Parent Rights in the IEP Process with Lara Wakefield

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Speech and Language Kids Podcast 35 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 2 days ago

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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Carrie Clark 0:00

Hello and welcome to episode number 26 of the Speech and Language Kids podcast. I am Keri Clark, and today I will be interviewing Laura Wakefield, Ph.D., who is a speech-language pathologist and parent rights advocate. She will be talking to us today about parent rights and the IEP process. Laura discusses what rights you have as a parent of a child with a special need or a disability. Today I don't have any news or updates to talk about, so we're just gonna jump right into the content. So let's talk about who is Laura Wakefield. She is a speech language pathologist and parent advocate here in Columbia, Missouri, same city that I'm in, where she has a private practice providing parent advocacy and speech therapy services to local families.

Carrie Clark 0:44

Laura has 16 years of experience in various speech and language therapy settings, and her areas of interest include collaborative and inclusive

What is Lara Wakefield’s background and expertise in parent advocacy?

Carrie Clark 0:53

Approaches in the schools, parent advocacy and education of things like IDEA, FERPA, and LRE. Those are things we'll talk about in the interview today. As well as evidence-based practice related to the selection and use of smartphones and tablet apps. So let's jump right in with the interview with Laura. So we are here today with Laura Wakefield from Wakefield Consultation Services. Laura, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for inviting me. Can you start by telling us a little bit

Lara Wakefield 1:22

about yourself and your background, please? Well, I have about 19 years of experience as a speech language pathologist, and I'm going into my seventh year. as a parent advocate in my areas of interest are collaboration models and developing inclusive and learning environments for children with special needs and my focus is on evidence-based practice and using data to inform evaluation and therapy decisions as far as my schooling i earned my master's in communication sciences and disorders at the university of missouri in 1995, a long time ago, and I earned my PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Cincinnati

Carrie Clark 2:03

Lara Wakefield 2:03

2007. I've worked in various settings over the years, rehabilitation hospitals, home health, public schools, university settings, and now private practice. And I am in private practice in Columbia, Missouri, and I have two children, ages nine and 12, who have special medical needs, and I homeschool them. So I'm a busy person, but I enjoy it that way.

Carrie Clark 2:28

That's good, that's very good. So you said you've been an IEP advocate for seven years then? Yes. Okay. Can you tell a little bit about what an IEP

Lara Wakefield 2:36

advocate does? Okay. And first of all, I'd just like to correct, it's probably a better title to be, I'm called a parent advocate.

Carrie Clark 2:43

A parent advocate.

Why is a parent advocate needed and what does the role involve?

Lara Wakefield 2:43

Okay. All right. But IEPs are part of what I do as a parent advocate. That might be what most people know me for in being a parent advocate. However, in being a parent advocate, it's a lot more encompassing in that I'm helping parents advocate and navigate the whole world of having a child with special needs. So I can be assisting them with medical issues. I can be assisting them with insurance things at times. I assist them in the juvenile justice system. And then of course with the education system, which would involve IEPs or 504 plans.

Carrie Clark 3:19

Sure. Okay. Um, is there a special training that goes into being a parent advocate or is this just kind of stuff that you've picked up over the years from working with these families?

Lara Wakefield 3:29

Right now, there is not any type of certification to be a parent advocate in the United States. There are these training programs that are called SEAT training programs, and that is offered through COPA, which is the Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys, and you can do their training programs. They're about a semester long and get a certification like that. It's more like a continuing education type

Unknown 3:57

thing.

Lara Wakefield 3:57

But there are no university programs that have a certification or degree in parent advocacy, though that would be a goal of mine eventually. Yeah, that would be great. And Columbia is probably the ideal place for that to happen because you have a university with graduate programs and special education, a law school, and a medical school all on one campus, which is pretty rare to find.

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Chapters

8 chapters

1 What is the main topic discussed in this episode? 0:00–0:53 2 What is Lara Wakefield’s background and expertise in parent advocacy? 0:53–2:43 3 Why is a parent advocate needed and what does the role involve? 2:43–6:17 4 Which federal laws protect families of children with disabilities? 6:17–10:29 5 What are the key parent rights under IDEA and ADA (LRE and EBP)? 10:29–17:57 6 What options do parents have if a school says their child does not qualify for services? 17:57–23:21 7 How do Response‑to‑Intervention (RTI) programs differ from the IEP process? 23:21–30:18 8 What steps should parents take when they feel their rights are being violated? 30:18–35:43

Speakers

1 identified

Carrie Clark 8 min

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Topics in this episode

iTunes 1 Ada 1 speechandlanguagekids.com 2 IDEA 2 Keri Clark 2 Office of Civil Rights 2 Mediation 1 Copa 3 Section 504 2 due process 1 State Department of Education 2 IEE 1

Source

Recorded24 Nov 2014

Publisherspeechandlanguagekids.com ↗

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

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Show notes

In episode 26 of the Speech and Language Kids Podcast, Carrie Clark interviews speech-language pathologist Lara Wakefield, PhD, CCC-SLP about the parent rights in the IEP process. Lara discusses what rights you have as a parent of a child with a special need or disability. Who is Lara Wakefield? Lara Wakefield is a speech-language pathologist and parent advocate in Columbia, Missouri where she has a private practice providing parent advocacy and speech therapy services to local families. Lara has 19 years of experience in various speech and language therapy settings and has been a parent advocate for 7 years. Lara’s areas of interest and research include collaborative and inclusive approaches in the schools, parent advocacy and education of IDEA, FERPA, and LRE, as well as evidence-based practice related to the selection and use of smartphone and tablet apps. What is a Parent Advocate? Someone to help parents advocate and navigate the world of having a child with special needs Someone to help with medical issues, insurance, juvenile justice system, and school system Currently no certification for parent advocates but there are training programs through COPAA: http://www.copaa.org/ Do I Need a Parent Advocate? Not all parents of children with special needs have parent advocates Lara currently sees a growing need for parent advocates because the education laws are not written in parent-friendly ways and there are more special needs students now than ever before Parents often don’t understand the jargon that schools are using and this can cause communication breakdowns Schools don’t always understand the complexities of the diagnoses walking in their doors Parent Advocates can be translators to improve communication between schools and parents What Laws Protect Families of Children with Special Needs? Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) Outline the steps required Team must determine eligibility IEP or 504 plan must be in place The law and the states lay out who qualifies and who doesn’t. The schools have to follow what the law says. What Rights to Families Have When Their Child Has a Disability: Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): Children should receive their education with their typically-developing peers as much as is possible and practical. They should also access the general education curriculum as much as possible. Evidence-Based Practices (EBP): Children should be provided therapies that are based on what the research says are the best practices. What if the School Says the Child Doesn’t Qualify? Still protected under IDEA Parents have 4 options if they disagree with the diagnostic information: Mediation with a lawyer provided by the state: Aimed at peaceful resolution (the best possible outcome) File Child Complaint to the state and the state would investigate the school to see if they are violating the law File for Due Process: Involves a court hearing where a ruling is handed down about if the school was wrong. Run by the state (not in the formal courts) Can ask for independent evaluation by someone outside of the school. Team reconsiders eligibility based on the new information How Do Response to Intervention (RTI) Programs Work? Therapists provide therapies to children in the regular education setting without using the full IEP evaluation These children should be protected by ADA Section 504 How Can Parents Find All of Their Rights? Go to state’s department websites and click on parents’ section on special education. Look for the compliance manual and standards indicator. You can also look for youtube and web information. Another good website is “Wrightslaw” http://www.wrightslaw.com/ Steps if You Feel Your Rights Are Being Violated: Talk to the team first Bring in principle and district administrator if possible If that doesn’t work, find an advocate to assist you in knowing your options What is Due Process? A parent’s rights to go through mediation and work out the problem or have the school investigated. A neutral entity (the state department) comes in to mediate or investigate. These entities may not be entirely neutral though so advocates are helpful. This should not be your first step. Other steps should be taken to find peaceful resolution first. Most cases don’t need to go all the way to due process. How To Promote a Positive Working Relationship with your Child’s IEP Team: Document, document, document Put everything into writing if possible (email is preferable) If you have face-to-face or phone conversations, follow up with an email that summarizes what was discussed. Ask for clarification constantly. Say “Ok, let me make sure I got that correct, I heard you say…”. Ask the IEP team any time you don’t understand what they’re talking about. How To Find an Advocate: Wright’s Law: http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/ COPAA Website: http://www.copaa.org/search/custom.asp?id=1489 How to Find Info About Lara Wakefield 573-268-3284 [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wakefieldconsultationservices More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists: Looking for more therapy ideas and resources to help you provide the BEST services to your clients? Join us in The SLP Solution, our membership program for speech-language professionals! Inside the membership, you’ll find: Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP TODAY! The post Parent Rights in the IEP Process with Lara Wakefield appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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