A procedural safeguards document must be presented to parents at each student's annual IEP meeting

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A procedural safeguards document must be presented to parents at each student's annual IEP meeting. However, some parents feel that these documents are not user friendly. How should a special education leader approach the development of a procedural safeguards document that is both legally sound and communicates clearly to parents? Support your view with current research.

REPLY TO DISCUSSION

1. Derycka

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), parents/families and their child have legal protections during the evaluation and IEP process. These protections are called procedural safeguards. An educational establishment must provide written explanation of a parents/family rights under IDEA. As a special education educator in a diverse educational establishment. More than 60 percent of my families are Spanish speaking. All documents sent home 100 percent of the time are also sent home in both English and Spanish. What is also set in place is we have an open-door policy. Which means that parents are allotted open door hours where they can come in and ask questions and get clarifying information and details to documents that are sent. Parents of scholars that have disabilities and or going through the process to get their child evaluated can also come in and get support with documentation given or that needs to be signed. Cavendish et al., (2017) demonstrates the recent reauthorizations of IDEA makes it clear that parents are to be considered equal partners in the IEP process. Nonetheless, parents have reported barriers to participation in IEP meetings that include a perceived lack of opportunity to provide input, communication challenges with the school, and disagreement with deficit-based perspectives of their children by the school. Because of these barriers we as a school need to create a safe space so that parents can communicate and collaborate so that the barrier and gap can decrease. 

Gershwin (2020) demonstrates how procedural safeguards for special education are written at a high readability level with confusing jargon that can be confusing and unsupportive to parents/families. Even during open-door times parents still need more than one session to have a slight understanding of what the safeguards are trying to convey. Due to this issue that seems to be all over the world, their needs to be parents, stakeholders, teachers, and support staff for special education apart of the national team that helps create and write these binding documents for the special education community. Collaboration is one of the major concerns in special education. The collaborative process in the field of special education will have likeminded adults that have an understanding and who have been through the process to help support others who are next to come. Creating documents that are friendly and contain law procedurals and acronyms that are parent friendly. Along with creating a hotline that can continuously support parents with jargon used, support in explaining their rights and documentations that are sent home. 

2. Baptiste

Greetings Dr. Tate,

A special educator should approach the development of a procedural safeguards document keeping in mind most parents of students with special needs have not attended graduate school. Seventy-four percent of procedural documents were discovered to be written at a graduate reading level, thereby most of these documents are written for an audience currently enrolled in a master's degree or higher education program (Gray et al., 2019). Special educational leaders are required to inform parents of children with special needs of their rights and responsibilities via documents like the procedural safeguards, however, these documents should provide clearly communicate typical parents can understand (Dinnesen & Kroeger, 2018). A special education leader should consider the estimated literacy skills of their targeted audience when developing procedural safeguards (Gray et al., 2019). Dinnesen and Kroeger (2018) research explored if revisions of notice of procedural safeguards documents were warranted to increase parental engagement in students in special education. Gray et al. (2019) decided special education leaders should be sensitive to possible literacy barriers of the parents to comprehend procedural safeguard documents.

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3. Sheena

This is an interesting topic because, too often, parents have questions regarding the interpretation of the procedural safeguards. At each ARD meeting, whether an annual, revision, or amendment, it is the duty of the school district to provide the parents with a copy of the safeguards. The Safeguards inform the parents of their rights as members of the IEP Committee and the rights of their students. While informative, the safeguards are not always user-friendly for parents. This is problematic because parents are the ones who need to be able to understand and apply the information the most (Gray et al., 2019), especially when there is a legal concern. In 2018, my district moved towards empowering teachers to facilitate their own ARD meetings. With that, came the need for teachers to understand how to interpret the procedural safeguards in case parents had questions. In training, everyone had to create a quick summary of their comprehension of the safeguards. Frequently, our leaders ask questions regarding the components of the safeguards. While this does nothing to change the readability of the manual, it does help with the explanation.  

Gray, S. A., Zraick, R. I., & Atcherson, S. R. (2019). Readability of individuals with disabilities education act part B procedural safeguards: An update. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 50(3), 373-384. 

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4. Holly

Language should first be considered when creating procedural safeguards for parents. Notice documents must be written in easily understandable everyday language according to the 1997 reauthorization of the IDEA (Dinnesen & Kroeger, 2018). A study found that parents described difficulty reading the procedural safeguards because of the document's organization, language, and length (Dinnesen & Kroeger, 2018). The language that is used in the procedural safeguards needs to be able to be understood by someone who is not familiar with anything related to special education. Also, providing detailed information and examples in the procedural safeguards will allow parents to comprehend more information. The next step would be for a professional in special education to review the document to ensure it is legally sound. A professional in special education law would be able to provide the best feedback. Last, before the procedural safeguards document is implemented, a group of diverse parents should review the document. This group of parents will provide the opportunity to ensure that a variety of people can understand the document. 

Dinnesen, M. S., & Kroeger, S. D. (2018). Toward active partnership: Notice of procedural safeguards designed for parent use. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 29(1), 54-64. 10.1177/1044207317751674

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5. Angelica

This is an issue I have had many parents voice the difficulty in reading IEP documents. As a case manager, I do my best to try and explain these documents to parents in a way that they will understand. Rather than just reading through transition goals, I like to discuss how I came up with the goals, the rationale for the goals, and then review the benchmarks in place to help the student achieve their goals. In the district I work for case managers are provided a folder which contains all the required documentation for IEP meetings, including the procedural safeguards. There is nothing in our procedures that requires that we review the procedural safeguards, just that the parents are provided a copy.

The literacy rate of parents plays a crucial role in the ability for parents to be apart of an IEP team and the decision-making process. Parents/guardians of individuals with disabilities are expected to read and comprehend a large amount of reading material, including medical and legal documents, fully comprehend it, and be an active member of the IEP team making decisions (Gray et. al., 2019). Gray et. al. identifies results from the 2003 NAAL indicating the mean reading comprehension of English-speaking adults in the US is at an eighth-grade reading level. Expecting parents to read and fully comprehend all of the IEP documents is unrealistic in my opinion and an area that needs improvement moving forward.

 

Reference

Gray, S. A., Zraick, R. I., & Atcherson, S. R. (2019). Readability of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B procedural safeguards: An update. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(3), 373–384. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-18-0057

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6. Dawn

Replies to Derycka Shirley

Procedural safeguards are presented to parents at every IEP meeting and every evaluation team meeting outlining the laws and regulations around the special education process. Gray et al. (2019) outline that the procedural safeguards for special education are written at an 11th-grade level. This means that the document does not have an easy readability and comprehension level. Many parents may have a hard time understanding what the procedural safeguards are stating. Parents often joke about how large the document is and how small the print is. With that stated, when I hand the procedural safeguards out, I highlight important information that the parents may need. I make sure I show them the information about how to call for mediation if they are not happy about the results of the meeting. I believe that special education administrators should verbally outline and show parents on the pages where to find important information.

Gray, S. A., Zraick, R. I., & Atcherson, S. R. (2019). Readability of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B Procedural Safeguards: An Update. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 50(3), 373–384. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-18-0057

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Topic 6 DQ 2

Jul 21-25, 2022

Appraise the school administrator’s role in adhering to the procedural safeguards for students with exceptionalities. Justify why they should or should not be the only ones required to follow these laws?

REPLY TO DISCUSSION

7. Lynnel

School administrators are a vital part of the IEP team and therefore adhering to the procedural safeguards for students with exceptionalities is imperative to the school community. These procedural safeguards are to protect the rights of parents and their child but all to protect the schools and education. Administrators should know the laws and especially when it comes to IDEA, being knowledgeable with the laws will help to ensure students are getting an appropriate education. It is crucial to collaborate with everyone on the team and therefore having the correct knowledge is important for everyone involved.  

 

It has been researched that administrators don’t always have the training or experience needed but it is their responsibility to know the procedural safeguards. Procedural safeguards should therefore be followed by everyone on the team and within the school community. Knowledge about how students receive services and ensuring the IEP is implemented correctly. When administrators have no knowledge of procedural safeguards they are more susceptible to due process (Hughes et al., 2020). 

Hughes, T., Bechtler, M., Cruz-Szabo, G., Hafner, L., Ortiz, L., Piel, K., Quiroz, S., & Robbins, T. (2020). Could proactive local policy improve principals’ building-level leadership of special education services? EJEP: EJournal of Education Policy, 21(2). 

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8. Maren

Early on in my career, I had the deep yet simple realization that special education is a team sport. For the team to accomplish all it needs to, it is important to adhere to the laws that dictate their actions. Both ESSA and IDEA have requirements that administrators and teachers need to meet. Because of this, it is important that professionals are provided with the information and guidelines they need so they can embed them into their practice and build the trust that’s necessary for meaningful partnerships (Gershwin, 2020).  Administrators play a huge part in helping to lead their teachers, staff, and community in the fulfillment of these expectations. They have a lot on their shoulders, but it isn’t a task they should be carrying on their own. When it comes to special education, special education teachers work with the procedural safeguards as well. These teachers and administrators should be working in tandem to ensure that the procedural safeguards are honored and followed in a way that helps build that meaningful trust with parents.

Gershwin, T. (2020). Legal and research considerations regarding the importance of developing and nurturing trusting family-professional partnerships in special education consultation. Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, 30(4), 420–436. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10474412.2020.1785884

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