Agenda / Content Covered

1. The IEP Development Process: Handling Difficult Issues
   9:00 - 10:00, Dr. Robert K. Closson
   
   1. Paradigm Shifts in Parent Expectations and Perceptions; New IEP Challenges
   2. IDEA Evaluation Report Essentials
   3. The IEP Meeting: What if Parents Refuse to Come?
   4. Third Party Participation at IEP Meetings: Outside Agencies, Invited Guests etc.
   5. Avoiding Predetermination on IEPs
   6. Parent Recording of IEP Meetings: Can Schools Prohibit it?
   7. Ensuring the IEP Team has all Necessary Members
   8. Creating Measureable IEP Goals and Progress Requirements
   9. Creating a Prudent Paper Trail
2. Key Considerations for Implementing IEPs
   10:15 - 11:15, Dr. Robert K. Closson
   
   1. Who Should Receive a Copy? What Form Should it be?
   2. Teacher Training: Necessary Requirements to Ensure Successful Implementation
   3. Progress Monitoring, Documentation and Reporting
   4. What to do When IEPs Aren't Working
   5. Mid-Year Revisions
      1. Who Can Make Them?
      2. When Should They be Made?
3. IDEA or Section 504? Determining Eligibility Under Both Laws
   12:15 - 1:15, Matthew Wright
   
   1. Section 504
      1. What is a Disability Under Section 504?
      2. Major Life Activities: What do They Encompass?
      3. Substantial Limitations: What is the Bar?
      4. Impairment Determinations: What Can and Can't be Considered?
   2. The IDEA
      1. Eligibility Categories
      2. ADHD and Other Difficult-to-Place Disabilities
      3. Required Need for Specially-Designed Instruction
      4. Best Practices for Determining Eligibility
      5. IDEA-Eligible Students with Additional Medical Needs
   3. Handling Disputes with Parents over Eligibility
4. Developing and Implementing 504 Plans: Ensuring a Level Playing Field
   1:15 - 2:15, Matthew Wright
   
   1. Eligibility: What Should be Considered
   2. What Accommodations Should and Should not do
   3. 504 Accommodations vs. Specially Designed Instruction (and Why it Matters)
   4. Distribution of 504 Plans
   5. Avoiding Modifications
   6. Reviews and Re-Evaluations
   7. 504 Plan Red Flags to Avoid
5. Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs), and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs): Ensuring Best Practices
   2:30 - 3:30, Tracy L. Tibbals
   
   1. What IDEA Says About FBAs and BIPs
   2. Who Should be Involved in the Process?
   3. Meeting Key Evaluation Requirements
   4. How to Use the Information
   5. BIPs and Their Relation to IEPs
   6. Creating BIPs That are Useful for Staff
   7. Crisis Components and BIPs
   8. Behavior Plans and Section 504
   9. Handling Disagreements with Parents
6. Discipline and Expulsion Essentials Under IDEA and Section 504
   3:30 - 4:30, Tracy L. Tibbals
   
   1. Providing Services During Disciplinary Removal
   2. How Manifestation Determination Reviews Apply
   3. Protections for Children not yet Eligible for Special Education and Related Services
   4. Changes in Placement
      1. Suspensions and the Ten-Day Rule
      2. Legal Rules Governing Removal or Expulsion
      3. Interim Alternative Educational Settings
   5. Other Available Remedies
   6. Multiple Suspensions and Denial of Free Appropriate Public Education

Accreditation Details:

DR. ROBERT K. CLOSSON, Ed.D., is an author, instructor, speaker and unapologetic evangelist for special needs children throughout the country. Dr. Closson received his B.A. and M.B.A.degrees from the University of San Francisco (USF). He received his Doctorate in Education from the University of the Pacific (UOP) specializing in industrial psychology and the study of influence projection in the field of education. As founder/director of the Closson Group he practices throughout California and Nevada and specializes in IEP meeting facilitation and litigation support. As a veteran of more than 1,000 IEP meetings he is considered one of the foremost experts in the field. Dr. Closson is the author of Winning the IEP Game - How to get your struggling student the help they need with the urgency of now! (©2018)

TRACY L. TIBBALS is an attorney with Dora J. Dome Law Offices and has practiced exclusively in the area of education law for more than 16 years. His emphasis has been in all aspects of special education, Section 504 matters, and student discipline. During this time period, Mr. Tibbals also served for three years as an independent hearing officer adjudicating special education due process cases throughout California. For well over two decades prior to his specialization in education law, Mr. Tibbals was a litigation partner in a Southern California law firm where he tried cases in the state and federal courts and agencies. He is a member of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association, and has served on the education committee of the American Bar’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Prior to entering the law field, Mr. Tibbals taught in the public schools and holds a California life credential. Mr. Tibbals received his undergraduate degree from the University of California and his J.D. degree from California Western Law School, with post-J.D. studies at the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.

MATTHEW WRIGHT is an attorney in Stockton and has practiced law for 12 years. He was inspired to go into law and join his family's firm after his brother was diagnosed with autism, resulting in Mr. Wright growing up observing his mother, Debra, as an advocate and attorney for children with special needs. As part of his practice, he has focused on special education, Social Security, special needs trusts, and conservatorships. Mr. Wright earned his undergraduate degree in criminal justice, as well as his J.D. degree from Humphreys College, and his M.A. degree in education leadership from TCSJ. In addition to his legal practice, he has worked as a high school teacher for five years, holding both a single subject social science teaching credential, as well as an administrative credential.