Page 4 - Biidaaban Parent's Guide

ACCESSING SPECIAL SERVICES FOR YOUR CHILD

If you have a concern regarding your child’s progress, here is the most effective procedure
to follow:

1. Contact your child’s classroom teacher about your concern. Sharing information
and developing a cooperative plan between home and school are invaluable in
supporting and encouraging your child. This may be all that is needed to remediate
learning difficulties.

2. If the teacher is unable to resolve the concern, she/he will refer your child to the
Special Education Resource Teacher (SERT). The SERT may do some informal testing
to evaluate your child’s learning needs

3. If the concern is still not resolved, the SERT may refer your child to In-school
Education Team (ISET). This team will include the SERT, others who teach your child
and, usually, the principal. Strategies are developed at this meeting to find in-school
solutions to support your child. A meeting with you is a part of this strategy. A
variety of practical plans will be developed and discussed with you.
4. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is one of the many strategies which may be
recommended.
5. If testing by external personnel (i.e. .Speech-Language pathologist, psychometrist,
and psychologist) is recommended, the appropriate consent forms and consultation will
follow. After reviewing the results of testing and consultation, an IEP may be
recommended.

6. If it is in accordance with your wishes, and documentation on your child supports
the definition of exceptionality, as defined by the Ministry of Education, an
Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) meeting will be arranged.

7. After students are identified through the IPRC process, an Individual Education Plan
must be prepared in order to match your child’s education requirements to the
identified needs.

THE EXCEPTIONAL PUPIL

The Education Act defines an exceptional pupil as “a pupil whose behavioural,
communicational, intellectual, and physical or multiple exceptionalities are such that he or
she is considered to need placement in a special education program….”

A Special Education Program is defined in the Education Act as an educational program that:
• is based on and modified by the results of continuous assessment and evaluation; and
• Includes a plan (called an Individual Education Plan or IEP) containing specific
objectives and an outline of special education services that meet the needs of the
exceptional pupil.

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