School work is designed to challenge students and help them meet grade-level academic standards. Students with disabilities have the right to learn and participate in the general education curriculum. Public school districts must provide these students with the services, accommodations, and modifications that they need to learn the same material…

This guide is meant to help parents, schools, and community members use the Kansas Special Education Process Handbook. The parent guide to the Kansas Special Education Process Handbook was written by the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). It is a start for learning about special education requirements. It is recommended to use this guide…

Individuals who serve as surrogate parents fulfill an important role in the life of a child with a disability. Surrogates have become increasingly important in special education because a growing number of children are living outside their family for some period of their lives. Like parents, surrogates of children with disabilities are granted a…

Whole-school or whole-class programs designed to promote positive behavior can enhance the likelihood that effective teaching and learning occur for all students. This practice guide is intended to help elementary education educators, as well as school and district administrators and parents, implement and support effective prevention-focused…

This guide offers information that can help parents raise drug-free children. Parents may read it from front to back like a book, or pick a topic from the Table of Contents and go directly to that page. This guide includes: (1) An overview of substance use among young people, with a special focus on how it affects academic performance; (2)…

A due process complaint is a written document used to request a due process hearing related to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of a child with a disability, or the provision of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) to the child. This publication describes Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests generally for Part B…

Human Needs and Intellectual Disabilities identifies the 12 human needs most relevant to the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, autism and related developmental disabilities. It includes detailed, practical suggestions for caregivers or parents interested in the happiness, quality of life, and self-determination of their loved ones or…

Early ACCESS is a partnership between families and their young children with special needs (birth to age three) and providers from the Iowa Departments of Education, Public Health, and Human Services and the University of Iowa Child Health Specialty Clinics, and other community agencies. The purpose of this partnership is to work together to…