 explains. Parents have trouble connecting with other parents whose children might have the same disability. “I think that can be isolating,” Fabiano says. “There are parent support groups, and we try really hard to connect families.”
Parents can serve on their local parent advisory council, which helps guide special education services for the school system. According to Massachusetts law, every school system needs to have this council, and it can provide a way for parents to connect with others who have children with special needs.
Special education students need to be educated in the least restrictive environment possible, according to the IDEA law. For nearly all special needs students, that means attending their neighborhood school in the same grade as their peers.
“If you’re 8 years old and you have Down syndrome, you walk into second grade, and that’s where you spend your day,” Fabiano says.
It’s up to special education teachers, in conjunction with classroom teachers, to make sure the students have the help they need to learn in the regular classroom. School administrators hope that having special needs children in the classroom will help everyone learn.
“We’re all the same. They’re all kids,” says Mozelle Berkowitz, who worked in elementary student services in Newton. “They both need to understand how to relate to each other, and they need to live in a society that’s integrated at the end of this.”
Jessica Hanthorn is a freelance writer in Braintree.
A Special Education Timeline
If your child might need special education services, here is the process the school system must follow:
• Within 5 days of someone noticing an issue with your child, the district needs to notify you and seek consent to evaluate the child.
• Within 30 school days of your consent, your child will be evaluated by specialists.
• Within 45 school days of your initial consent the evaluation team determines whether your child is eligible for services. Then, if your child is eligible for services, the team will develop and write an individualized education program (IEP) for your child. Read our article, “An Introduction to IEPs,” at BostonParentsPaper.com/IEP.
Within 30 days of receiving the IEP, parents need to consent to the IEP.
• Throughout the year, children receive special education services and parents get updates at least as often as non-special needs students do.
• Annually, the team reviews and rewrites the IEP.
• At least every three years, the school reevaluates your child.