Nebraska--We Have a "Short" Problem - (Guidance on the topic of shortened day schedules)

Teresa Coonts, Amy Rhone Author

06/26/2020 Added

204 Plays

Description

At the end of this session, participants will understand how to increase the amount of time for students on a shortened day At the end of this session, participants will increase their skills and knowledge on the requirement of both state and federal laws for keeping students in school full-time At the end of this session, participants will gain knowledge of the expectations of equity for all children including those with autism.

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[00:00:02.210]Hi guys.
[00:00:03.800]I'm Teresa Coonts and I'll start the intro,
[00:00:07.980]and then Amy can introduce herself.
[00:00:09.650]But I work at the Department of Ed,
[00:00:12.260]Office of Special Education,
[00:00:14.020]and I'm the director
[00:00:16.520]of Autism and Low Incidence Disabilities,
[00:00:20.260]and then everything else that falls up underneath that.
[00:00:23.200]So a lot of things that we do
[00:00:25.680]at the Department of Ed.
[00:00:27.270]And Amy is my boss.
[00:00:30.130]And just so you know this,
[00:00:32.150]this is our first time even presenting together,
[00:00:35.430]and now we're doing it virtually,
[00:00:37.320]so this could be very interesting.
[00:00:39.090]So keep your fingers crossed, okay?
[00:00:42.410]Yes, and my name is Amy Rhone
[00:00:44.070]and like Teresa said,
[00:00:45.220]I'm the new administrator of the Office of Special Education
[00:00:49.720]in the Nebraska Department of Education.
[00:00:52.560]I was previously the assistant director
[00:00:55.510]under Steve Milliken, who is now our deputy commissioner.
[00:00:58.810]And as Teresa said, this is our first time presenting.
[00:01:03.040]But if any of you are on here and know us,
[00:01:06.030]we do a great job of talking,
[00:01:08.014](Teresa laughs)
[00:01:08.847]so I'm sure this won't be a problem.
[00:01:11.700]But we will apologize ahead of time
[00:01:13.670]for any technical difficulties that may occur.
[00:01:16.680]But we assure you that we'll try and manage them
[00:01:20.060]as they go along.
[00:01:20.990]But as Annette said,
[00:01:22.390]please feel free to interject questions throughout.
[00:01:25.830]We hoped and still continue to hope
[00:01:29.520]that this will be as interactive as possible.
[00:01:32.235]This isn't regulatory or compliance-based information.
[00:01:36.750]This is truly a Nebraska-based conversation,
[00:01:40.140]that we've started.
[00:01:41.040]Teresa and I both feel pretty passionately
[00:01:43.710]about this subject.
[00:01:45.210]And so we're just really trying to spark a conversation
[00:01:49.040]in Nebraska around this.
[00:01:51.250]So with that, I gotta figure out how to move slides.
[00:01:57.300]You don't really need this information
[00:01:59.040]'cause it's now a virtual presentation.
[00:02:02.090]And Teresa will go over our objectives.
[00:02:04.320]Yeah, and I'm not gonna read all of these to you,
[00:02:07.050]but we are gonna talk
[00:02:08.750]about just the, when you're back in school,
[00:02:11.460]we know this is a unique time for everyone,
[00:02:13.950]but we do keep our fingers crossed
[00:02:16.380]that eventually we'll be back
[00:02:18.470]within those borders of school buildings and classrooms.
[00:02:21.630]And so this is something we've kind of had some issues on.
[00:02:26.100]And so we want to just increase your awareness
[00:02:29.430]of shortening day.
[00:02:30.740]We want to increase your awareness
[00:02:32.520]about state and federal laws
[00:02:34.880]to kind of guide you and assist you.
[00:02:37.790]And then also if you've heard anything
[00:02:41.258]from our commissioner, you've heard a lot of talk
[00:02:44.130]about equity, equity for all students.
[00:02:47.050]And I think that's the thing
[00:02:48.980]I want you to go away from here today
[00:02:51.850]is thinking about higher expectations
[00:02:54.530]and equity for all
[00:02:56.250]so that all of our children on the spectrum
[00:02:58.760]can be within classrooms and school buildings,
[00:03:03.970]full days, not partial days.
[00:03:06.810]So that's kind of our discussion
[00:03:08.570]and we want it to just be a dialogue that we have.
[00:03:12.780]So with that,
[00:03:13.613]we hope that we can discuss some problems
[00:03:16.140]that we have seen across our state and nationally
[00:03:20.010]with the concept of shortened days.
[00:03:22.600]And these shortened days are decisions
[00:03:24.830]that are made by IEP teams,
[00:03:26.400]that sometimes fall within the request of a parent.
[00:03:29.940]And the concern of a free appropriate public education
[00:03:33.160]really arises around what are we doing with these days
[00:03:36.482]that aren't mirroring or matching
[00:03:40.410]full days of other students?
[00:03:42.730]This practice has increased quite significantly actually
[00:03:46.240]in Nebraska with children with ASD,
[00:03:49.230]because of behavior challenges, transportation issues,
[00:03:52.810]lack of staff and scheduling of outside therapies.
[00:03:55.640]So we're gonna talk about each of those specifically,
[00:03:58.430]and then we'll also give you some evidence-based practices
[00:04:01.730]that can assist teams
[00:04:02.840]in keeping all children in school for the full day.
[00:04:08.080]So a little history,
[00:04:09.290]and Amy touched on this a little bit,
[00:04:11.350]but we really started hearing a lot of this
[00:04:14.523]probably back in about 2017, I would say,
[00:04:19.930]of IEP team members talking about just shortening days
[00:04:24.250]of students on the spectrum,
[00:04:25.730]but not just students on the spectrum,
[00:04:28.100]a lot of students maybe with behavioral challenges.
[00:04:31.090]And so it kind of seems like it's a trend that we're seeing.
[00:04:34.870]I've been in the field over 30 something years
[00:04:37.610]and we didn't do this back in my day.
[00:04:40.340]I mean, this was something kids were there all the time.
[00:04:43.250]So there just wasn't a need for shortening days.
[00:04:47.280]It was the expectation that kids would be in school.
[00:04:50.413]So, that's one reason for bringing this up.
[00:04:54.320]The other one that's occurring
[00:04:56.190]is that it's happening more often
[00:04:58.000]with our young preschool children.
[00:05:00.210]And that we know that's not a good evidence-based practice.
[00:05:03.420]None of the research supports that piece.
[00:05:06.150]It supports kids being in classrooms
[00:05:09.070]with and learning from typical peers.
[00:05:11.970]So seeing it at a younger age
[00:05:14.180]has really been worrisome for all of us
[00:05:17.340]in special education as well.
[00:05:20.640]We're also hearing from parents
[00:05:22.670]and those IEP team members about this issue.
[00:05:26.580]And the other groups that we're hearing from
[00:05:28.920]is parent advocacy groups, which, you know,
[00:05:32.050]we have a lot of great partners in this state
[00:05:35.090]and our partners are telling us things
[00:05:37.046]about shortening days.
[00:05:39.290]And then I will also say
[00:05:40.850]our special ed staff get phone calls,
[00:05:43.630]we get complaints, all of those areas,
[00:05:46.480]and sometimes it's kind of amazing
[00:05:49.000]the discussions that we have
[00:05:51.600]that leads to teams making decisions,
[00:05:54.750]or decisions being made about shortening the school day.
[00:05:58.610]Many of the teams are also,
[00:06:00.530]and this is the one that kind of gets me going a little bit,
[00:06:04.640]is that it's usually considered the first and only option.
[00:06:10.700]And I just, you know, I said and think
[00:06:13.390]we have so many wonderful evidence-based strategies
[00:06:17.920]in so many areas.
[00:06:19.970]We have research
[00:06:20.960]in positive behavior supports and interventions.
[00:06:24.490]We have them in autism,
[00:06:26.450]we have them across the board.
[00:06:28.060]And why would that be our first and only option?
[00:06:31.450]So I'm hoping today that we take a mind shift,
[00:06:35.860]a different frame of reference
[00:06:38.260]and start thinking about what are the other things
[00:06:40.940]we can do first as an IEP team,
[00:06:44.010]instead of shifting to shortening a child's day?
[00:06:48.390]We also, in 2017, developed a TA guidance doc.
[00:06:53.040]And I don't think I have that link on here,
[00:06:56.330]but if you go
[00:06:57.163]to the Nebraska Department of Education website,
[00:07:00.590]into the special education page,
[00:07:03.380]you'll see that TA document that is entitled Shortened Day.
[00:07:08.830]And most of the things we're talking about today
[00:07:12.380]is embedded into that TA document.
[00:07:14.960]But that would give you a lot more information
[00:07:17.640]if you look at that.
[00:07:20.610]So we also felt like there were three main areas
[00:07:23.170]that we needed to focus on
[00:07:24.790]as we talk about this from a compliance standpoint,
[00:07:29.470]and why limiting the use of shortened day is important.
[00:07:34.360]So the first one being free
[00:07:36.360]and appropriate public education.
[00:07:38.410]All students with a disability
[00:07:41.160]are afforded the right to FAPE.
[00:07:43.840]And what FAPE looks like
[00:07:45.670]is dependent on the individual student.
[00:07:48.670]We'll get into the definition of FAPE a little bit more,
[00:07:51.550]but we also wanna talk about least restrictive environment
[00:07:54.910]and why it's important to house students
[00:07:57.210]with their non-disabled peers.
[00:07:59.290]And then we also have a state law on attendance
[00:08:01.580]that requires that we know and track
[00:08:03.510]where students are during the day,
[00:08:05.341]for both accountability and compliance reasons.
[00:08:09.330]So most importantly,
[00:08:11.340]all three of those pieces exist
[00:08:13.290]because all children can learn
[00:08:15.660]and should be afforded the right to learn.
[00:08:18.100]And in 2008, when IDEA was reauthorized,
[00:08:23.300]the importance and the significance of FAPE
[00:08:26.170]was defined for all families,
[00:08:28.720]and then also all educational agencies,
[00:08:31.430]both public and non-public,
[00:08:33.500]around this free and appropriate public education.
[00:08:37.170]So as stated in the law,
[00:08:38.657]"FAPE orders school districts to provide access
[00:08:41.487]"to general education and specialized educational services.
[00:08:45.857]"This means that children who have disabilities
[00:08:48.647]"are able to get support free of charge
[00:08:51.471]"in their local school systems.
[00:08:54.787]"It does not mean that the disabled students
[00:08:57.427]"will be given a better education,
[00:08:59.187]"that those that are not disabled,
[00:09:01.567]"but it means that they will be given a chance to learn."
[00:09:04.460]So I think that's the biggest piece,
[00:09:05.815]is understanding what that opportunity means
[00:09:09.130]for students with disabilities.
[00:09:11.300]So we came across this cool chart
[00:09:14.370]and it means, so it defines what each of these letters are.
[00:09:17.710]So when we say free
[00:09:19.430]in the free appropriate public education,
[00:09:21.450]this means that the government pays
[00:09:23.130]for the education of students with disabilities.
[00:09:25.820]There's no cost to families.
[00:09:27.660]However, families do have to pay the same extra school fees,
[00:09:31.370]for example, sports and club fees that are all afforded
[00:09:35.060]to all students to participate in.
[00:09:38.150]It's also, A is for appropriate,
[00:09:41.840]which means kids who qualify
[00:09:43.580]get an individualized education program
[00:09:46.610]with services to meet their unique needs.
[00:09:49.500]Others may get a 504 plan
[00:09:51.320]that gives an equal access to learning.
[00:09:53.340]And when we talk about FAPE,
[00:09:54.800]we do talk about students with disabilities globally,
[00:09:58.430]not necessarily students on an IEP or on a 504,
[00:10:02.790]but really what's afforded to students with disabilities.
[00:10:06.620]And P is for public,
[00:10:08.420]which means supervised by the public school.
[00:10:11.240]An IEP team, which includes teachers, parents, and others,
[00:10:14.950]decide what services and support the student gets.
[00:10:18.710]In a few cases,
[00:10:19.543]the government may pay for kids with disabilities
[00:10:22.300]to attend private schools in Nebraska.
[00:10:25.050]We have phenomenal partnerships
[00:10:26.770]and we provide non-public equitable services
[00:10:30.260]and/or FAPE, dependent upon the team.
[00:10:33.654]And E is for education.
[00:10:36.120]And education can include special education.
[00:10:39.220]It can also include related services
[00:10:41.910]like speech therapy, counseling or even transportation.
[00:10:46.190]So the goal is for kids to make progress in school
[00:10:49.440]and be prepared for the future.
[00:10:54.540]As Amy shared,
[00:10:55.460]I think FAPE is that umbrella of support
[00:10:58.976]that we all need to understand.
[00:11:00.970]And I love that chart
[00:11:02.280]because it talks through each of those areas.
[00:11:04.910]And sometimes I think we just assume
[00:11:07.370]it's just free public education,
[00:11:09.860]but there is very specific things for each of those letters.
[00:11:13.220]And I do, I'm kind of a geek like that.
[00:11:16.030]I like the chart and all the things that it says.
[00:11:18.960]But another key that we have in the law
[00:11:22.580]is least restrictive environment, an LRE.
[00:11:26.120]And I think, I don't like reading to you,
[00:11:29.930]but for this purpose,
[00:11:31.240]I think it's important to break down some things for LRE.
[00:11:35.220]This is the federal language.
[00:11:37.920]I'm gonna connect you also to section 008 in rule 51.
[00:11:43.500]All of that is least restrictive environment.
[00:11:46.130]I would encourage you to read it closely,
[00:11:48.910]to look at everything that's in there.
[00:11:51.460]But let's just break this down a little bit and discuss it.
[00:11:55.720]So to the maximum.
[00:11:57.390]Well, let's start with each public agency.
[00:12:00.390]So that's pretty clear.
[00:12:03.550]Each school district must ensure,
[00:12:05.690]and I think ensure's the key word as well,
[00:12:08.870]to the maximum extent appropriate,
[00:12:11.470]that children with disabilities,
[00:12:13.920]including children that are in that public
[00:12:16.480]or private institutions or other care facilities,
[00:12:21.220]are educated with children that are non-disabled.
[00:12:25.150]And, the two-parter, special classes, separate schooling
[00:12:30.090]or other removal of children with disabilities
[00:12:33.450]from the regular educational environment,
[00:12:36.070]and I bolded this,
[00:12:37.780]occurs only, those are pretty key words,
[00:12:41.980]occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability
[00:12:47.620]is such that education in regular classes
[00:12:51.070]with the, what, use of supplemental aids and services,
[00:12:57.130]'nother key words,
[00:12:59.170]I mean, and we know use of supplemental aids and services
[00:13:03.070]are a huge long list of things that can be used,
[00:13:07.010]cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
[00:13:10.210]So to me, this says we start with that continuum
[00:13:15.287]and we start with general ed,
[00:13:17.730]but we've got that continuum of LRE
[00:13:20.720]to support us in making decisions
[00:13:24.300]based upon each individual child's needs.
[00:13:27.340]But the other thing it says to me
[00:13:29.720]is use those supplemental aids and services.
[00:13:33.110]And if you think
[00:13:36.130]about all the supplemental aids and services,
[00:13:38.650]and there's been at this conference,
[00:13:40.430]there's been examples of many of those things,
[00:13:43.173]like social interaction supports,
[00:13:46.340]environmental type of changes that could occur,
[00:13:49.750]the whole session that Kelly did this morning.
[00:13:52.550]Those are things
[00:13:53.383]that could be supplemental aids and services
[00:13:55.852]to help support our students to be successful
[00:13:59.713]in the LRE that works for them.
[00:14:03.120]So on the previous slide,
[00:14:05.840]I gave you a link to the TA document
[00:14:10.070]that we developed back in 2018.
[00:14:13.490]And this was a, it was an internal document
[00:14:16.910]that we worked on across early childhood and school age.
[00:14:21.930]And in that document,
[00:14:23.420]it goes into a lot more detail
[00:14:25.430]of what least restrictive environment is,
[00:14:27.620]gives you some good examples.
[00:14:29.640]But the thing that I like in here
[00:14:31.160]and that we're gonna share is the chart.
[00:14:33.680]The chart here,
[00:14:35.350]we are calling this least restrictive environment,
[00:14:38.320]but I definitely wanna point out,
[00:14:39.940]because I love our Birth-to-Three team,
[00:14:43.130]that is not LRE, it's natural environments.
[00:14:46.950]And we did break that up
[00:14:48.310]so that you could see the difference.
[00:14:50.290]Everything to right, the blue is three to 21,
[00:14:55.720]so your part B, least restrictive environments.
[00:14:59.370]We gave you examples
[00:15:00.800]of what a natural environment would be birth to two.
[00:15:04.320]And then from three to 21,
[00:15:06.240]we gave you, this is federal law, federal requirements,
[00:15:10.410]we have to report on all of this.
[00:15:12.870]We gave you the continuum of those services.
[00:15:17.240]And at the top
[00:15:18.190]you'll see that that's the most least restrictive areas.
[00:15:21.680]And if you look at school age, just general ed classrooms,
[00:15:25.860]and if you go all the way down to the bottom,
[00:15:28.160]it's the more restrictive.
[00:15:31.154]And in between there,
[00:15:32.590]you start seeing that language of special classes,
[00:15:35.960]which can be resource rooms
[00:15:37.547]or specific self-contained classrooms.
[00:15:41.140]Sometimes, I think we call them in Nebraska
[00:15:44.750]life-skill rooms, could be.
[00:15:47.540]And then you'll start seeing some special schools
[00:15:50.040]that might be alternative schools
[00:15:51.770]or special type of schools, home instruction,
[00:15:55.590]and then instructional or institutional settings,
[00:15:58.980]such as hospital or longterm care.
[00:16:01.760]So here's the thing about this,
[00:16:03.470]that I, when I really was going through all of this
[00:16:07.200]and hadn't really connected it really well, I'll be honest,
[00:16:11.330]I was trying to connect it all.
[00:16:13.630]There's nothing in here that says shortened day, right?
[00:16:17.065](Teresa laughs)
[00:16:18.310]It really is using the least restrictive environment
[00:16:23.280]to support our kids in all of the access things
[00:16:28.190]that is afforded all students.
[00:16:30.780]So least restrictive environment
[00:16:33.190]is a tool to help all IEP teams in making those decisions.
[00:16:38.860]We also have a state law on attendance in Nebraska
[00:16:41.950]that says "A child is of mandatory attendance age
[00:16:45.027]"if the child, A, will reach six years of age
[00:16:47.950]prior to January 1 of the then-current school year,
[00:16:53.400]and B, has not reached 18 years of age.
[00:16:56.770]And this is 79-201.
[00:16:59.690]So what this means, oops,
[00:17:01.410]I think I took over your slide, Teresa.
[00:17:03.336]It's okay! (laughs)
[00:17:05.110]Go for it, you're good.
[00:17:06.170]Are you sure?
[00:17:07.003]Yeah!
[00:17:07.930]So what this means is that by state law,
[00:17:11.680]students are to be in attendance in a school environment.
[00:17:16.040]So every individual education plan
[00:17:20.200]must meet to decide a shortened day for a student.
[00:17:23.920]And if they have not decided and put into a plan
[00:17:28.110]what that day might look like,
[00:17:30.000]then those are days that they should be counting kids
[00:17:32.940]out of attendance.
[00:17:34.430]So for our kids who are in school,
[00:17:37.960]if they are sent home during a portion of the day,
[00:17:42.160]because of behaviors or things like that,
[00:17:44.100]that is supposed to be considered absent from school
[00:17:48.300]or not in attendance according to our state law,
[00:17:52.130]if there is not a plan written within their IEP
[00:17:56.250]to say that they are not receiving services
[00:17:59.490]in a school building at that time.
[00:18:04.100]So the next slide,
[00:18:06.380]we wanna talk a little bit
[00:18:07.510]about what is appropriate uses of a shortened day?
[00:18:10.360]And I don't want you walking away
[00:18:12.740]thinking that you can't have some shortened day,
[00:18:16.760]but I do wanna challenge you
[00:18:19.400]to have a different mind concept and higher expectations,
[00:18:23.200]especially for our kiddos with behavior challenges.
[00:18:27.810]I think we've got too many good supports out there
[00:18:30.420]that can keep them in school longer.
[00:18:33.070]So let's look at this and let's break this down a little bit
[00:18:35.570]of appropriate uses of a shortened day.
[00:18:38.500]So of course like Amy stated,
[00:18:40.410]IEP teams are making that decision.
[00:18:43.460]That's a key thing.
[00:18:44.750]I'm going to say it again.
[00:18:46.850]IEP teams are making that decision.
[00:18:49.440]It's not made by administrator,
[00:18:51.560]it's not made by a parent,
[00:18:53.410]it's not made by one individual person from that IEP team.
[00:18:57.270]It's that IEP team making the decision.
[00:18:59.950]So some examples could be a child has extreme medical needs
[00:19:03.883]and maybe can't tolerate the full day.
[00:19:08.330]I'm always real cautious with that
[00:19:10.070]because I really know a lot of kids
[00:19:12.750]with extreme medical needs.
[00:19:14.570]My background is significant disabilities
[00:19:16.860]and deaf-blindness, and we've got some kids
[00:19:19.390]with really some intensive needs
[00:19:22.210]and medical needs that are in school all day.
[00:19:25.450]So, I don't want that to be your only excuse, (laughs)
[00:19:30.820]but you definitely can have some kids
[00:19:33.686]that just cannot tolerate being there for the full time.
[00:19:38.440]But if you're going to decide that,
[00:19:40.570]remember it's the IEP team making that decision,
[00:19:43.850]you must include why that student's disability
[00:19:47.410]and their needs are requiring a shortened day.
[00:19:51.270]And then write that plan like Amy was talking about,
[00:19:53.960]be sure that you're talking about, well what is the plan
[00:19:57.500]for returning to school for the full day?
[00:20:00.230]There has to be that discussion.
[00:20:02.040]And we need to start seeing that documented in your IEPs.
[00:20:06.230]In addition, the students should return
[00:20:08.160]to the full school day, as soon as he or she is able.
[00:20:11.997]And we know some of these kids have very,
[00:20:15.840]they're very medically fragile, they're very intense.
[00:20:19.410]But we should always be thinking
[00:20:21.380]of a way to start increasing.
[00:20:22.940]And you may have to gradually increase that time,
[00:20:25.940]but just always have a plan in place
[00:20:28.222]for increasing that amount of time
[00:20:31.290]so that a child can be in school full time
[00:20:35.870]and have full access to all of the curricular things
[00:20:40.490]that are going on and all of the academics going on.
[00:20:45.450]So we refer to this sometimes
[00:20:47.950]as the life sentence of shortened day.
[00:20:52.290]I can't tell you how many IEPs we have reviewed
[00:20:55.810]where a first grader, the IEP team has decided
[00:21:00.980]that they'll shorten the student's day
[00:21:03.370]because of behavior issues,
[00:21:05.840]and come third grade, we're reviewing
[00:21:08.390]and the student is still on a shortened day.
[00:21:11.180]So we'll go back to the team
[00:21:12.530]and we'll say, "Hey, why is this student
[00:21:14.257]"still on a shortened day?"
[00:21:15.297]And they're like, "I don't know.
[00:21:16.537]"It was just that way since first grade."
[00:21:18.864]So annual IEP meetings are supposed to be occurring
[00:21:23.340]where we're discussing progress of students.
[00:21:26.400]And if we're not seeing progress
[00:21:28.840]in a shortened day environment,
[00:21:30.640]then we need to look at why the progress isn't being made
[00:21:35.050]and potentially what other services should be in place.
[00:21:38.820]So year one, day one of a shortened day decision,
[00:21:42.764]progress on that shortened day should be collected
[00:21:46.851]at least quarterly.
[00:21:49.070]If it were me, I'd probably want it sooner
[00:21:51.040]because the quicker we get kids back into environments,
[00:21:54.127]the more successful they can be.
[00:21:58.030]And also Amy, as part of that,
[00:21:59.980]they should be talking
[00:22:00.960]about the least restrictive environment.
[00:22:02.930]Is there, I mean, should we be considering
[00:22:05.650]a different type of program,
[00:22:07.110]if we feel we cannot meet the needs here?
[00:22:10.510]Also, I'm gonna go back even farther,
[00:22:13.270]supplemental aids and services.
[00:22:15.020]Do we need to revisit those things again?
[00:22:17.450]Do we need to bring in some specialists to support us,
[00:22:20.890]to learn a skill art or to support our staff
[00:22:23.760]in learning the skill to keep our kids in school?
[00:22:27.620]So those are the things
[00:22:29.260]to start thinking about in that plan.
[00:22:36.480]So we're gonna start discussing now
[00:22:38.890]some inappropriate uses of a shortened day.
[00:22:42.090]And right off the top of our heads,
[00:22:44.630]Teresa and I were easily able to conclude on these top four.
[00:22:49.600]And we're gonna go in,
[00:22:50.538]dive into each one of them a little bit deeper
[00:22:53.280]and give you some examples.
[00:22:55.700]So the four that we feel
[00:22:57.180]like we really wanted to focus on today
[00:22:59.330]are managing student behavior and as a means of discipline.
[00:23:04.330]So, students on IEPs should not have shortened days
[00:23:08.620]in lieu of in school or out of school suspensions
[00:23:12.557]that may constitute more than 10 absence
[00:23:16.310]or out of days of from the school environment.
[00:23:19.380]That you should be then considering
[00:23:21.610]manifestation determination or alternate placement,
[00:23:24.500]if your school district or school building
[00:23:26.830]is not the correct placement.
[00:23:28.920]Another inappropriate use of shortened day
[00:23:30.900]would be the accommodating transportation schedules.
[00:23:33.859]We have some examples of this
[00:23:36.360]that we've come across here in Nebraska.
[00:23:38.860]Administrative convenience or shortage of staff
[00:23:42.709]really should never be one of considerations
[00:23:46.150]for shortening a student's day.
[00:23:48.210]Accommodating regularly scheduled outside therapies,
[00:23:51.570]which actually has come up quite a bit lately.
[00:23:53.950]So we really thought we'd spend some time focusing on that.
[00:23:59.690]So the first one,
[00:24:00.680]managing student behavior and as a means of discipline.
[00:24:04.870]So our federal law is really clear.
[00:24:07.800]IDEA States that "An IEP
[00:24:10.467]"is supposed to address behavioral needs."
[00:24:14.010]So if you have a student,
[00:24:16.110]regardless of their verification category
[00:24:18.760]or their identification,
[00:24:20.400]their behavior needs should be addressed.
[00:24:24.170]So this is not something we do only for kids
[00:24:28.321]who are found to be emotionally disturbed.
[00:24:33.040]This is not something that we only do for kids
[00:24:37.000]who are verified with autism.
[00:24:39.690]We are supposed to be considering the behavior needs
[00:24:43.690]of all students with disabilities
[00:24:46.190]and then implementing
[00:24:48.580]positive behavior interventions and support,
[00:24:51.210]says right in the federal law,
[00:24:53.480]positive behavior interventions and support
[00:24:56.470]to meet each individual student's needs.
[00:24:59.590]So in the case of a student
[00:25:00.850]whose behavior impedes the student's learning
[00:25:04.250]or that of others,
[00:25:05.530]the IEP must include those positive behavior interventions,
[00:25:09.870]supports and strategies reasonably calculated
[00:25:14.060]to enable the student to participate in the full day.
[00:25:17.920]So there's also additional guidance from OSEP in 2016
[00:25:21.890]through a dear colleague letter,
[00:25:23.580]that emphasizes the requirement
[00:25:25.460]that school districts provide positive behavior supports
[00:25:28.670]to students with disabilities who need them.
[00:25:31.440]It also clarifies that the repeated use
[00:25:34.960]of disciplinary actions may suggest
[00:25:38.360]that many children with disabilities
[00:25:40.720]may not be receiving appropriate behavior supports
[00:25:45.030]and interventions when needed.
[00:25:47.910]So we really just wanna encourage districts
[00:25:50.290]to consider the use of different supports with students,
[00:25:53.940]all students with disabilities,
[00:25:55.860]prior to the first action being shortening their day.
[00:26:00.130]When schools fail to consider
[00:26:01.980]and provide for needed behavior supports through the IEP,
[00:26:05.270]it is likely to result in a child not receiving FAPE,
[00:26:09.810]to which they are entitled under that federal law.
[00:26:13.720]Shortened school days should never be implemented
[00:26:16.960]as a way to deal
[00:26:18.440]with a student's disability-related behaviors.
[00:26:21.655]Many families report that they are often called
[00:26:24.780]to pick up their children from school
[00:26:27.000]because the school cannot control the behaviors.
[00:26:30.710]While this may be necessary in very, very isolated events,
[00:26:35.540]where there are serious threats to one's physical safety,
[00:26:39.210]and there are some specific laws
[00:26:41.420]around weapons, use of drugs, those types of things,
[00:26:45.837]if the school does not know
[00:26:47.870]how to meet the child's behavior needs,
[00:26:50.130]it must reconvene the IEP meeting or the IEP team
[00:26:54.150]to discuss what other options are out there
[00:26:56.650]and solutions that might be needing to be taking place.
[00:27:01.070]Which may include contracting with a behavior consultant,
[00:27:04.600]our ASD network,
[00:27:07.610]or conducting a functional behavior assessment
[00:27:10.610]in the classroom,
[00:27:11.470]and then implementing a behavior intervention plan.
[00:27:14.880]So often we see students with disabilities
[00:27:17.439]such as SLD or SLI who don't have behavior plans,
[00:27:22.570]but have discipline action placed on them.
[00:27:25.960]And then there's not support for them
[00:27:28.550]because of their behaviors,
[00:27:29.700]because those disabilities don't always warrant the thought
[00:27:34.950]or the thinking of behavior plans.
[00:27:37.050]But all students with disabilities
[00:27:39.240]are supposed to be afforded that function.
[00:27:43.434]So we do have some examples
[00:27:45.450]that we've encountered around this.
[00:27:48.300]We have heard from parents
[00:27:50.610]who reluctantly agree with the shortened day
[00:27:53.990]because the schools have compiled booklets
[00:27:57.040]full of every single possible bad thing
[00:28:00.100]the student has ever done.
[00:28:02.990]We often see data
[00:28:04.250]on all of the student's concerning behaviors
[00:28:07.060]and punitive consequences that haven't worked,
[00:28:10.180]but we see very little data
[00:28:12.170]on proactive positive behavior supports for reinforcement,
[00:28:15.970]that they have implemented with consistency
[00:28:18.808]and tried to teach replacement behaviors
[00:28:22.900]instead of the quote unquote bad behaviors
[00:28:26.250]that are being seen.
[00:28:28.860]So we find ourselves returning time and time again
[00:28:32.450]to the basic tier one strategies
[00:28:34.530]that we constantly are talking about to help students.
[00:28:39.190]And if we don't have a strong, solid core in place,
[00:28:42.700]teaching behaviors, reinforcing behaviors,
[00:28:45.760]talking about behaviors,
[00:28:47.570]putting things in place that help students reinforce
[00:28:51.660]what other students are doing that are positive,
[00:28:53.770]so that they're not always pointing out the negative
[00:28:56.250]in an individual student,
[00:28:58.050]then we're not able to put tier two pieces in place
[00:29:01.280]for students who potentially need them
[00:29:03.540]because we aren't accommodating
[00:29:06.270]and working with all students.
[00:29:08.190]So we just really wanna encourage
[00:29:09.790]the use of positive behavior interventions and supports
[00:29:13.350]as much as possible.
[00:29:16.610]Our next area that we have come across is-
[00:29:20.517]Is accommodating transportation schedules.
[00:29:24.350]And this is something that we hear a lot about.
[00:29:28.600]So school districts,
[00:29:30.190]may not reduce the student's instructional time
[00:29:32.870]by starting the school day later,
[00:29:35.428]or releasing the student earlier
[00:29:37.740]than their typical non-disabled peers
[00:29:40.540]in order accommodate a transportation schedule.
[00:29:44.460]This really is a denial of access and equal opportunity.
[00:29:48.820]So what we hear of sometimes
[00:29:51.780]is that the students with disabilities
[00:29:54.220]are transported on the same bus,
[00:29:58.530]but that bus leaves 15 to 20 minutes earlier
[00:30:01.790]than all of the other buses.
[00:30:04.200]And that really is an inappropriate use
[00:30:07.195]of using shortened day.
[00:30:10.040]There's been a lot of case study and case law
[00:30:14.580]throughout really the whole US,
[00:30:17.870]on, and it's been investigated more
[00:30:20.350]in the area of Office of Civil Rights,
[00:30:22.780]so that gets into that equal access, equity,
[00:30:27.060]all of those areas.
[00:30:28.760]And the Office of Civil Rights have found
[00:30:30.880]that these shortened school days
[00:30:32.350]are in violation of Section 504 law.
[00:30:35.810]And they've ordered districts to fix those problems
[00:30:39.210]and also consider the appropriate use
[00:30:41.760]of compensatory education for any lost school time.
[00:30:45.510]So we really discourage you
[00:30:47.480]from setting an example of, "Oh, well these kids
[00:30:50.657]"are in a level three
[00:30:51.867]"and they need to leave 20 minutes earlier
[00:30:54.317]"than everyone else,
[00:30:55.397]"or they need to arrive 20 minutes later."
[00:30:58.820]That's a caution for all of you
[00:31:00.840]to think about before you make those decisions.
[00:31:04.383]So one of the things that we talk about often
[00:31:07.570]with our special educators is around behaviors
[00:31:11.920]that are triggered because of transportation issues.
[00:31:15.210]So we try to get students out of the school building earlier
[00:31:19.990]because when they hear the bell,
[00:31:21.460]they are unable to control behaviors.
[00:31:24.500]So we're just getting all of the students on the spectrum,
[00:31:27.190]out of the building
[00:31:28.340]so that they don't have to deal with those behaviors.
[00:31:31.570]Well, we should be reinforcing
[00:31:33.540]positive behavior interventions and supports for students.
[00:31:37.080]I'm gonna try and say it as much as possible,
[00:31:39.350]I'll tell you why in a minute.
[00:31:40.310]Say it again, Amy, say it again!
[00:31:42.080]Positive behavior interventions and supports
[00:31:44.760]and replacement behaviors.
[00:31:47.200]So instead of shortening those students
[00:31:49.830]who can't handle bell ringing day
[00:31:52.590]and not giving them access,
[00:31:54.330]let's teach them how to accommodate for themselves.
[00:31:59.620]Maybe getting them some earmuffs or mufflers
[00:32:02.290]that they can then not hear the bell.
[00:32:04.880]Let's teach them replacement behaviors
[00:32:07.030]that they can use instead of behaviors
[00:32:09.150]that are not appropriate during those times.
[00:32:11.670]And let's work with students
[00:32:13.130]so that they can have equal access
[00:32:14.840]to the same amount of time.
[00:32:16.500]Let me just tell you from personal experience,
[00:32:19.870]the Office of Civil Rights loves these cases.
[00:32:23.660]So please, please, please do not shorten
[00:32:27.620]or decrease a day because of transportation issues
[00:32:32.920]in a school building.
[00:32:36.700]The next one that we have seen quite often
[00:32:40.270]is the accommodating regularly scheduled,
[00:32:43.180]out, did I skip one?
[00:32:44.900]Nope, that's it.
[00:32:45.960]Oh, good.
[00:32:46.793]I just put them in different orders on the first slide.
[00:32:48.580]Accommodating regularly scheduled outside therapies.
[00:32:52.050]So an IEP team may not shorten a student's school day
[00:32:56.810]based solely on a parent's request
[00:32:59.500]to accommodate regularly scheduled non-school medical
[00:33:02.508]or therapeutic appointments.
[00:33:05.090]We understand and have heard often from parents,
[00:33:10.210]the frustrating side of this
[00:33:12.120]because their outside therapist
[00:33:14.670]only works during school hours and they can't really move,
[00:33:18.572]they can't get the kid in after 3:30 or after four o'clock
[00:33:23.010]for those therapies.
[00:33:24.450]Or worse, we've heard from many
[00:33:26.763]in our western side of the state
[00:33:29.460]or even central part of the state,
[00:33:31.650]that they have to leave school early
[00:33:33.760]so that they can travel across the state
[00:33:35.810]to get to those outside therapies.
[00:33:37.940]I think we're in a pretty precedent
[00:33:40.610]in time right now,
[00:33:41.610]where maybe we're learning to use teletherapies
[00:33:44.270]and telephonic communication systems better.
[00:33:48.060]And maybe we can start providing for students
[00:33:50.241]in their natural environment through those.
[00:33:53.380]But when absence are frequent,
[00:33:56.680]the IEP team should meet
[00:33:58.500]to determine how to ensure the continued provision of FAPE
[00:34:02.650]in order for the child to continue to progress
[00:34:05.230]and meet the annual goals of the IEP.
[00:34:08.240]So another thing that we've had to work through
[00:34:11.320]with some districts lately,
[00:34:12.640]is, so if an IEP team doesn't determine
[00:34:17.467]that that outside therapy is needed,
[00:34:20.010]so the school district believes
[00:34:21.470]that they can provide that outside therapy,
[00:34:23.990]it truly is an absence on the student's part.
[00:34:29.060]Now we understand that there's lots of therapies out there,
[00:34:33.560]or lots of services out there
[00:34:35.270]that families choose to take part of,
[00:34:37.970]that the school district or the school building
[00:34:40.700]doesn't necessarily believe that they're not providing
[00:34:45.000]through alternate means of educational opportunity.
[00:34:48.720]And we get that.
[00:34:50.420]But if a school district is providing for a student
[00:34:54.540]and those individual therapies
[00:34:57.650]start to interfere with the day,
[00:34:59.300]causing for a student to miss
[00:35:00.860]more educational opportunities,
[00:35:02.970]it then does become an issue
[00:35:04.580]around if the student is actually receiving their FAPE.
[00:35:09.610]Right?
[00:35:10.443]So we do need people to consider this,
[00:35:12.630]both schools and parents to consider,
[00:35:15.720]are we making sure that our students are receiving FAPE
[00:35:18.740]in these instances?
[00:35:23.070]And then last but not least, no,
[00:35:25.372]I think I just must have missed one
[00:35:27.230]somewhere along the line,
[00:35:28.550]is administrative convenience.
[00:35:31.070]So a student's school day may not be shortened
[00:35:34.295]for administrative convenience, including staff shortage.
[00:35:38.730]And we know that this is something
[00:35:40.700]that actually is a national concern,
[00:35:44.770]is a national issue right now,
[00:35:47.308]in that we are slowly but surely
[00:35:51.160]running out of special education teachers and providers.
[00:35:54.828]We're gonna work diligently
[00:35:56.570]to make this something different.
[00:35:59.470]But we cannot say, "Hey, we're not gonna provide
[00:36:02.797]"this full day for this student
[00:36:04.927]"or for students with these disabilities
[00:36:07.337]"because we don't have staff to do that."
[00:36:10.330]That just can't be something that we do.
[00:36:13.110]And it's not something that should ever be a consideration
[00:36:16.270]for our kiddos.
[00:36:17.660]A student's school day may not be shortened
[00:36:20.100]in order to give the staff a break.
[00:36:22.370]We unfortunately have actually seen this in some situations
[00:36:26.620]where the para or the teacher
[00:36:30.680]is unable to do those last 45 minutes of the day,
[00:36:34.440]because that's the only time
[00:36:36.150]they are able to get a break in.
[00:36:38.700]So they just shorten the day
[00:36:40.180]and send the kids home in that block of time.
[00:36:43.950]And that can not be a consideration
[00:36:46.310]for any group of, or individual student.
[00:36:50.220]And then last, a student's school day cannot be shortened
[00:36:53.790]because a staff member is not in school that day.
[00:36:57.700]So this is something that sometimes we see.
[00:37:00.940]The school calls and tells the family,
[00:37:03.697]"Hey, just go ahead and keep Johnny home today."
[00:37:07.080]I always feel bad cause I always use the word Johnny.
[00:37:09.131]I don't mean to discriminate against the Amy's of the world
[00:37:14.850]by always using Johnny.
[00:37:16.000]But in this instance,
[00:37:17.680]we're calling the family all on the days
[00:37:20.010]where Johnny's para is not in school today.
[00:37:22.930]Johnny's para's home sick.
[00:37:24.780]So you're gonna go ahead and keep the child home
[00:37:27.000]because we can't provide for Johnny without his para.
[00:37:31.910]We'd just like to remind everyone
[00:37:34.640]that the use of a para is not to be prescriptive
[00:37:38.460]to a one-on-one.
[00:37:40.670]So a school district,
[00:37:41.910]if deciding that a student needs the assistance
[00:37:45.440]of an paraprofessional or an assistant, an aide,
[00:37:48.770]in any way can not be dependent upon an individual person
[00:37:52.960]to provide this service.
[00:37:54.790]So if that's the supplemental aid or service
[00:37:57.460]or that a school district determines a student needs,
[00:38:01.080]then that is afforded to that student,
[00:38:02.770]regardless of who's in the building that day.
[00:38:05.980]So just remember that.
[00:38:07.700]And that goes along with behavior specialists
[00:38:10.980]or interventionists that are in the buildings
[00:38:13.230]that are working with our students.
[00:38:15.520]So I'll just give you an example.
[00:38:17.600]A student moves into a new district
[00:38:19.820]and the school tells the parents
[00:38:21.180]that they aren't ready for the student
[00:38:23.500]who is on the IEP,
[00:38:24.720]and based on the IEP that they have accepted,
[00:38:29.210]it is in effect.
[00:38:30.580]And the school asks the parents to keep the student home
[00:38:33.020]until they can work out staffing and scheduling.
[00:38:36.260]So this is actually never, ever acceptable.
[00:38:39.540]Do we understand that we may not
[00:38:42.270]have every service in place,
[00:38:43.700]the minute a student arrives at school?
[00:38:46.100]Yes.
[00:38:46.933]And we may need to work through and try some things, yes.
[00:38:49.610]But we cannot ask a family to keep their child home
[00:38:52.410]because we're not ready for them in our school buildings.
[00:38:55.560]So many situations,
[00:38:57.280]especially with some of our younger children with autism,
[00:39:01.370]that the IEP team and/or the administrator tell the parents
[00:39:05.140]that the student can't come to school for a full day
[00:39:07.280]because there's no staff available to be with them.
[00:39:10.210]We see that a lot actually in our pre-K environments.
[00:39:14.010]And it's just not something that can happen.
[00:39:17.526]Also, shortened school days
[00:39:19.900]with no specific plan to extend the day,
[00:39:23.240]or no plan to train staff or put in behavior supports
[00:39:26.890]for any interventionists,
[00:39:27.960]so a child can be successful in that day.
[00:39:30.820]We see this often where behaviors impede the school day
[00:39:35.120]from happening fully.
[00:39:36.820]So because the teachers aren't trained the right way
[00:39:42.086]or they haven't had the training
[00:39:44.850]on positive behavior interventions and support,
[00:39:47.290]so they decide just to not have students in the buildings
[00:39:50.230]or in the classrooms during that time.
[00:39:52.580]So if you do need to provide training
[00:39:55.160]and support to teachers,
[00:39:57.640]you need to do it with the appropriate use of a substitute
[00:40:01.430]or subbing in special education teachers
[00:40:04.910]to provide for that student when needed.
[00:40:09.820]The other one that we have here
[00:40:11.430]is upon parent request.
[00:40:13.050]And definitely a parent can request a change
[00:40:15.247]in the length of a student's school day
[00:40:18.680]and the school district must respond to that.
[00:40:20.810]I think we've talked about this a little bit,
[00:40:22.745]but just to kind of reinforce it a little bit more,
[00:40:27.614]that schools must refer
[00:40:29.090]to their local attendance and excusal policies.
[00:40:31.970]Our kiddos are treated the same with all of that,
[00:40:35.310]to determine where those absences are excused.
[00:40:38.700]And then we have a big however here.
[00:40:41.430]Any changes to that regular school schedule
[00:40:43.960]must be provided and made by that student's IEP team,
[00:40:47.740]which does include the parent,
[00:40:49.240]they're equal members as part of that team.
[00:40:53.120]The other thing we want to just say here
[00:40:55.070]is that this decision must be reflected in that IEP,
[00:40:59.007]and there must be, we'll say it again,
[00:41:01.790]there must be a plan for returning back to full day.
[00:41:06.410]And we can't say that enough because we're just not seeing.
[00:41:10.320]When we're doing monitoring and looking at IEPs,
[00:41:13.590]we're not seeing that transition plan back in there.
[00:41:17.210]And it's not the transition plan we're talking about
[00:41:20.580]for post secondary,
[00:41:22.120]it's just a plan written somewhere,
[00:41:24.060]either in a present level or in the notes page at somewhere
[00:41:28.880]about what the plan is for coming back
[00:41:31.310]and/or for extending that time
[00:41:33.890]so that we can get back to full day.
[00:41:39.230]So another huge issue that we have
[00:41:41.836]as a standard for all students with disabilities
[00:41:45.080]or for a group of students.
[00:41:47.180]So any decision to shorten a student's school day
[00:41:49.910]must be made on an individual case by case basis,
[00:41:53.580]by the student's IEP team.
[00:41:55.960]Some districts have dealt with the behavioral issues
[00:41:58.630]by excluding students from school
[00:42:01.240]and substituting as little as one hour
[00:42:03.770]of tutoring per day at home.
[00:42:06.310]And this, if it's not something
[00:42:09.060]that's afforded to all students,
[00:42:11.690]then it's not equal access.
[00:42:13.770]Access to education is a cornerstone
[00:42:17.250]of preparing young people for life.
[00:42:19.820]Students with behavioral needs
[00:42:20.896]cannot afford to lose the hours of education
[00:42:24.330]that they need to grow and develop.
[00:42:26.790]So also, I thought I would bring up here
[00:42:29.770]that actually Oregon had a pretty large lawsuit
[00:42:33.660]against a school district,
[00:42:35.550]and it ended up going to their state level,
[00:42:39.480]around specifically shortening school days
[00:42:43.570]for students who were found to be on the autism spectrum.
[00:42:48.450]So if you want to in your spare time,
[00:42:51.450]'cause I know you probably have a lot of it right now,
[00:42:54.360]go out and research the Oregon law.
[00:42:57.477]It was a really big lawsuit
[00:43:00.300]that ended up going to a state level
[00:43:03.100]to really get people to understand
[00:43:06.880]that they cannot shorten specific groups of students' days
[00:43:11.170]just based on their verification
[00:43:13.130]or in this case identification category.
[00:43:17.308]So we hear from families and others sometimes,
[00:43:19.880]that a school may have a plan for multiple students
[00:43:22.157]in a setting who struggle with behavior.
[00:43:26.980]The school have a school-wide system
[00:43:29.127]of the student needing to earn a percentage of points
[00:43:32.979]to add back a period into the school day,
[00:43:36.470]or even to earn the opportunity
[00:43:38.350]to be in a general education environment.
[00:43:40.720]So unfortunately, or actually fortunately
[00:43:44.550]for our students with disabilities,
[00:43:46.520]there is no such thing in federal language
[00:43:49.730]that says students with disabilities
[00:43:51.630]have to earn their right
[00:43:53.840]to be in a general education environment.
[00:43:55.980]Go, Teresa.
[00:43:57.140]Can you say that again?
[00:43:58.710]There is no such thing
[00:44:00.600]as a student with a disability
[00:44:02.360]having to earn their way
[00:44:04.456]into general education or any setting actually
[00:44:07.580]for that right.
[00:44:09.186]Many times it is based on an end goal
[00:44:12.460]that all students have to achieve
[00:44:13.980]in order to be back in the classroom,
[00:44:16.210]or even come back to school.
[00:44:18.210]So we've actually heard from some parents
[00:44:23.260]that some schools have policies
[00:44:25.930]that in order for their students with ASD, on the spectrum,
[00:44:32.720]to be in that high school setting,
[00:44:35.400]that they must complete certain steps in a level three
[00:44:40.000]before they can come back,
[00:44:41.270]or in a segregated or separate environment
[00:44:44.150]in that district office
[00:44:47.360]or something like that,
[00:44:48.230]before they can even be afforded the opportunity
[00:44:51.950]in a general education or in that general setting.
[00:44:55.180]So we just really want to encourage districts and parents
[00:45:00.110]to know that this is not something
[00:45:02.637]that students with disabilities ever should have to earn.
[00:45:06.810]Then on the flip side the district will say,
[00:45:09.697]"But we have a plan to return to that student to school.
[00:45:13.687]"They just have to get these desired points
[00:45:16.297]"or they have to get these desired milestones
[00:45:19.977]"within this plan."
[00:45:22.260]Yeah, that is never ever something
[00:45:25.080]that a student should have to earn,
[00:45:28.053]if they are a student with a disability.
[00:45:32.970]And in fact-
[00:45:34.270]Go ahead.
[00:45:36.357]And in fact, Amy,
[00:45:38.020]to me, as you're talking about this,
[00:45:39.810]it sounds a lot like it could be
[00:45:41.700]since you're targeting a subgroup of kids,
[00:45:44.390]an Office of Civil Rights issue.
[00:45:47.350]Absolutely.
[00:45:49.290]There is nothing in the law that supports the strategy.
[00:45:52.490]In fact, it seems like discrimination,
[00:45:55.840]it really does, against the subgroup of children,
[00:45:58.750]which can be an Office of Civil Rights issue
[00:46:01.180]very easily I would think.
[00:46:03.600]LRE in the law is not about earning our way back,
[00:46:06.910]it's about working through the continuum
[00:46:09.470]and add, oh, my cat just jumped up. (laughs)
[00:46:11.900]And added supplementary aids and supports,
[00:46:14.200]including the hot, guess what, guess what?
[00:46:17.710]Positive behavior intervention supports.
[00:46:20.580]There we go.
[00:46:21.531]There we go.
[00:46:22.364]So please include
[00:46:23.360]your positive behavioral interventions and supports
[00:46:25.530]before turning to a shortened day for students.
[00:46:31.645]So, now we thought
[00:46:34.710]we would just put in a few questions here and you know,
[00:46:39.130]we were gonna have like a little activity and everything,
[00:46:42.560]but of course we can't do that in this environment,
[00:46:44.980]but we can still kind of talk through these questions.
[00:46:47.418]So the first question is must an IEP team meeting
[00:46:51.860]be held before the school district
[00:46:53.530]shortens the length of a student's school day?
[00:46:55.620]And we're giving you the answer right away.
[00:46:57.350]And the answer of course,
[00:46:58.430]and I think you've heard us loud and clear say, "Yes."
[00:47:01.440]This is definitely through the IEP team,
[00:47:04.950]and before you make any changes to shortening the day,
[00:47:10.330]you have to meet as an IEP team.
[00:47:13.170]And we hope that you've heard loudly
[00:47:16.240]that you have a plan in place of the transition back,
[00:47:19.770]because that's the piece that we're wanting to start seeing
[00:47:22.560]as we continue our monitoring and moving forward.
[00:47:27.690]So our second question is how should a shortened day
[00:47:30.380]be documented in the student's IEP?
[00:47:33.790]Well, the answer is there is no right,
[00:47:36.980]but there is no wrong way to document this.
[00:47:39.410]The IEP must include a clear description
[00:47:42.270]of the special education services, related services
[00:47:45.940]and supplementary aids and services to be provided,
[00:47:48.627]including the amount of time, frequency, location,
[00:47:52.500]and duration of services.
[00:47:54.570]The team would explain the total length of the school day,
[00:47:57.970]and then describe to the extent
[00:47:59.961]that the team would need to meet
[00:48:01.670]to discuss the student's plan
[00:48:03.200]to return to an increased school day.
[00:48:06.120]So I think Teresa mentioned earlier
[00:48:08.630]that this could be done in the present level,
[00:48:10.720]or it could be done just right in the notes page.
[00:48:14.770]More times than often
[00:48:16.140]it is included in the present level,
[00:48:18.340]as that is currently the present level of the student
[00:48:21.594]is this length of time for a school day.
[00:48:25.010]So it seems like
[00:48:26.850]that would be the most appropriate place to put it,
[00:48:29.640]but it has to be somewhere.
[00:48:32.040]Yeah.
[00:48:32.873]And I think we could probably even see it up there
[00:48:35.550]on that service page of the IEP,
[00:48:37.630]where you have your special ed related services,
[00:48:40.520]you could just put a statement there
[00:48:41.893]of what the transition plan back to school full time is.
[00:48:46.250]I mean, it could be in a variety of places,
[00:48:48.280]'cause when we're looking at files,
[00:48:50.550]we're reading that entire IEP
[00:48:52.350]to see how it all connects.
[00:48:54.210]So, I'd encourage you
[00:48:56.640]just to be sure that it's documented real well
[00:48:58.970]and that you have an understanding and a plan
[00:49:02.760]for bringing that student back to full day.
[00:49:08.810]So now we wanna switch a little bit more,
[00:49:12.260]so we gave you the state and federal law
[00:49:14.877]and some of the Nebraska examples.
[00:49:17.770]These are true examples folks.
[00:49:20.060]And they're true examples happening in our state
[00:49:23.600]with our kids on the spectrum,
[00:49:25.210]along, like Amy said, with other disabilities as well.
[00:49:29.120]So we haven't made up these stories.
[00:49:31.100]These are true stories that have happened and occurred.
[00:49:34.740]But we want to focus on some evidence based strategies.
[00:49:37.940]And there's no way we can give you all of those,
[00:49:40.340]but we want to just kind of point out a few things.
[00:49:43.370]So I'm gonna say it here,
[00:49:44.888]because Amy's not getting to say it,
[00:49:47.500]is the positive behavior supports
[00:49:49.630]and strategies and interventions.
[00:49:51.800]It's the first thing I ask when someone calls me
[00:49:55.180]and they're talking about behavior
[00:49:57.120]and sending the kid home or you know,
[00:49:59.288]using, just brainstorming strategies.
[00:50:02.270]It's the first thing I say,
[00:50:03.327]"Well what are your positive behavior supports
[00:50:06.597]"and strategies?
[00:50:08.217]"What are the interventions that you're using?"
[00:50:11.130]And I'll be honest folks,
[00:50:12.550]a lot of time I get a pause.
[00:50:14.860]I get a pause from a parent,
[00:50:16.670]I get pauses from administrators,
[00:50:19.020]I get pauses from teachers.
[00:50:21.610]So when the pause occurs,
[00:50:23.830]that's when I start saying,
[00:50:25.107]"Well let's start talking
[00:50:26.277]"about what you can start doing
[00:50:29.067]"and all of the resources that can be there for you."
[00:50:32.640]So the other thing is just to revisit the behavior plan.
[00:50:36.440]If there's a behavior plan in place sometimes,
[00:50:39.620]sometimes we're finding out those are written very well,
[00:50:42.980]but sometimes they're not,
[00:50:44.450]they're needing a lot more support.
[00:50:47.110]Our BCBAs that we have hired through our network
[00:50:50.390]have helped a lot of people I think,
[00:50:53.420]to develop better supports in this area.
[00:50:57.070]I still see it as a weakness
[00:50:58.720]where we need to improve our writing,
[00:51:01.320]of functional behavior supports
[00:51:03.152]and our plans for these kiddos.
[00:51:06.030]But I think it's something
[00:51:07.440]that we're going to see improvement on,
[00:51:09.860]but that's another strategy
[00:51:11.430]that you should be looking at to give supports.
[00:51:14.722]And as we've talked before,
[00:51:17.070]the levels of support that you give,
[00:51:19.780]all of those things that we have taught you over the years
[00:51:23.420]that are just environmental things that you can change,
[00:51:26.630]just the basic 101 things of autism
[00:51:30.160]that can be changed sometimes
[00:51:31.870]to change an environment,
[00:51:33.320]so a kid is going to work much better in that environment.
[00:51:38.640]So those are, the other one that I really like to focus on
[00:51:43.200]because of the kiddos that I've worked with over the years
[00:51:47.160]is the engagement and learning.
[00:51:49.390]It's active engagement.
[00:51:51.500]And so engagement and learning to me
[00:51:54.130]is a huge thing that we bypass a lot of times,
[00:51:57.070]but it means, and I wanna give an example
[00:51:59.940]because I think this is one,
[00:52:01.420]especially with our medically involved kids
[00:52:03.417]and maybe even kids on the spectrum
[00:52:05.480]that have their nights and days mixed up.
[00:52:08.100]'Cause this happens a lot, I think, with our kiddos.
[00:52:11.100]So let me just give you an example of this.
[00:52:13.970]So for instance, a student is not sleeping well at night
[00:52:19.460]and they're not participating in learning during the day.
[00:52:22.130]They're basically sleeping all day.
[00:52:24.470]They're spending the nights awake
[00:52:26.427]and then during the day they need the breaks,
[00:52:31.100]so they're sleeping all day.
[00:52:33.030]And guess what?
[00:52:34.830]As educators, and this is the heart of education
[00:52:38.320]and of teaching, I've been there,
[00:52:40.340]we want to bring in the pillows, the blankets,
[00:52:43.630]make sure they get their comfort, get their sleep, right?
[00:52:47.360]So they sleep throughout the day.
[00:52:50.080]You're giving them the positive reinforcement for sleeping
[00:52:53.050]because you're providing the blankets and all of the pillows
[00:52:56.860]and probably even dimming the lights a bit
[00:52:59.200]so they can sleep.
[00:53:00.790]And then they're up that night with the family.
[00:53:03.420]So it's a cycle that you're just trapped in.
[00:53:06.490]So we have to stop a minute
[00:53:08.200]and think how we can stop that cycle.
[00:53:11.177]And you may have to start
[00:53:14.750]with the first 15 minutes of the day,
[00:53:17.730]having the expectation
[00:53:19.280]that that child's gonna be engaged in learning.
[00:53:22.496]And then increase that time throughout the day,
[00:53:25.590]throughout the weeks ahead.
[00:53:27.800]And don't give that reinforcement right off the bat.
[00:53:31.420]So I see this happening a lot
[00:53:34.440]with some of our medically involved kiddos,
[00:53:36.980]and they're just coming to school
[00:53:38.610]and maybe sleeping all day.
[00:53:40.420]Well, that's not engagement and learning.
[00:53:43.729]That's not our purpose.
[00:53:45.580]It's not a reason to shorten a day.
[00:53:47.950]It's a reason to try to come up with the strategies
[00:53:51.190]we need to engage that child in learning.
[00:53:54.600]Finding the things that work for that child,
[00:53:56.940]the preference, the interests, the areas that will work,
[00:54:00.400]and then building up on that skill.
[00:54:02.550]And like I said, you know,
[00:54:04.100]I've worked with some of those kids.
[00:54:06.020]You may have to have a plan in place
[00:54:07.770]where the first 15 minutes they're engaged in learning.
[00:54:11.460]And then you're building up
[00:54:13.100]to 30 minutes, 40 minutes, one hour.
[00:54:17.500]And it may take you a long time to get there,
[00:54:20.210]but that should be always our plan,
[00:54:22.440]that they're not just gonna come and sleep all day long.
[00:54:25.560]The other piece, always use the IEP teams for ideas.
[00:54:30.610]And I, you know, this is hard.
[00:54:33.160]We have to put our compliance hat on,
[00:54:35.560]but I'm gonna put my program hat on too.
[00:54:38.270]An IEP team is a great group of people
[00:54:42.710]to brainstorm ideas.
[00:54:44.490]And brainstorming doesn't take long.
[00:54:47.580]You've got all of the brilliant people in that room.
[00:54:51.160]And a lot of times what we're worried about
[00:54:53.170]is crossing our I's, dotting our T,
[00:54:55.330]or crossing our T's, dotting our I's, whatever that is.
[00:54:58.840]And we're not having that opportunity to brainstorm
[00:55:03.210]what are the things
[00:55:04.110]that really we need to be working on here.
[00:55:06.940]So taking five minutes to even say,
[00:55:09.897]"What are some other strategies that we can do?"
[00:55:13.240]And I've seen some wonderful IEP teams
[00:55:15.173]that have come up with great strategies,
[00:55:17.550]so utilize those people.
[00:55:19.600]And sometimes if the team is not feeling comfortable,
[00:55:22.559]then I would say, it's going to that next level
[00:55:26.530]of getting those additional supports
[00:55:28.570]that might be needed from the outside level.
[00:55:35.100]The one-
[00:55:35.955]I was just gonna, can I go back
[00:55:36.870]one, two bullets? Yeah, yeah.
[00:55:38.850]So, I'll tell you from,
[00:55:42.210]we said we wouldn't make this compliance heavy,
[00:55:44.250]but from a compliance standpoint,
[00:55:47.575]one of the biggest compliance nightmares,
[00:55:50.178]be it a complaint a school district is working
[00:55:54.360]or a monitoring of sorts,
[00:55:57.000]if you have a student on a shortened day
[00:55:59.310]for behavior reasons,
[00:56:00.530]and you do not have a behavior plan in place,
[00:56:03.131]it very much would look from a compliance standpoint.
[00:56:06.351](furniture banging)
[00:56:07.512]The cat is destroying things. (laughs)
[00:56:10.970]I typically lock her out during these things,
[00:56:13.090]and I forgot today.
[00:56:14.821]It would look from a compliance standpoint
[00:56:17.280]that you haven't thought all of the options available
[00:56:21.570]to a school district through,
[00:56:23.050]and that you're potentially
[00:56:24.980]just jumping straight to shortened day.
[00:56:27.660]So make sure that you're convening teams
[00:56:30.410]to develop behavior intervention plans
[00:56:33.056]and conducting functional behavior assessments on students
[00:56:36.760]when you're considering the use of a shortened day.
[00:56:40.309]And I'm gonna circle back around to one thing
[00:56:42.710]that Chloe and Kelly said this morning,
[00:56:45.410]I loved that presentation.
[00:56:47.950]But I kind of wrote this down.
[00:56:50.400]Dig deeper to know what is going on with a student.
[00:56:54.760]I thought, "Wow, that's it."
[00:56:57.000]It's not the compliance piece of things so much
[00:57:01.490]of making sure they're following the schedule
[00:57:04.310]all the time.
[00:57:05.143]It's digging deeper to find out
[00:57:07.250]what is going on with the student.
[00:57:11.030]So some of the other things we put on here
[00:57:13.120]for your evidence-based strategies
[00:57:16.710]is to train your staff on the evidence-based practices.
[00:57:19.580]And I linked for something that's on our ASB website
[00:57:22.800]of all of the evidence-based practices
[00:57:24.890]we have around autism.
[00:57:27.800]And a lot of those crossover for everything, for MTSS,
[00:57:31.510]for all of the things that we're doing,
[00:57:33.820]but there's tons
[00:57:35.240]of wonderful evidence-based strategies out there,
[00:57:37.980]so get to know those strategies and use those.
[00:57:41.320]And then I'm also gonna bring up again,
[00:57:43.250]utilizing supplemental aids and support,
[00:57:46.250]and utilizing least restrictive environment.
[00:57:49.290]And then last but not least,
[00:57:50.820]is definitely contacting any of your outside agencies.
[00:57:54.090]We have wonderful ESUs and support throughout the state.
[00:57:57.870]We also have other school districts that you can work with,
[00:58:01.360]we have our ASD network, there's tons of support,
[00:58:05.020]that are at no cost to you or minimal cost, I would say,
[00:58:09.730]to districts to get support
[00:58:12.250]and to try to problem solve these issues
[00:58:15.070]to keep kiddos in school.
[00:58:17.590]And before we jump to the questions,
[00:58:19.170]I thought, I think one thing
[00:58:20.450]that we just wanna make really, really clear
[00:58:23.100]is that IDEA in its full concept
[00:58:28.270]and the state Department of Education,
[00:58:30.410]Nebraska Department of Education,
[00:58:32.200]believe wholeheartedly in the full continuum,
[00:58:36.100]in that entire continuum that you develop
[00:58:39.950]and you walk through every single individual student with,
[00:58:43.990]for the decision around LRE.
[00:58:47.030]So we know fully that home-based services
[00:58:51.340]is a part of the continuum,
[00:58:53.890]but nowhere, Teresa said this earlier,
[00:58:56.480]nowhere on the least restrictive environment,
[00:58:59.580]will you see a shortened day.
[00:59:01.977]Right. So if a shortened day
[00:59:05.420]is being used,
[00:59:07.020]you do need to consider and always remember,
[00:59:10.610]that you have to meet the individual needs of that student,
[00:59:13.940]regardless of how long they are in your school classrooms.
[00:59:18.620]Yeah.
[00:59:19.552]Hoo, that was a lot information.
[00:59:22.200]So with that-
[00:59:23.500]And I think
[00:59:24.344]we're gonna have a few questions here it looks like.
[00:59:29.030]How about I'll read this one here on the chat
[00:59:33.010]and then we'll go to the Q and A's.
[00:59:34.670]Does that sound okay?
[00:59:37.093]Great, Teresa.
[00:59:38.820]Just so we don't miss those in the chat box, okay.
[00:59:41.550]Yeah.
[00:59:42.383]So, and if I miss one, Annette,
[00:59:44.580]you help me, okay?
[00:59:45.510]So if you have a guardian
[00:59:47.470]that has set up counseling sessions for their student,
[00:59:50.240]every Tuesday, Thursday at three,
[00:59:52.780]and the student must leave at 2:30 to get there,
[00:59:55.490]is that considered a shortened day,
[00:59:57.630]and would we need to reconvene the IEP?
[01:00:02.140]So that would be considered an absence.
[01:00:05.420]And if you don't want it to be an absence
[01:00:07.960]and you feel like that therapy
[01:00:10.130]or that is needed as part of the school,
[01:00:13.420]as part of the services for the student,
[01:00:15.490]I would suggest that the IEP team convene
[01:00:18.930]to decide if it should be considered a shortened day or not.
[01:00:25.700]So the IEP,
[01:00:27.390]and I'm not sure I understand this question,
[01:00:29.560]so the IEP would be considered
[01:00:31.820]a change of placement IEP meeting?
[01:00:37.550]Not sure I understand that one, so.
[01:00:41.870]So if you're shortening a student's day
[01:00:45.530]and you're in an IEP meeting, and your setting
[01:00:49.460]and where that student is located to receive services
[01:00:53.940]is general education with a resource pullout,
[01:00:59.610]but now you're moving to the student not being at school
[01:01:03.840]for after lunch or starting at lunchtime,
[01:01:07.940]that would be a change of placement.
[01:01:10.070]And you would be changing the LRE,
[01:01:13.320]the least restrictive environment
[01:01:14.840]in which that child is being placed in.
[01:01:16.830]So yes, in some of these situations,
[01:01:19.410]it would be considered
[01:01:20.355]a least restrictive environment change,
[01:01:24.070]so you would need to do a change of placement.
[01:01:26.570]Now, if you're using the shortened school day
[01:01:29.770]as part of the behavior supports,
[01:01:34.950]that potentially might not be in,
[01:01:37.200]we've seen some IEPs that have been written this way,
[01:01:39.570]that it's not a change in placement,
[01:01:41.690]depending on what the initial IEP team decided
[01:01:45.320]the environment was that that student was in.
[01:01:48.050]So it really would depend on what the IEP said
[01:01:52.330]when you changed it to a shortened day.
[01:01:56.770]Okay, we have several Q and A's.
[01:02:00.300]If schools call a parent to pick up a child
[01:02:03.850]because of behaviors
[01:02:06.050]and basically would not allow a child to stay at school,
[01:02:09.880]they still mark that child as absent from school?
[01:02:16.510]They meaning the school
[01:02:17.746]would mark child absent from school?
[01:02:21.620]That's what I'm assuming this means.
[01:02:24.500]So if a school calls a parent
[01:02:27.040]to come pick up a student, a child, because of behaviors
[01:02:32.120]and then sends them home,
[01:02:34.610]that would need to be a disciplinary action.
[01:02:39.770]And the federal law very clearly says
[01:02:42.680]that up to 10 disciplinary removals,
[01:02:46.539]then the IEP teams need to reconvene
[01:02:50.253]to readdress and re-brainstorm basically
[01:02:54.840]for lack of better words,
[01:02:56.760]supports and services for those students,
[01:02:58.890]or change of placement.
[01:03:01.104]And I would add on to that,
[01:03:02.157]that this would be a good opportunity
[01:03:05.780]for an IEP team to start looking at those behavior supports
[01:03:10.320]and intervention, revisit the behavior plan,
[01:03:14.040]and then also look at supplemental aids and services.
[01:03:19.279]Are we doing the right things here?
[01:03:23.280]Do we have all of the supports that we need?
[01:03:25.740]Should we be getting support from outside of the school?
[01:03:29.350]All of those things
[01:03:30.420]would also be things to start looking at.
[01:03:34.790]The next question, if you have a school district
[01:03:36.911]that have access to specialized programs
[01:03:41.430]to meet the child's needs,
[01:03:42.920]and that eliminates the need for a shortened day,
[01:03:45.760]should they look at that before shortening the day?
[01:03:49.250]So that would be next on the continuum-
[01:03:52.211]At the continuum.
[01:03:53.044]Of those, of placement before home-based
[01:03:57.570]or hospital-based services.
[01:03:59.710]So yes, in short-
[01:04:02.920]So that's, and they're looking at LRE,
[01:04:06.280]which is what we want them to do, you know?
[01:04:08.520]And so I'm gonna go back to some wording
[01:04:11.430]in that question, Teresa.
[01:04:13.130]It said if the school districts have access?
[01:04:17.350]So unfortunately the law is not forgiving
[01:04:23.340]around if a school district has access or not.
[01:04:27.060]So if you're in a school district
[01:04:29.673]that doesn't necessarily have a level three placement
[01:04:33.490]or a specialized program that they can contract with,
[01:04:37.690]the law does not allow for you to jump over that option
[01:04:41.820]in the continuum.
[01:04:43.230]It still has to be something that is considered
[01:04:46.320]and thought about by the IEP team.
[01:04:51.240]So, another question regarding behaviors and ISS/OSS,
[01:04:59.370]what if a child is in a smaller Nebraska towns
[01:05:02.770]and there are no other alternative placements for them
[01:05:05.450]outside the local school district?
[01:05:08.970]So like I said, just,
[01:05:11.220]I think I answered this subliminally.
[01:05:14.250]So, unfortunately the law is not forgiving of that
[01:05:17.227]and the school districts do have to consider that.
[01:05:20.080]This is where we would strongly encourage you
[01:05:22.720]to reach out to your ESU partners
[01:05:27.200]and other school districts,
[01:05:28.660]to see if they've had similar situations
[01:05:30.900]and what they've used.
[01:05:32.180]We'd also highly encourage you to reach out
[01:05:34.460]to the ASD network.
[01:05:36.310]There is not a school district in Nebraska
[01:05:38.720]that our ASD network does not support.
[01:05:41.670]So it's something that you can always reach out
[01:05:46.900]and look to other options.
[01:05:48.750]We 100% understand that not all school districts
[01:05:52.130]have level three or regional programs
[01:05:56.100]located within their town.
[01:05:57.470]So sometimes this may be a travel cost,
[01:06:00.750]sometimes it may be a placement issue,
[01:06:03.870]but all alternatives do have to be considered.
[01:06:07.750]Okay.
[01:06:08.583]And potentially you could solve some of these issues
[01:06:10.730]with some training of staff within your building,
[01:06:12.710]through our ASD network
[01:06:14.780]or contracted trainers and providers throughout the state.
[01:06:20.340]Okay, this is a long one but it's a good one.
[01:06:23.390]Okay.
[01:06:24.228]Our school district has struggled
[01:06:25.110]with one specific case and has considered a shortened day.
[01:06:29.000]The child is in early elementary years,
[01:06:31.260]has multiple disabilities
[01:06:33.130]and his negative behavior increases in the afternoon.
[01:06:37.100]We've used positive behavior approaches
[01:06:39.420]to manage behavior throughout the mornings.
[01:06:42.280]The child becomes tired and sleeps
[01:06:44.300]one, to one and a half hours in the afternoon.
[01:06:47.230]We've garbled with whether keeping the child
[01:06:50.270]in the school for a nap is educational.
[01:06:52.830]What are your thoughts on this?
[01:06:54.730]Well I have my thoughts,
[01:06:55.830]you wanna give your thoughts?
[01:06:58.290]I guarantee our thoughts are very similar.
[01:07:00.261](Teresa laughs)
[01:07:02.600]Well, my thought would be
[01:07:03.840]is that you would still try,
[01:07:05.960]you wouldn't shorten the day on this.
[01:07:08.580]You would be trying to work
[01:07:09.950]on that one, to one and a half hours to increase time.
[01:07:13.600]I'm not saying kids might not need a nap.
[01:07:16.030]They could, they could need some downtime,
[01:07:18.480]away time, any of those things.
[01:07:21.310]But is there things that's working in the morning,
[01:07:24.290]are things that we could implement in the afternoon
[01:07:27.270]to start increasing that time?
[01:07:29.480]So maybe we decrease it to only one hour
[01:07:33.670]that they're sleeping, you know?
[01:07:35.872]Or one hour and 15 minutes, whatever, you know?
[01:07:39.980]That would be what I would recommend.
[01:07:41.940]And I would also look at the environment
[01:07:45.110]and the activities going on.
[01:07:47.020]Maybe you have to have activities in the afternoon,
[01:07:50.140]that are not as intensive
[01:07:52.670]and where the child could have a little bit more support
[01:07:56.890]in that afternoon activity.
[01:07:58.920]Or the other thing I would say
[01:08:01.360]is looking at preference and interest of kiddos,
[01:08:04.730]if you could embed those in the afternoon
[01:08:06.990]to kind of keep them engaged in learning.
[01:08:09.640]That's the key to just start increasing that time.
[01:08:14.050]Amy?
[01:08:15.250]Agreed.
[01:08:16.250]Okay.
[01:08:18.437]Next question.
[01:08:21.630]What is the difference
[01:08:22.590]between a student having to earn their way back
[01:08:25.610]to general ed classes,
[01:08:27.090]and a student whose least restrictive environment
[01:08:29.960]is currently a specialized school
[01:08:32.310]and has a plan in place to get back to general ed,
[01:08:35.020]which includes goals they have to meet?
[01:08:37.380]Is there a difference?
[01:08:39.510]I would say absolutely.
[01:08:42.130]So any behavior plan would include goals as it says,
[01:08:47.900]that would include positive behavior interventions.
[01:08:51.280]It would also include supports
[01:08:54.750]or how instruction is gonna happen
[01:08:57.160]to enhance those opportunities for students,
[01:09:00.530]not necessarily just a blanket,
[01:09:03.080]this is what you have to do
[01:09:04.457]in order to be in this educational environment.
[01:09:08.250]So what we see very, very often
[01:09:10.130]is students have to have
[01:09:13.720]five less minor incidents in their day
[01:09:19.091]in order to be in the general education environment.
[01:09:23.200]Well, what are we gonna do?
[01:09:25.450]And that plan, that behavior plan
[01:09:27.310]should include what are we gonna do
[01:09:28.760]to help teach the student
[01:09:29.929]how to have those five less environments,
[01:09:32.900]or five less minors in that school day.
[01:09:35.191]So it's about incorporating strategies, structure,
[01:09:40.070]teaching, and interventions,
[01:09:42.220]all of the pieces that need to be included
[01:09:44.390]to make the goal attainable for the student.
[01:09:47.200]So putting a goal in front of a student without any supports
[01:09:51.010]doesn't mean that the student's gonna get there.
[01:09:53.292]Right.
[01:09:54.740]I think we heard that loud and clear from ploy.
[01:09:57.743]That, you know, five years ago I was here and I'm here now,
[01:10:03.750]but I'm still needing that, some support.
[01:10:06.830]So I think that's important to think about.
[01:10:09.300]Okay, I think we have maybe two more questions
[01:10:11.790]unless I've missed something.
[01:10:13.640]If a student is verified as ASD,
[01:10:16.780]is in preschool or kindergarten, under age six,
[01:10:20.040]and a IEP team is recommending FAPE,
[01:10:23.607]but parents decide to continue half day private therapy,
[01:10:29.040]is a student considered absent?
[01:10:31.855]Okay, so that's one question.
[01:10:34.200]And then do we document that this is a parent choice
[01:10:37.900]and educate them on increasing time to full day
[01:10:41.083]once their child is six years of age?
[01:10:44.620]So it's a below age six.
[01:10:47.330]Yeah.
[01:10:48.163]And if the school district has a half day program,
[01:10:51.550]you could absolutely run a half day program
[01:10:53.770]with the parent choice.
[01:10:56.850]But ultimately under age six,
[01:10:59.840]anything is parent choice.
[01:11:01.350]Parents, there's no compulsive,
[01:11:03.720]compulsory education begins at six
[01:11:07.320]and that is the full day.
[01:11:10.200]But there, if the parent chooses to do half day,
[01:11:12.690]then you would just decide how to implement the services
[01:11:17.280]that the IEP team has decided
[01:11:19.070]that that under age six student needs
[01:11:21.870]in the amount of time that's left in that school day.
[01:11:26.680]Okay.
[01:11:29.240]If for the same reason the IEP team
[01:11:31.620]decides the child must be on a shortened day,
[01:11:34.090]the family would receive resources to work at home
[01:11:37.290]with the child?
[01:11:39.650]My screen is jumping, so, okay.
[01:11:44.180]Trying to clean it up for you guys.
[01:11:45.630]I'll let you answer this last one by Jessica.
[01:11:48.490]Okay.
[01:11:49.640]Did you get that one, Amy?
[01:11:50.737]If for some reasons the IEP team decides
[01:11:53.420]the child must be on a shortened day,
[01:11:55.540]the family would receive resources to work at home
[01:11:58.350]with the child?
[01:12:00.020]Well, so by law,
[01:12:02.440]all families should be afforded resources
[01:12:05.400]to work with their child,
[01:12:06.540]regardless of what time is spent in a school or not.
[01:12:10.680]And wrap around services
[01:12:12.160]should always be considered for a student.
[01:12:14.600]But in the instance of a shortened day,
[01:12:16.860]no, the additional time
[01:12:18.990]that the student is not in the school environment
[01:12:21.630]is not the parent's responsibility
[01:12:23.630]to provide the educational opportunity.
[01:12:26.110]So if you are not able to get the IEP services and time
[01:12:30.550]and duration and frequency and intensity all in
[01:12:34.120]during the time that you have them,
[01:12:35.690]then you will need to figure out a way
[01:12:37.260]to provide it in the time
[01:12:39.070]that they are not in your school building.
[01:12:42.880]So Annette, did we get all of those?
[01:12:45.210]You did.
[01:12:46.043]There was one question from John
[01:12:47.840]about other students in the classroom
[01:12:50.510]that can't learn because of his behavior.
[01:12:53.460]And John, I think you had some questions about this
[01:12:55.590]yesterday in math session.
[01:12:57.948]And I guess if you guys wanna take a stab at that,
[01:13:01.660]we don't really have a lot of information, however.
[01:13:05.890]We do.
[01:13:06.750]Yeah, okay, go ahead.
[01:13:07.583]Yeah, the Office of Civil Rights
[01:13:09.300]has been really clear
[01:13:10.270]that if you have a student with a disability,
[01:13:12.710]that you need to implement
[01:13:14.010]positive behavior interventions, and supports
[01:13:16.230]to support the student with a disability,
[01:13:18.750]and then create and afford a safe environment
[01:13:22.070]for all students in your school buildings.
[01:13:24.880]So if you have a student who is creating safety hazards
[01:13:29.170]or possibly some safety pieces in a school building,
[01:13:33.900]then you need to look at alternative placements.
[01:13:36.540]You need to look at alternative settings
[01:13:38.390]within your school environment
[01:13:40.200]in order to teach the student
[01:13:41.790]alternate behaviors, replacement behaviors,
[01:13:46.260]so that they can then become incorporated
[01:13:48.380]back into that general education environment.
[01:13:51.830]Perfect.
[01:13:52.663]I was gonna say that's probably not a good,
[01:13:55.290]you know, that's not a reason to shorten a student's day.
[01:13:58.300]So that was a beautiful response, Amy, thank you.
[01:14:01.230]And again, I know that came up yesterday.
[01:14:03.070]I'm glad you got an answer, John.
[01:14:05.070]Alright you guys, thanks so much.
[01:14:07.170]Okay. I am going
[01:14:08.340]to end this session, so we can jump onto our final session,
[01:14:11.891]and get certificates to everyone.
[01:14:14.610]Thanks guys.
[01:14:15.500]It was just beautiful,
[01:14:18.000]and we will share this recording with you.
[01:14:20.970]Thank you.
[01:14:21.803]Bye.

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Nebraska--We Have a "Short" Problem - (Guidance on the topic of shortened day schedules)

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