Completing Eligibility Worksheets

1
Completing Eligibility Worksheets

• February 2009
• Speech

2
Initials vs Reevaluations

• If this is an Initial every section on the
  worksheet needs to be completed.
• If this is a Reevaluation, only those sections of
  the worksheet that relate to the assessments
  listed on the DEC 7 and DEC 2 need to be
  completed.
• All other sections should contain a statement
  such as Team determined information in this area
  was not required.

3
Speech as a Related Service

• If speech is going to be a related service, the
  speech eligibility worksheet does not need to be
  completed.
• Speech results should be shown under other.
  (Use information from the DEC 3 Process Tab memo)
• Students dont qualify for related services
  students get related services when the IEP team
  determines related services are needed to access
  the special education services.

4
Pulling information from assessment tab to
eligibility worksheet

• Be sure to review Tips to Navigate the New DEC 3
  Process Tab directions for getting the related
  service information onto the correct eligibility
  worksheet(s).

5
Responsibilities for Summary of Required
Screenings and Evaluations

• Those who assess (psychologists, diagnosticians,
  OT, PT, Speech, audiologist) will enter their
  documentation on the Assessments Tab in
  EasyIEP.
• School psychologists will enter the Social
  Developmental History and Health Screening if it
  is the folder prior to testing. If not, it will
  become the responsibility of the case manager.

6
Case Manager Responsibilities

• Case managers are responsible for documenting
• hearing,
• vision,
• summary of conferences with parents,
• interventions,
• observations across settings and
• review of existing data.

7
Vision and Hearing

• Be sure to include the numbers.
• Hearing is screened at 20 dB intensity (volume)
  at 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz frequencies (pitch).
• They need to pass on both sides to be called a
  pass, but can pass on one side for
  psycho-educational testing to be conducted,
  provided that those doing testing give priority
  to the better ear.
• Nurses generally conducted the testing

8
Summary of Conferences with Parents

• List dates, type of conference and a summary of
  what was discussed. For Example
• 9-1-08 good news phone call, discussed work
  habits
• 9-15-08 Call from parent. Concerned about poor
  reading skills. Discussed referral to school
  assistance team.
• 12-1-08 and 12-7-08 written invitations sent
  to parent for DEC 1. No response and the parent
  did not attend the meeting.
• 1-30-09 written invitation to eligibility
  meeting returned, signed.

9
Observations across Settings

• Observation should be done by certified personnel
  but not the students reg ed teacher(s).
• List date(s) of observation(s)
• Remove teacher names. Refer to position.
• Across settings can mean one observation of two
  or more activities or two observations of
  different activities.
• Observations should be done in the area(s) of
  concern as noted on the DEC 1 or DEC 7.
• Describe the setting and activity, where the
  student was seated, amount of on task behavior,
  etc.

10
Strengths and Needs

• Should reflect information from both the
  assessments given (completed by assessors) and
  the students day-to-day classroom performance
  (completed by case manager). Be sure information
  from related service and educational assessments,
  as well as, intellectual assessments are
  included.
• These should be in narrative form, as opposed to
  lists, and should include specifics.

11
Strengths and Needs Examples

• Fred has strong verbal reasoning skills. He is
  able to use context clues as an aid in
  comprehension and can decode single syllable
  short vowel words. His voice, fluency and
  language skills are all age appropriate.
• Fred has a weak working memory. Tasks requiring
  multiple steps are difficult. He is not able to
  divide words into syllables or apply the rules
  for when vowels are long or short. Difficulties
  with decoding interfere with his comprehension.
  He has trouble pronouncing /th/ and /r/ and this
  carries over to his spelling. Fred has
  disorganized work habits.

12
Documentation Section

• Documentation of Impairment, Adverse Effect on
  Educational Performance and Need for Specialized
  Instruction sections should be finalized at the
  meeting.
• Teams need to be cognizant of not predetermining
  eligibility. At the same time, we need to do all
  we can to facilitate timely and smooth running
  meetings.
• Suggestion sketch out a rough draft of these
  sections. Since paperwork is presented in
  proposed mode, then whats sketched out can be
  added to/changed at the meeting.
• DO NOT say that the student qualifies or does not
  qualify in this section. That determination is
  made after the yes/no questions are answered on
  the DEC 3 Eligibility Determination form.

13
Adverse Effect examples

• Freds weak decoding skills negatively impact his
  reading fluency and his comprehension. These
  reading weaknesses make it difficult for him to
  gain knowledge from text read or to work
  independently in classes.
• Fred has not mastered basic calculation skills.
  This impacts his ability to compute as well as
  set up and solve math word problems.

14
Need for Specialized Instruction examples

• Fred has shown limited improvement in his
  decoding skills even with research based
  interventions, Title 1 reading and after school
  tutoring.
• Fred has been receiving small group instruction
  in the area of reading and writing and has
  consistently made progress on his IEP goals in
  these areas. He has difficulty transferring
  these skills to a large group setting.
• Even though Freds reg ed teacher has been using
  a researched based reading program, he has not
  developed mastery of phonemic awareness skills,
  nor is he able to match letters and their sounds.

15
If the student wont qualify

• If there is no adverse effect or need for
  specialized instruction, the student will not
  qualify but these areas of the worksheet still
  need to be completed. Examples
• Adverse effect -While Fred has been diagnosed
  with ADHD, medication is the intervention that
  works. He is able to focus and stay on task to
  completion therefore, there is no adverse effect
  on Freds educational performance.
• Need for Specialized Instruction Fred is not in
  need of specialized instruction as shown by his
  ability to complete classwork and homework in a
  timely manner and meet grade level standards in
  relation to the standard course of study.