Schools are increasingly responding to the impact and prevalence of special health care needs among children and youth. COVID-19 brought the health needs of many students to the forefront. Now more than ever, it is crucial to for educators to plan for working with students with health needs. Many of these students with health needs are eligible for special education and related services and will need programming appropriate to address their unique needs. Further, school teams and special education personnel must continually ensure that goals and services within an IEP consider the students individual circumstances and impact on functioning. This book will provide strategies for supporting students with health care needs throughout their education, including referral, family engagement, report writing, IEP design, and implementation. Fortunately, school teams can apply many components of a health-care needs approach to developing IEPs, regardless of the concern or the existence of a medical history.
This book provides guidance to educators to assist in the development of legally defensible IEPs for all students, particularly those with a known or suspected history of health care needs. Specifically, the book will help:
Provide a clear description of the impact of adversity and health-care needs on student functioning, particularly for students with disabilities. Describe how symptoms of health-care needs map onto existing disability categories within IDEA. Apply a supportive approach to family engagement, assessment, and report writing. Take a different approach to PLAAFPs. Establish goals that are legally defensible and are written in light of the childs circumstances, viewing behavioral concerns as a skill deficit rather than purely a performance deficit.
Beyond the objectives described above, the information is particularly valuable given ongoing state and local legislation mandating schools become more aware of students with health-care needs and apply those approaches to all aspects of our work in schools (e.g., interactions, discipline, interventions). Despite the significant increase in recognizing the impact of students with health care needs, few books have operationalized that to the various components of service delivery. This book is the first of its kind in operationalizing a health care informed approach to IEP development.
Editors Note
Chapter 1: Healthcare and Education: An Introduction by Azure D. S. Angelov
and Mary Jo Rattermann
Chapter 2: Utilization of Health Data as part of a Multiple Tiered Systemic
Approach: The Journey to Leverage ESSA and Data to Inform Early Invention
Decision-Making by Azure D. S. Angelov, Mary Jo Rattermann, Thomas Reddicks,
and Jessica Monk
Chapter 3: A Schoolwide Approach to Healthcare: An Urban Schools Journey by
Shy-Quon Ely II and Nadia Miller
Chapter 4: Role of Health in Schools: MTSS Approach and Machine Learning Risk
Levels by Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Francis Bowen, Christopher Kearney, and
Marlin Jackson
Chapter 5: Lessons Learned from COVID: Perspectives of Teachers by Allison
Arnold-Kempers, Matthew Wojas, Alyssa Preddie Allen, Denver Wade, and Sara
Lauerman
Chapter 6: Engaging with Hospitals and Serving Students with Chronic
Illnesses by Kristin Wikel and Andrew M. Markelz
Chapter 7: School Nurses: Partners in Educating Students with Health Concerns
and Special Needs by Andrea Tanner
Chapter 8: Recovery High Schools: Working at the Intersection of Education,
Mental Health and Addiction Science by Linda Gagyi, Allison Arnold-Kempers,
Matthew Wojas, Alyssa Preddie Allen, Denver Wade, and Sara Lauerman
Index
About the Authors
Contributors:
Azure D. S. Angelov, Allison Arnold-Kempers, Francis Bowen, Shy-Quon Ely II, Linda Gagyi, Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Marlin Jackson, Christopher Kearney, Sara Lauerman, Andrew M. Markelz, Nadia Miller, Jessica Monk, Alyssa Preddie Allen, Mary Jo Rattermann, Thomas Reddicks, Andrea Tanner, Denver Wade, Kristin Wikel, Matthew Wojas
About the Editors:
Azure D. S. Angelov earned a Ph.D. in Special Education and Multicultural Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. Additionally, Dr. Angelov completed the High Potential Leaders Executive Education program at the Harvard Business School. Dr. Angelov served as Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Indianapolis has earned numerous professional awards. Currently she serves as Executive Director for the Paramount Health Data Project.
Dr. Mary Jo Rattermann received her Ph.D. in cognitive development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has expertise in experimental methodologies, advanced statistics and evaluative procedures. Dr. Rattermann was a Research Associate at the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) at the University of Indianapolis, where she was also adjunct faculty in the School of Education. Dr. Rattermann currently serves as an evaluator and Director of Research for the Paramount Health Data Project.
