Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP Policy Letter on Adapted Physical Education

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Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504

On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services released multiple guidance documents to help public elementary and secondary schools fulfill their responsibilities to meet the needs of students with disabilities and avoid the discriminatory use of student discipline. These newly released resources are the most comprehensive guidance on the civil rights of students with disabilities concerning student discipline, and include: (1) a 41-page guidance on avoiding the discriminatory use of student discipline under Section 504; (2) an accompanying fact sheet summarizing the main points of the guidance; (3) a 57-page Q&A regarding IDEA’s disciplinary provisions; (4) a 19-page technical assistance guide describing positive, proactive approaches to supporing the needs of children with disabilities; and (5) a letter from Secretary of Education Cardona to stakeholders. Read more about and connect with each document in CPIR’s abstract.

Q&A on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools

This OSEP-revised document, Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools, is intended to provide guidance regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements applicable to children with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools, students who are not enrolled in the local educational agencies (LEA), and for whom the provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE) is not at issue. This Q&A updates and supersedes the Department’s 2011 guidance of the same title.

To connect with this important guidance and its PDF, and to see its Table of Contents and the sheer range of topics covered, come to this abstract page.

Return to School | Child Find and Early Intervention Services

This webinar for Parent Centers focuses on important guidance from the U.S. Department of Education. Presenters from OSEP review the new Part C guidance documents: (1) Return to School Roadmap: Child Find, Referral, and Eligibility; and Return to School Roadmap: Provision of Early Intervention Services. The Department issued the guidance interpreting the requirements of IDEA in response to requests from a diverse group of stakeholders, including Parent Centers. Both roadmaps are also available in Spanish, as is this webinar.

Return to School Roadmap | Child Find under Part B of IDEA

This Q&A document (OSEP QA 21-05) on Child Find under Part B of IDEA reaffirms the importance of appropriate implementation of IDEA’s child find obligations, which requires the identification, location and evaluation, of all children with disabilities in the states.

Return to School Roadmap: Child Find, Referral, and Eligibility

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Provision of Early Intervention Services for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of Education has released yet another guidance in its Return to School Roadmap series–this one is called Provision of Early Intervention Services for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families under Part C of IDEA. The 11-page document focuses on the development and implementation of Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSP), the written plan for providing early intervention services to an infant or toddler with a disability and the child’s family. The questions and answers addressed are intended to provide guidance and to identify the relevant requirements and options for flexibility for the State lead agencies (LA) and EIS providers when faced with unprecedented programmatic circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more about this Q&A, see a list of the questions addressed, and connect with this and other guidances in OSERS’ Return to School roadmap series here, at CPIR.

Webinar | Return to School: Development and Implementation of IEPs

This webinar focuses on important guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, issued on September 30th and entitled Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of IEPs in the LRE. The guidance stresses the importance of revisiting the needs of students with disabilities as they return to classrooms. Have the needs and learning difficulties of individual students changed, given the impact of COVID-19, remote learning, and isolation? Do goals in the IEP need to be changed, do the services and supports to be provided need to be adjusted? Presenters from OSEP explore these and other questions, including compensatory services and addressing the school-related health needs of returning students.

Webinar | Stakeholder Engagement in SPP/APRs

This webinar focused on OSEP’s new requirements for Stakeholder Engagement in State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) package for 2020-2025. The webinar’s subtitle is: What Parent Centers Need to Know. The new SPP/APR package requires states to engage stakeholders throughout the entire SPP/APR process and describe its mechanisms for ensuring such engagement, including a description of the activities conducted to increase the participation of diverse groups of parents and build their capacity to take part in the state’s activities to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. Parent Centers have a key role to play in bringing the parent voice to the state’s SPP/APR activities.

Webinar | Q&As about Service Provision in IDEA Part B and C

The focus of this OSEP webinar for Parent Centers is on answering questions about service provision under Parts B and C of IDEA during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is based on the postings at OSEP of Q&As pertinent to providing services to infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children with disabilities during the pandemic.