same thing with 504 plans, which are gen ed solely. The teachers don't know what their obligations are relating to this one. All right, so are we preparing substitutes? Are paraprofessionals prepared as a part of this one? And what we have to think about is make sure that they're not being overlooked, that they're also being trained, and we're also providing appropriate information to help them as much as possible. You should ask, are staff confident and supported in their responsibilities? Well-trained staff— you have to think about this— they are your front line of communication for your district. That's who parents get to know. That's who parents see, and that's who parents are, and that's who's interacting with the child. And we need to make sure that they have what's necessary as a part of this. So keep that in mind as we address this. Wait, more. Okay, train all staff. I said this before, but train all staff about what their responsibilities are and make sure they understand this. Okay, but at the start of the year, make sure every staff member knows the referral process. Staff must understand they're obligated to act when they suspect a disability or a child is just having a problem, even if it's not a behavior problem. But if a child is being bullied, make sure that they, that they tell somebody about this one. So we're seeing a dramatic rise in kids being bullied. We're also seeing, if you look at the data related to 504, a dramatic rise in kids being identified in 504 with the area of anxiety. And we're seeing dramatic numbers across this one. And this is something that we need to pay attention to better and provide appropriate supports for these kids so they can move forward. CLEAR training helps provide appropriate supports. It also ensures students get timely information about what's going on. I'm gonna talk to you a little bit more about training building-level administrators in a minute about this one, but use a checklist for training. Okay, make sure that even they follow up with a short quiz, follow up with a short quiz about what they've learned as a part of this process, but make sure that they get the opportunity to participate and understand what's going on. And make sure that you record this so that if you've got it— some of you, some of you are getting new staff as we speak. Make sure that there's opportunities for them to engage. Make sure there's opportunities for them to find what's going on. A great place for, if you're looking for staff trainings with great websites and things like that, is the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University. It has a number of training modules on what to go and are all free and great training modules. I wrote, I co-wrote the ones on legally compliant IEPs, and so there's one for teachers, one for administrators, but they're free training modules. Train the staff, use these things, and help understand what we can do to provide additional assistance for them about that sort of Okay, here, engage gen ed teachers, right? I'm doing a lot of— I'm doing potentially— I wrote a book a few years ago called A Teacher's Guide to Special Education. It was for gen ed teachers because gen ed teachers don't get enough training. Okay, gen ed teachers do not get enough training about what's going on. Gen ed teachers don't get enough about where we are in this one. But there's things about this one. Some gen ed teachers, the only course they get Is the Intro to Special Ed course, which in many places is taught as Disability of the Week. I can speak to this. I was a professor for over 2 decades. I taught that course hundreds of times, and so we tried— I tried to make it more about this one. But Henry Ford's great quote, well, I'm glad it's here, reminds us that compliance is not a solo effort. Because the vast majority of kids come down to come to, come to education not eligible for special education related services. And we need to make sure that we do our better job of explaining to the gen ed teachers what their roles and responsibilities are in this one. So special ed requires that teams come together, stay together, and work together. Collaboration between gen ed and staff is— special ed staff is critical. You must foster this collaboration and the model respected teamwork. Keep that in mind as we address this one and keep this in mind as we pay attention too. All right, so what I want you to do, okay, Proactively schedule IEP meetings at least 30 days in advance. And it's like, oh God, what does he mean by this one? Just don't wait to the last minute. FAPE is defined— I can go for a long time talking about FAPE. Some of you've maybe even seen me talk about FAPE in different venues. But one of the big things we talk about when we're making sure that we're defining FAPE is the procedural parts. The procedural parts— are we doing— are we crossing the T's and dotting the I's? I sometimes Reverse those. But are we crossing the T's and dotting the I's, and are we scheduling things within a timely fashion? The thought about this one, and this is fair procedures means fair outcomes. That's how the law looks at it. So if we all follow fair procedures and follow the timelines as a part of this, then we'll have a better part of understanding what we do is respecting this one. But proactively scheduling IP means at least 30 days in advance. Okay, uh, waiting until the last minute. Is a recipe for missed deadlines, surely. Okay, document every outreach to parents, including attempts, not just successes. Courts and monitors— what we look at, we look at how many times did you actually reach out to the parents? How many times did you work to schedule this one? I'm working with a school district right now that sent 3 notices home in the backpack of a kid who has severe ADHD. He has one of those expedition-sized backpacks. He has— he's a 6th grade boy, he has every paper that has ever been provided to him since 1st grade in his backpack. Parents never got the notice. So we need a better job of making sure that the notices are actually provided and the parents get opportunities to participate and understand what's going on. Okay, next. All right, start, start, start the year with a meeting of general and special education staff. Convene meetings and also talk about this one and address this one and pay attention to where we are with this one. Review IEP requirements. There are teachers out there who have no sense of what their obligations are related to implementing an IEP, and we need to do a better job of this. I'm not saying teach all gen ed teachers what they need to know about how to read IEPs. Teach them what they need to know about reading and understanding the components of the IEP that they're responsible for. Talk about who owns what task. Because there's some of these kids who need accommodations in the classroom, and we need to ensure what's going on as a part of This one. The best example— and make sure we also then teach substitutes about these things. The best example I can give to you is a case I was involved in about 3 years ago with a child, a 4th grade boy with pretty significant needs relating to diabetes and had a learning disability. But this is a diabetes story. Put his head down on his desk because his blood sugar level was going really low. His 2 friends Went up to the substitute and said, hey, he's got, he's got a blood— he's got diabetes, he needs help. And the substitute looked at her notes. There was nothing written in her notes about this. So she said, he just looks tired, let him sleep. About 5 minutes later, he started— the boy was actually starting to drool, was really going, having some severe problems. The boys went back up to her and said, we need, we need to, we need to do something right now. And she said, nope, now is not the time. We're about to go to recess. And so what's interesting about this one is one of the boys ran down the hall, grabbed the nurse, and brought the nurse down, and luckily got there in time because the blood sugar level was going really low. The substitute was upset that the kid ran down the hall. It shouldn't rely— and safety of kids should not rely on a 9-year-old running out of a classroom when they shouldn't to get appropriate supports. Make sure everyone knows what their responsibilities are to address this one. Make sure everyone understands where we are with this one. This shared ownership presents— prevents problems from being overlooked and sets a tone for what we do about this one. Do you have to remind yourself, is all kids eligible for special education are gen ed kids first? All kids eligible for special ed are gen ed kids first, and we need a better job of providing supports for them. Okay, next.

Okay.

Choose a consistent data collection system. And make sure you understand what's going on about this one. Stress the importance of analyzing data regularly, not just collecting it. Too often we just collect data, but then we don't do any analysis of this one. I've attended many workshops and many team meetings with teachers, and they sit there and they go through the data and they just report, but they don't analyze it. Make sure that you're actually paying attention to what's going on. I'm a huge fan of Google Docs for this as a part of this collecting progress data. Stress that analyzing data matters just as as much as collecting it, and that's important. Regular review allows for mid-course correction. Yes, we write an IEP for a year. That doesn't mean it's locked in stone for that year. It can be changed, absolutely can be changed, and we need to remind ourselves of this and pay attention to this as we go. Right, more. Review pending evaluations and eligibility deadlines. Check for any students referred last spring whose evaluations may still be pending.

Okay.

September is a time to close these cases, close these cases and get it. All right, you may just have compliance risk, but there's kids who are potentially missing instruction that could help them make it through the day, and we need to do a better job as a part of this one. I'm working with a school, a school division, because it's in Virginia, a school division right now where they're backlogged on several hundred kids who are missing evaluations. And they're having some issues relating to this one. But make sure that you're working to prevent that, present this, and move this forward as quickly as possible. Okay, another one. Okay, ensure discipline procedures are understood. Okay. Those of you who know Oregon, I worked, I worked on the class action lawsuit from Oregon a few years ago. I've worked in many states where kids are being put on shortened school days and kids are being told not to come to school school, or kids are having bus— not allowed to ride buses, and they're not able to access school. Once removals exceed 10 days, and that's 10 days in an academic year, not 10 days in a calendar year, and that's not 10 days in an IEP year. I'm working with a school district who last year rewrote the child's IEP in November because they'd already gone through the 10 days, and they said the 10-day clock starts again. That's not how this works. Okay, so keep this in mind. Okay, track carefully so you do not cross the 10-day threshold without providing services. What might be my advice to you is make sure that all principals, all principals and assistant principals know who are kids who are eligible for special education-related services when they come down. When this child makes a visit to the principal's office for whatever reason, if it's a discipline issue, that they make sure that they understand what's going on and they're keeping track of the days. The other thing is, if you've got a program where the kid is constantly being sent to the principal's office, you have a program that is not working for the kid, and you need to think about how to alter that program. You have a red flag that is being waved in your face. You need to do something better or different for that child so that that child can start receiving an appropriate education. And that's what's vital as a part of this one. But ensure discipline procedures are understood. Calling parents at 9 AM to come pick up their child and pick up their child and remove the child from school. Yeah, that, that can— that counts as discipline. Preventing kids from attending school because they're being kicked off the bus. And we do a lot of bus suspensions and don't allow the kids to come to school. Kids can't access school. We have to pay very close attention to what's going on as a part of this one and be real close to me, because what you basically get, you have a program that is clearly not working for the child. And something needs to be altered so that that child can move forward as part of where we are with this one. Okay, next, confirm principal's compliance role. I'm a huge fan of working with principals. I like principals. In fact, I'm going to push a book for principals in a few minutes. Stay where you are. Principals are legally responsible for special education compliance in their buildings. Remind them this: many parents do not know the district special education director. Many parents do not know the child superintendent. Sorry, Dad. But many parents— but their parents know their child's principal, and they expect the principal to understand what's going on. Remind them that they need to know their staff, programs, and procedures, and be able to explain compliance steps if challenged. Okay, so keep this in mind about this one. Principals who are informed— and I've got a tip for you in a few minutes. Yeah, I got a tip for you. I'll get to— all right, gotta start talking faster. All right. So what I want to emphasize, okay, make sure that all gen ed teachers can access the IEPs. I can't tell you how many times we've done witness preparation for a gen ed teacher and they did not have access to any component of the child's IEP, yet there were obligations for them to have things that they need to be implementing.

Right.

We're not going to put that teacher on the witness stand. We're going to put that case forward because we want to settle the little sucker because we did not do a good job. These kids are gen ed kids first, as I said a few minutes ago. We need to remind ourselves of this one. Verify that gen ed teachers have timely access to students' IEPs and understand accommodations. And keep this in mind as we're addressing this one. Keep this in mind as we're paying attention to this one. Okay, and then set the tone for productive IEP meetings. Why is this important? Because we need to make sure what we're doing for these kids is the kids are understanding and we understand what's going on. Parents come to these meetings and sometimes you're truly concerned. Okay, I, I go to a lot. I only go to contentious IEP meetings. I don't go to the happy ones. I only go to the contentious ones. But I— some of you maybe heard say this before, but I start every single IEP meeting I attend with, parents, tell us about your child. What that does is it grounds us. It reminds us that we're there to talk about a child. We're not there for a paperwork requirement or just to check off timelines. We're there to address a child's needs, and we need to do a better job of addressing these children's needs. I've got a story for that, but I'm going to tell you that next time. But it sets a constructive tone, and we need to do a better job of this one. So, case of the time we're talking about. So some of you are concerned that I'm not talking about enough legal lawsuits. Well, here's your chance. And for those of you looking for a really good summary on this one, go to specedlawblog.com. And a post from like 3 or 4, 3 or 4 times ago. There's a really good summary. Missed this date. I'm sorry, but it's interesting about this one. Okay, but this, we have to think about this one. This is, this has serious implications, especially for some of you who are using this new thing called, I think it's A1 or AI. But it's interesting about this one is addressing this one. William, great little student. Okay, but he graduated with a 3.4 GPA. And was unable to read. Why is this important? Right, is he was not being provided reading instruction. He was providing all sorts of accommodations, and he would, he would use ChatGPT to help write it, then use Grammarly to make it look so it wasn't so AI-generated, and he would turn that in. Okay, but he was being taught accommodations. What we need to make sure is we're providing direct explicit instruction to kids so they understand what's going on as a part of where they are. And that they can master and maintain them and obtain the material that we need to have them get. So keep this in mind as you address this one. Okay, so what's that? We talk about this one, and I'm going to talk about specially designed instruction needs to meet the unique needs of the child with a disability, not the disability label, the unique needs of that child. Okay, and SDI means adapting content methodology or delivery to ensure access. We need to make sure it's individualized To that child. Each and every one of these disability terms out there are umbrella terms, and you have to think about what goes under these umbrellas are wide variations. There are some kids, for instance, with learning disabilities who have trouble with reading, some with spelling, some with written language, some with math, and then some who have all those problems, but they're unique to the individual child. And we need to think about this one. Okay, so what— so this is— I'm going to talk about SDI more in a minute. Okay. The court finding. He could not read. Okay, okay. He focused on fluency, ignoring decoding and coding skills. He got extended time, text-to-speech. Yeah, they masked but did not address his inability to— his inability to read. So the, uh, the 6th Circuit— and some of you know where the 6th Circuit is— Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee. You have to think about this one. Okay. You got 888 hours of comp ed tutoring. This is for a kid who graduated with a 3.4 GPA. Okay, but what it did is it reinforced the Endrew F. standard. Endrew F. is from 2017 out of Colorado, Supreme Court case. IEP must enable progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances. And why is that phrase important? You have to remember, as part of the oral arguments— and I was there for the oral arguments— is the parents in the Endrew case wanted all children to make a year's worth of progress each year. Chief Justice John Roberts, whether you like him or not, was very prescient, and he kept asking the parents' counsel as a part of their case, what about some kids with really significant disabilities? And so keep that in mind as we address this. Okay, but key takeaway, SDI is essential. Specially Designed Instruction— we're not just providing accommodations. So keep this in mind as we're addressing this one. Keep this in mind as we pay attention to this, and keep this in mind as we're Or addressing this. And that's something that we need to pay attention to as a part of this one. And that's where we have to emphasize this, is that it applies, and we need to ensure that the children are receiving an appropriate education. Okay, so what I got here for you, all right, is I've got some forms for you, and we're going to make sure that you get some handouts that will be assessed, information that will help you as a part of where you go with this one. Okay, so what we have is we have some handouts that can help provide this. Okay, what we have here is a quick reference guide for special education administrators to identify key district contacts. We're going to send this to you so that you have understanding of what to do, where to go, how to get information, and where to get information as a part of this. It's a vital part of this process to keep this in mind, the key contacts, because you need this access on a regular basis. Wait, we got another one we're going to send to you. Okay. An orientation guide for new— this is often for new special ed directors, but anyone who's a part of this just talks about board meetings, special education staffing, where you can get information, how you can access past agendas. Have you reviewed student information about this one? But how to orient to the special education administrator is a part of this one. It's a vital part of the process to help where we are with this one. It's a good thing that we need to pay attention to and help address where we are with this one. Another one, resource assessment. Okay, a form. What is the continuum of special— how— what is this continuum of special education services offered? What does this mean by the continuum? Okay, to help evaluate available services and budget allocations. And so it gets into more detail, but here's just some pictures, some samples of these. The forms themselves are forms that you can use, forms that your teams will benefit from as a part of this one. And who can— like, just who schedules IEP meetings, who completes reevaluation reports, who does what in collecting IEP progress monitoring data. These forms will help make your job that much easier. Forms we're going to give you next, next time in October, we're going to give you forms that will help with taking data related to progress monitoring and helping and keeping track of that with tips and advice related to progress monitoring. So stay tuned as a part of this one, but it's forms that will help move this progress process forward. Okay, service provider contract with special education. Who are you contracting with as a part of this? Some of you don't have to deal with this, but most of your districts and divisions, you have to contract with others to provide information about this one. And you have to think about what they're doing and how they're doing this and what's being part of it. So keep this in mind as we address this and keep this in mind as we're paying attention to it. Okay, so this is important and valuable information for you. Okay, some books. I'm going to show some books real fast, just real fast. A book on legally compliant IEPs I did with Mitch and Jim. It's incredibly popular. Principal's Guide to Special Education, which I did with a great co-author, my dad. And so not many of you get to write with your own superintendent, but I did. All right, 2 other books: School Board Members' Guide to Special Education. I did that with a great co-author, Jennifer Klein, out of Montana. The joke when we were writing it was it had to be in large print with a lot of pictures, but it really helps his autism. And then a book that came out just about 2 weeks ago, ago about what is the Definitive Guide to Specially Designed Instruction, which I have some amazing co-authors, Peggy, Michael, and Lisa, who worked on that with me. So I've got some information out there for you as part of this one. But that's not where we're ending. I want you to get your phones out and pay attention to this one. Get your phones and sign up for this newsletter. I work with what's called LEAD IDEA. It's a nationwide center to train principals relating to specially Education and related services because we don't do a good job, and one in four principals nationwide are changing. I want you to be able to just if you scan this QR code, sign up for the newsletter. It's all free. All the stuff we're going to be pushing out is free, and will help children with disabilities move through effective implementation of IDEA. This is what's vital as a part of this, and this is something that we need to spend our time and focusing on as we're addressing this because too often we don't pay enough attention to what. we can do to provide appropriate services for these kids. And that's what we need to spend our time as a part of this one. Okay, so here, so keep this in mind as we're addressing this and keep that. All right, wait, there's more. Okay. We have another session coming up on October 30th and another session on November 20th on problem solving. So just, just keep this in mind as we're addressing this one. All right, so let's, let's move to questions. All right.

Okay, thanks, David. That was, I mean, really impressive. You got a lot of information in a quick amount of time, and I know everybody's really grateful for the resources that you're providing as well. Got a couple of questions we'll try to get answered in the chat. First off, what is your perspective on general education teachers being the teacher of service and delivering SDI?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to skip back. I'm okay with SDI. I'm okay with gen ed teachers providing SDI. And why? Because we are all instructors of the kids. And the best example I can give to you, it might sound like an accommodation, but just use this analogy. A child who's taking notes in their general education classroom, and that child needs help with note-taking, needs some instruction in note-taking.

Right.

What are we going to do at that point? Are we going to send the aide, I'm sorry, we have to— we're taking notes, you have to go down to the special ed classroom right now to take notes. No, we need to provide appropriate instruction on how to take notes in all settings. Teachers, aides, lunchroom monitors, they could all help with behaviors. We can all provide appropriate supports for this one, and we are all team members as a part of the implementation of this one. SEI does not have to be provided solely by the individuals who are labeled as special education. So if you're looking for— I'm not trying to push conferences on you, but at the CASE conference in Oklahoma City, I'm going to be doing a session on SDI. At the March 2026 CEC conference in Salt Lake City, I'm going to be doing a session on SDI. So if you happen to be attending those sessions, come by, we'll talk more about it there. I have my co-authors, they can probably help with answering some of these questions a little bit better. But what's interesting about this is SDI is not confined solely to special education teachers. We can all provide this.

All right.

Awesome.

All right, next is, what is a good real-life example of progress monitoring data for behavioral concerns?

Sure. Yeah, we get a lot of academic data from these kids. We are frequently taking academic We got grades, we have all sorts of online programs these kids are participating in. So academic data is— it should not be an issue about this one. But behavior data, we need to keep track of this one. And so one of the things what I often talk about is good behavior data, basically frequency counts of the number of times that a kid calls out, number of times the kid gets out of their seat, number of times the kid sharpens their pencil. Duration things, how long How long does the kid go to the bathroom? Or you heard me mention, alluded to this a little bit before, playground monitors. Teach a playground monitor just to take frequency data of how many times a kid actually interacts with another kid on the playground. Some of these kids are really masters of walking towards other people to look like they're actually engaging with others, but the moment they get close to someone else, they walk towards someone else. So they look like they're doing something, but they're actually not doing anything. And so we have to think about this. The problem is, is when we take behavior data, we often don't analyze it, and we often don't analyze behavior data consistently. We need to make sure that we come up with consistent times, venues as a part of this, and we're defining precisely what's going on. So when I talk about this, I'm going to make sure that you talk about this, because we're going to talk more about this behavior data probably on November 20th. But when we talk about behavior data, make sure you have consistent definitions of what we're addressing so that I understand, you understand. If your grandmother were to come to the class, she She would understand what we're taking data on as a part of this one. So we all have a really clear understanding of where we are with this, but also take data and graph that data on consistent times. So if a child, like, you want to— if a child interacts or has problems interacting with others, take it at the same time each day. Don't take it to the first part of the day, at the end of the part of the day the next day, or middle part of the day on the 3rd, and think about them as consistent. No, take them at similar times because you want to compare apples to apples. Apples to apples and not apples to oranges, which I am a fan of both of those, especially the Mandarin ones. But it's interesting about this one. We have to address what we can do as a part of this and pay attention to where we can go with this one. But behavior data is what actually trips up a lot of school districts. So I often train a lot of paraprofessionals just to take just a snapshot, a snapshot of behavior data. And I'm just talking frequency and duration. I'm not talking latency. I'm not talking fancy stuff. They can just use a little yellow sticky every time the kid gets up and does something. Give me that. But what's also— and I'm going to extend this one just because I'm on a roll, okay— is, but take data on children who are average in the classroom also. What I mean by this is, I see a lot of reports on kids. The kid is on task 40% of the time.

Okay.

That sounds terrible. I'll do the math for you. It means he's off task 60% of the time. But when I see that, Are other kids compared— give me a comparison to 2 or 3 other average typical kids, not the highest achieving, not the lowest achieving. If everyone else is in the class on task about 35 to 45% of the time, this kid is functioning like others in the classroom. But if other kids in the classroom are on task 90% of the time, which would scare me, by the way, if they're on task that much, but they're on task 90% of the time, this kid's on 40%, you've got a big difference. So we got to make sure that something— so that what you're asking about is something that be reflected of and can be shared and actually represents how that child is doing compared to others. And that's what we're looking at as a part of this one.

Okay, great. I can tell, I can feel your passion for data, which I think this is a nice segue to our next question is, what are the most common reasons for state complaints or due process filings right now?

The biggest, their biggest problem Is lack of implementation of IEPs. Right? There's also that. So that's one. It's just districts are not implementing. We talked about that a little bit before. But also, there's a dispute about what is meant by appropriate. The law requires kids to receive an appropriate education. We are only obligated to do what's appropriate. We are not obligated to do what's best, and that's. And that is— that makes it difficult for some people because we— many of us got into education because we want to do what's best for kids. Our legal obligation is appropriate. So that many— I'd say probably 80% of the cases I've been involved in are issues relating to appropriateness for the kids and what's going on about this one. But much of this can be solved, and I mean this with all seriousness. You caught me. Thanks, Allison. But it's interesting about this one. I'm a fan of data.

Yeah.

And use that data for something. Use that data for informed decision-making. Because one of the things that often comes up is I see teachers who say, I've got a kid who's really bad. Show me what that means. Just give me some data about how bad that kid is. What does that really mean? Give me a clear understanding of what it is. How many times the kid gets out? How many times the kid punches others? How many times the kid uses the F word that ends in UCK if it is not fire truck? How many times the kid does these things and pays attention to these things? Get the— give me data on these things and use that data for informed decision-making. That is what we need to pay attention to as a part of this one. So actually, the next session we are going to do a lot more on monitoring, and I am going to spend a lot more addressing this one. You are going to get hit over the head with this, and I have got some tips, and we have got some good handouts that are coming to you as addressing this one. Okay.

Awesome. Thank you, David. I think that's all the time we have for questions today, and I will say, to your point, the next session is going to cover a lot of information about monitoring. We had a lot of questions specifically around progress monitoring and data collection, so I think that's going to be a hot topic. All right. Well, for everybody, I just want to say if you want to connect more, I know myself, a lot of members of the Parallel team, along with our famous David Bateman here, Are going to be at National CASE in Oklahoma City at the beginning of November. Would love to meet you in person, put a face to a name, answer any questions that you might have. Just, just get to spend a little time with you, even decompressing and maybe talking about data and the importance of data. But please come see us there. If you're going to be there, come by the booth or come by our event, which you can see highlighted in the slide shown right now. Then following the webinar, for everybody who attended, you are going to receive a survey. Early next week with the post-webinar survey. It's very important. It helps us get feedback from you on content. How'd you feel about the content? What kind of content do you want to see in the future? So please fill out the survey. Once you fill that out, you will also receive your certificate of completion for attending today's webinar and listening to all the great things that Dr. Bateman shared out with us. And we do hope to see you again at session 2. And also, please feel free to invite a friend. So when you get that email reminder, and I know you're going to get a couple of them, please feel free to invite that to a friend or forward that to a friend or colleague that you think may also want to learn more about monitoring, which looks like it's going to be a hot topic for us in October. So, David, I want to thank you again for such an incredible presentation. Many, many powerful takeaways for everybody that got to listen here. I thank You've got them with bated breath to learn more. I know you cram so much into a small space. And then again, you guys are going to get some of those resources shared out with you. And just want to remind everybody that, you know, at Parallel, we believe in thinking differently when it comes to special education, which I know all of you all do too. That's why you've been driven to this career and are tireless educators giving so much every day to some of our most needed and necessary kids. really want to just thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you guys do out there, because I know sometimes that role is the most overused, especially that of a special education director, but not always the most— not always receiving the most gratitude for the work that you're doing. But I want you to know that we do greatly not only recognize everything that you're doing and the many, many hats that you're wearing, but greatly appreciate what you're doing for all of our children out there. Also want to just highlight that If you're a district leader juggling a lot of things, you know, our goal here is just to help you stay on the prepared path with a very flexible, customized approach and how we can partner with you in different ways and supporting you through speech, school psychology, social work, or as special education teachers as well. We help districts build custom solutions that truly work for their unique needs. So if anybody here would like to learn more about how we can do that, I'd love to invite you to a virtual coffee chat with with one of our district partnership team members. I know that link is going to be shared in the chat. If you're interested in learning more about that or any other information, please go ahead and go in there and fill that out, and we will follow up with you. If you don't have an immediate need, no big deal. We'd still love to connect just to get to know more about you and let you learn more about us. I always tell people things in special education change on a dime. It's always good to just have another resource in your pocket or your tool belt to pull out when and if ever need it. But again, thank you all. Please be on the lookout for the survey. We look forward to hearing all of your feedback and appreciate you joining us today. I look forward to seeing you in October. Thank you.