Choosing Your Child's Special Education Placement: Questions to Ask a School

Below is list of questions you should ask your child's prospective school when choosing the appropriate special needs placement.

Does your school offer an ESY? (Extended School Year)

Many private schools and some public schools offer an extended school year that runs for an average of 220 days per year, as opposed to the 180 day average school year. This extended school year was developed to help keep the children from regressing.

What types of services are offered for my child?

There are many different services that a child with special may need from their school. These services can be integrated in the child's IEP and be implemented on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Physical Education is a core component of a child's educational plan. Adaptive Physical Education is a great way for your child to take part in many different physical activities that are tailored to his or her abilities.

Speech Therapy is need for many students with special needs. Speech and Language Pathologists or "SLP's" provide therapy to students in many different areas of speech and language. A SLP may help your child with their voice volume, pronunciation, social skills, voice output devices, and pretty much anything speech related.

Physical Therapy is offered in many schools. Physical Therapists in schools is a nice addition so your child can get this service on site and he or she may not need to attend other sites to receive these services after school is over. Vocational training is a great component of many students IEP's.

Vocational training helps build skills need to work in the "real world." Many schools that have a vocational program that provide the students a chance to take part in jobs like meals on wheels, internal mail delivery, and they sometime also find companies in the community that hire the student for paid work.

Occupational Therapy is another great resource at many schools across the country. Occupational Therapists help in many ways in the classroom. Occupational Therapists help improve the student's ability in performing their daily routines.

How long is the bus ride?

Many children with special needs have a hard time riding on the bus for long periods of time. Make sure you ask the school department on how long the child will be on the bus on the way to school and on the return trip back home. Every state has laws on how long a child in district or out of district can be on the bus for. Also, sometimes children need a harness to help keep them safe in their seat. Some school departments will require a doctor's note. The bus can be very stressful for many students, make sure the bus driver knows how your son or daughter communicates and any medical or behavioral needs that may need to be addressed.

Teacher/Child Ratio?

Depending on the functioning level of your child they will require different staffing levels. Some students are fine with 2:1 ratio or more. Some students require a 1:1 and sometimes with more severe behavioral students two staff or more to one student. Find out how your child's classroom is going to be staffed.

Interventions

Unfortunately many students with special needs need some type of intervention to help keep them safe. Many programs develop an individualized behavior plan for each student. Some interventions may non intrusive, but sometimes students may need to be placed into "time out rooms" or "quiet rooms". Some students may even need to be physically restrained. All schools have different policies and procedures. If your child posses a risk of a physical behavioral problem, make sure you find out their intervention plan.

These questions are only a few that you should ask of your child's potential school. The number one thing is always feel free to ask as many questions as you have. You entrust the school with the job of keeping your child safe and proving them with a education. Remember the IEP is a legal document and the school needs to abide by the plan. You have the right to visit the school and see the classroom and your child's educational materials.