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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hello,
If I may, I wanted to pop in and offer my viewpoints on a few things relating to qualifying for special ed.
In my experience, the law actually does require educational impact as one of the criteria that must be met in order for a student with an educational disability to qualify for special education services.  
Also, I think the poster meant to say "specialized instruction" and not "special instruction." 
Finally, a PWN is required after any action the school system takes in an IEP meeting. It is simply the name of the document. A PWN can be sent after an annual review, after a meeting to determine qualification for ESY, etc.  The law requires before any action is taken that a PWN is sent. So the prior written notice often does not contain a lot of detail but rather is a summary. It usually contains what other options the team considered and why those other options were not chosen. I hope that helps.[/quote]

Thank you for your comments regarding my use of "special" -- I used "special instruction" as short-hand for "specially designed instruction," which is the exact language used in the statutory language of IDEA, the guiding framework of the IEP.  Some people use the phrase "specialized instruction" as a similar kind of short-hand.  Please see the following, which comes from 34 CFR Section 300.39 (3) [b]Specially designed instruction[/b] means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction -
(i) To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child's disability; and
(ii) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.

As for your comments, "the law actually does require educational impact".  I did reference that in my #2 -- that the second prong of IEP eligibility determination is "adverse educational impact."  How states consider adverse educational impact varies from state to state.  But, I want to be very clear:  the law does NOT require failing grades as evidence of adverse educational impact. (See Rowley where the Supreme Court said, "We do not hold today that every handicapped child who is advancing from grade to grade in a regular public school system is automatically receiving a "free appropriate public education." and IDEA 300.101(c) )  And, the law does not require that the adverse educational impact be demonstrated solely within the four walls of the classroom -- "educational impact" can include things like taking a really long time to finish homework.  For example, if a kid with dyslexia has a slow reading rate and cannot keep up with the 3 chapters of reading assigned nightly for a book, that is "adverse educational impact" even though it is homework.  Because the kid can't read fast enough to understand the material and participate knowledgeably in class discussions about the book.  This might not show up as a graded activity but still counts as "adverse educational impact".  Also, for an analysis of "adverse educational impact," the significant discrepancy between the demonstrated ability of the student (i.e. IQ) and achievement (can be demonstrated in classroom or by assessment testing) may be taken into account when considering educational impact - see page IV-18 of MCPS' Special Education Handbook,  "may consider evaluative data and appropriate assessments if the team determines that data to be relevant to the identification of an SLD if the student .....exhibits a [b]pattern of strengths and weaknesses[/b] in performance, achievement, or both, relative to age, state-approved, grade-level standards, or intellectual development."

OP, the MCPS Special Education Procedures Handbook (from which I just quoted) was helpful to me in understanding the process -- [url]https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/specialed/resources/handbook.pdf[/url][/quote]

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