Special Education Domain Meeting Instructions Kate Cavanaugh and Niki Kirkwood June 22, 2010

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1 Special Education Domain Meeting Instructions Kate Cavanaugh and Niki Kirkwood June 22, What are Domain Meetings? Domain meetings are held to hold a discussion about whether a student should have an evaluation take place (i.e. initial or re-evaluation). At a domain meeting for a re-evaluation, the domain team at the student s school makes a request for the re-evaluation and determines which assessments, if any, are completed. ISBE requires that at a minimum a re-evaluation must be completed in the following instances: ( ) ( ) ( ) o Every three years ( (b)) o Prior to a change in eligibility ( (c)(1); and o If the child s parent or teacher requests a re-evaluation. ( (b)) ISBE also requires that prior to the conduct of the evaluation, the district shall: ( ) ( ) o Determine specifically what assessments are needed in order to determine if the child has a disability adversely affecting educational performance. o Involve and notify the parents in writing of the decision not to conduct new and/or additional testing. (For those children previously diagnosed, it may be determined that no new assessments are necessary in order to establish eligibility.) ( (f)) o If the child has a non-english speaking background, a determination shall be made of his or her proficiency in English. ( ) 2. Who attends Domain Meetings? All individuals deemed essential to any determination regarding a student's special education decision-making process. At minimum: One parent ( (a)(1) One regular education teacher ( (a)(2) One special education teacher ( (a)(3) District LEA representative ( (a)(4)-can be the psychologist if designated by the building principal. 1

2 i. Also, the IEP team may include: 1. Evaluation interpreter 2. Other individuals that have knowledge or special expertise, including related/sensory service personnel The school psychologist facilitates the Domain Meeting and is responsible for all consent paperwork to be completed at the meeting with the exception of speech and language only and OT/PT only cases. The special education case manager is responsible for sending out invitations for the Re-Evaluation Domain Meeting. Please use the Notification of Conference form in TERA as the invitation. Domain Meetings can occur during an Individual Problem Solving Meeting. Please remember to complete the Individual Problem Solving Invite to document attendance at the meeting. 3. How is attendance at a Domain Meeting documented? All individuals present at a Domain Meeting should sign-in on the Notification of Conference (Invitation) form that was generated for the meeting. The Psychologist or Speech Pathologist for Speech/Language only evaluations will be in charge of all Evaluation and IEP meeting paperwork. If an IEP Team Member is absent that was included on the Invitation form; the Psychologist (if the person absent is unable to do so) needs to fill out the Excusal of IEP Team Member form. Any related service personnel that cannot make the domain meeting, must complete their information on the consent for evaluation/domain page in TERA at least two days before the Re-evaluation Domain Meeting. In the event that a General Education Teacher and/or Special Education Teacher are absent from the Domain meeting, please reschedule, as the Domain meeting would not be in compliance with the law. In order for an IEP Team Member to be excused, (as long as the parent(s) are in agreement with the excusal) the excused IEP Team Member needs to either explain the data required for the Evaluation prior to the Domain meeting or ask the parent if another IEP Team Member can explain his/her evaluation process. 2

3 4. When are Domain Meetings held? Domain Meetings for re-evaluations should be held no sooner than 60 school days before the IEP meeting is scheduled. ISBE states that the IEP meeting must be convened within 60 school days of the date written consent to conduct the evaluation is received. (105 ILCS 5/ (b)). Parental participation at the domain meeting is important so parents can participate in the process and the team can get consent for the evaluation at that time. 5. Where are Domain Meetings held? Domain Meetings are held at the student s school of attendance. If substitutes are needed for the meeting, the student s case manager or the school psychologist should speak with their principal/academic chair in order to obtain a substitute teacher for the meeting. The building secretary needs to put domain meeting dates on the pink IEP calendar. 6. How are Domain Meetings held? School Psychologists help to facilitate the Domain Meetings for all evaluations except for students under speech and language only and OT/PT only. School Psychologists also facilitate the Domain Meetings after Individual Problem Solving Meetings for students referred for an initial evaluation for special education. All special education personnel that will be involved in the evaluation process should be invited to the domain meeting. Please remember to ask people if they can attend before attaching their name to the invitation form for a re-evaluation Domain Meeting. Domain meetings should last no more than thirty minutes. During the meeting for a re-evaluation, the psychologist first allows members of the team to introduce themselves. Then, a conversation is facilitated to discuss whether additional data is needed in order to determine continued eligibility for special education. 3

4 Each related service personnel employee determines which assessments he or she will complete under each domain. The team should rely on the expertise of the related staff member to determine if the assessments stated would provide the necessary information or if further assessments are necessary. However, please remember that each IEP team member can provide valuable information about the student that can allow for the team to make a collaborative decision. 7. What happens if a student did not pass the hearing and/or vision screening at the time of the domain meeting? If the team suspects that there is a vision or hearing deficit, the team should investigate further to rule out that vision or hearing are not the reason for the student s academic or behavior skill deficits. (i.e. Re-screen, follow-up with a doctor or the vision and hearing itinerant) Keep the IEP team members updated on the student s results from further investigation. Determine what assessments can be completed without having passed the vision and hearing screening. (i.e. If behavioral needs, could still conduct adaptive behavior rating scales, but may not be able to interview the child if hearing concerns). At the Evaluation Meeting, if the student has not passed vision and hearing there is a possibility that the team would not be able to rule out the exclusionary factor of a visual or hearing disability being the primary basis for the student s learning difficulties. Therefore, the student would not be eligible for special education services. If the student is not found eligible due to the exclusionary criteria, the team should discuss which interventions should be put into place to address the student s needs. After the student s hearing or vision needs are addressed, another domain meeting could be held if the student is not making adequate progress with the current interventions. 4

5 8. What information do I need to bring with me to a Domain Meeting? Regular Education teachers need to bring data on the student s current academic and behavioral functioning in the school setting. This data may include MAP assessment data, CBM benchmarking, progress monitoring, other intervention data, Open Court assessments, 504 plan, SWIS data, Instructional Planning Form, etc. Special Education teachers need to bring data on the student s current academic and behavioral functioning in accordance to the student s IEP goals. This data should include CBM benchmarking, progress monitoring in AIMSWEB, Tier III intervention assessment data, SWIS data, Instructional Planning Form, etc. The School Psychologist is responsible for bringing any assessment data that he or she has from working with a student s case during the individual problem solving process. This can include Curriculum-based Evaluation results, classroom observation information, socio-emotional data, observation of the fidelity of the current intervention the student is receiving, FBA/BIP, SWIS data, etc. Any other Related Service Staff member (i.e. social worker, nurse, speech pathologist, OT/PT, hearing or vision itinerant) needs to bring any data that he or she has from either working with the student on his or her IEP goals or any information that is collected through the individual problem solving process. This includes, but is not limited to, current health information, hearing and vision data, speech and language screening/intervention data, occupational and physical therapy intervention data, SWIS data, behavioral intervention data, Office Discipline Reports, etc. 5

INITIAL REFERRAL FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION ELIGIBILITY

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