Facilitating Special Education Services for Students with Academic Disabilities

This guide for facilitating special education services is aimed at helping school psychologists provide evidence-based services in special education. The structure is developed around four legal requirements for special education: Parent consent for the evaluation to determine if a student is eligible for special education services; determining student eligibility for special education services; developing IEP goals; and evaluating IEP goals. While this book is not to be considered legal advice, the format should be highly valuable to practicing school psychologists. School psychologists will find the book useful for starting and following through with an evaluation for special education eligibility. The authors thoughtfully incorporate parents/guardians into the process and develop a team approach to decision making from the start. Semi-structured interviews and step-by-step explanations assist the school psychologist through the eligibility evaluation process. Facilitating Special Education Services for Students with Academic Disabilities includes forms for school psychologists to help guide practice. There are seven semi-structured interviews to assist the school psychologist including the following: Disability Consideration Interview, Parent Interview, Teacher Interview, Student Interview, Disability Identification Interview, IEP Goal Setting Interview, and IEP Goal Evaluation Interview. The guidebook includes directions and forms for observing on-task behavior of students in classrooms. Also, the guide includes forms for documenting each aspect of the evaluation, communication with team members, and decision making with parents, teachers, and students. Practical suggestions for assisting parents, teachers, and administrators are provided based on evidence-based practices and years of service in special education provided by the authors, who are also trainers of school psychologists.