What do I send on for IFSP Records

I've had some recent questions from both ends - the home teacher sending IFSP records on to the LEA and the classroom teacher wondering what records need to be sent, kept, etc.

So, I went to the EA procedural manual:
"Since Early ACCESS is legislated through IDEA, the records are considered educational records. Any information admitted to the record, including health information becomes part of the educational record and is protected under FERPA. The child’s official educational record is maintained by the AEA due to Regional Grantee responsibilities for Part C.

Most districts do NOT want all that info as they have no where to store it and don't use it. So, we are typically sending the last/most recent IFSP to the district and AEA discipline reports. Please have conversations with your receiving teacher, legally, they can have a copy of the entire file, but through discussion come to an agreement of what records they need/want. No release of information is needed to exchange between AEA and LEA, but you do need a release to share files/records with private programs.

Buddy Walk coming soon

4TH ANNUAL
BUDDY WALK
Sunday, October 11, 2009
John F. Kennedy
Memorial Park
1415 Nelson Ave.
Fort Dodge, IA
(Located 4 miles North of Fort Dodge
on county road P56)

Each year, parents of children with Down Syndrome have a "buddy walk" to raise awareness and support for children with down syndrome. Please encourage and invite new families that have children with down syndrome to participate in this wonderful networking activity. You as a teacher and advocate for children are also invited to attend. I've attended 2 of the past 3 years and found the experience valuable. I'll attach the brochure for details!

Email from Pat

"I had my 3 month check-up at Mayo yesterday and they don't find anything wrong with me!!! Physically-they won't vouch for mentally!!!! Guess I won't have any excuses to slough off now! "

Yeah Pat, glad to hear that things went well at your check-up!

Head Start Partner Meeting

Jerry Stremel , Gale and I had a meeting with our Head Start partners this past week
(UDMO, YOUR, INC., New Opportunities, and North Iowa Community Action Org.)

As we discussed some of the new statewide IEP procedural manual changes and the child find system, the following conversations occurred.

1) Do you know all the required components that Head Start must collects on each student in their program?
Head Start does home observations, slow start observation, parent nights, gathers parent input on child goals, informal screens (ASQ), collects work samples, portfolio info, Creative Curr. data, hearing, vision, health, SSIS, release of info, etc. etc.

As we complete the Disability Suspect form and the new Consent for Eval form please ASK for the information they have already collected. rather than coming in and requesting and doing "lots of stuff on your own"; that may be a duplication.

Did you also know??? Head Start must have the entire IEP file on a child, not just the goal page. They must have the consent for eval, consent for services, prior written notice, mtg notice, etc. etc in order to be in compliance. And they want the IEP in a timely manner... It's our responsibility to get the IEP information to them as they do not have access to the WEB system!

We had very good conversations and thought our discussions were worthy to share with others.

#6149 Research to Practice

I am happy to see that some of you have already registered for the department work "Research to Practice, #6149" through our online Avatar system. All staff are expected to register and complete the requirements whether or not you desire the credit for the work completed.

This is just a reminder that there are only two ways licensed staff can access Teacher Quality monies. One is through the PD Strands and the other is through the Department Meetings, especially around the Coaching professional development. Teacher Quality pays per diem for staff to complete the work for this professional learning outside the work day. Since many of us decided to opt out of the PD strands (coaching, faciliation, and differentiated instruction), with permission, it is likely that the only way to get your "teacher quality" money is through our department work.

Therefore, prior to the start of our work on Oct. 2, please register, even if you are NOT taking the work for credit. All departments will have a workspace created in Basecamp and your hours will be documented in the log in Basecamp. See Friday news for more information!

"Families" book

Have you had time to deliver copies of the "Family book" to various locations in your county that are possible Early ACCESS referral sources?

Remember to complete the sheet indicating where the books were delivered, and fax it to me at 712-335-4600 or scan and email it prior to our Oct. 2 department meeting. (If you've lost or misplaced the sheet, let me know and I'll email you another one.)

If you have extra books, please indicate "how many" on your sheet and bring them to the Oct. 2 dept. meeting. If you need extra books, please indicate "how many" and we will try and get more to you. Thank you!

Publications

I have ordered a copy of the publication "Zero to Three" for this school year. The September issue is all about the importance of play.I also get "Journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children." The September issue is all about Families.Take advantage of some great professional articles! You may request to "borrow" them at anytime, just send me an email.

Julie Curry, State Coordinator for Early ACCESS

Julie Curry, State Coordinator for Early ACCESS, Iowa Department of Education plans to join us on Oct. 2 for Robin McWilliam's presentation to our department.

She would like to extend an invitation for service coordinators/providers to visit with her informally about Early ACCESS. There will be coffee and rolls from 8:00-9:00 outside of North and South Twin Lakes Room prior to the presentation. Please try and arrive early, introduce yourself to Julie and take some time to visit with her about the work that you do!

Register online for Professional Development Credit

Please take the time to go online to our AEA home page, click media, and search the course catalog registration system for #6149, Research to Practice: Early Intervention in Natural Environments. On Friday, October 2, from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm, Robin McWilliams, Ph.D. with Siskin Children's Institute, Chattanooga, Tennessee will join the ECSE department as he presents "Research to Practice - The Five Component Model of Early Intervention in Natural Environments." Siskin Children's Institute strives to be on the cutting edge of educational programming for children with disabilities. He will help us find solutions to barriers along with prioritizing decisions about home visiting practices. 0-3 service providers (slp, ot, pt, hearing, vision) have also been extended the invitation to join us that day as we learn together. Wendy Barnard has been hired as "on-site coach" to facilitate the learning of concepts, skills and procedures presented by Dr. McWilliams. As coach, she will work directly with the ECSE teachers to ensure the learning continues to be rigorous, relevant and engaging. Collaborative time will be provided at department meetings, one-on-one home visits with coach, and small group time as needed.

Web-based IFSP training

Oh what a week! Thanks to everyone for being patient and cooperative as the web-based IFSP training started. It was exciting to see some of the new time saving elements built into the system. A big thank you to Tonia and Lisa for all the time and effort they have given to the training and plans for ongoing support in each of the offices. We are truely fortunate to have secretarial staff that make early childhood one of their number 1 priorities!!!