FAPE / Free Appropriate Public Education

[TiredSoul]

Curious about this...

Teachers of students with disabilities must be trained in the instruction of individuals with disabilities. Facilities must be comparable, and appropriate materials and equipment must be available.

What does this mean? If a teacher has one student with ADHD and another student with Asperger's, does that teacher HAVE to be trained on how to teach each of those kids with their specific disabilities?

 

[tiredmommy]

I imagine the training and best practices is included in the IEP somehow.

 

[TiredSoul]

I guess what I am getting at - is does his regular education classroom teacher HAVE to have specialized training in how to teach a student with ADHD? Is it required by law? It seems everyone is so uneducated about ADHD and instead of understanding his disability - it seems they want to keep lecturing and punishing him. His self esteem can't take much more of it.

 

[rlsnights]

Your question has several aspects that are more subtle than first apparent when you pose a question like that.

Special Education (as opposed to regular education) teachers have specific training requirements under IDEA. You can find a summary of this information here:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/tchr.hq.require.htm

These requirements focus on academic qualifications - does the teacher who's teaching math have a certificate to teach math? The question of whether the teacher has been trained to teach students with a variety of disabilities is not really addressed as far as I can find. IDEA requires that a teacher hold State certification as a Special Education teacher. What that means varies from state to state and is governed by State regulation.

But teacher training is not the key issue when you are talking about FAPE.

Rather the test is whether the child is receiving the instruction/services required by the IEP so that he/she is receiving FAPE.

FAPE is not measured by the qualifications of the teacher or their training in specific areas of disability. This has been established through case law and there is no basis under IDEA for a due process claim simply because a teacher is not qualified or doesn't have specific training.

If a teacher does not meet the requirements of either IDEA or NCLB then a procedural complaint can be filed against the LEA. But it does not affect FAPE.

Results are what count.

IEP's can call for either general ed or Special Education teacher training but rarely do so.

Reading is a classic example - most Special Education teacher training programs do not include specific instruction in teaching reading to children with reading disabilities. Really. So an IEP for a child with reading disabilities probably should specify the teacher's training and what method the teacher will use to teach reading. There is ample evidence that support the use of specific reading interventions/programs for children with reading disabilities and naming the program the IEP team agrees is appropriate is a very good idea. Eclectic instruction has been shown to be much less effective compared to using a standardized intervention program.

Patricia

 

[slsh]

Jules - Google Coreh H v. Board of Ed. It was a case in the city involving the segregation of students with- disabilities (violating LRE), how CPS had to rectify that, and the teacher sped credentialing required to fulfill LRE. I believe ISBE now requires all new teachers seeking credentials in the state to have completed sped coursework.

It's going to depend on your state. Corey H was a big deal in Chicago, but unfortunately it has not trickled down to other SDs. Our's still systematically segregates students by disability, with the more involved kids not even attending local SD.

Just from a common sense standpoint (though I never ran into much common sense in the sped world, LOL), how can a teacher be expected to teach a student with- ABC if he/she has no training? I think the danger when you request teacher training on a specific disability is that you may very well run into what happened/is happening in IL - kids will be segregated by disability, rather than educated in LRE. It took a major fight for that to change in the city.