The Special Education Process

Special Education Resources

The Evaluation Roadmap

The evaluation process may feel complicated, and there are many key stops along the way. Ohio Parent Mentor created this Evaluation Roadmap to help guide your journey.

For translations of this guide in other languages, please visit this website.

A Guide to Parents Rights in Special Education

The Ohio Department of Education developed a new special education procedural safeguards notice, A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education, for district and parent use.

Facilitation Information Sheet

Facilitation takes place in a team meeting such as an individualized education program (IEP) team meeting, evaluation planning meeting or an evaluation team meeting. The facilitator is a neutral, third party who is not a member of the team and does not make any decisions for the team.

Are You Thinking About Requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation?

This chart shows the different scenarios that occur when you request an evaluation outside of the school for your child.

Mediation Information Sheet

Mediation is a meeting where parents and schools agree to have a neutral, third party (a professional mediator) come to a meeting to help them resolve disagreements about the education of a student with a disability or a student who might have a disability. Mediation is available to parents and schools any time there is disagreement.

13 Categories of Special Education

There are 13 categories of special education as defined by Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In order to qualify for special education, the evaluation team must determine one of the categories in the PDF.

Understanding Trauma: Learning Brain vs Survival Brain

This video reframes a trauma perspective in terms of learning brain versus survival brain as a way to make it easier for teachers to talk about trauma with students.

Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS)

Below you will find Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) documents created specifically for families.

PBIS Fact Sheet

Facts about the Implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) in Ohio

PBIS Home Matrix

A positive Behavior Chart created by the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center with the Ohio Family and Community Engagement Network and the Ohio Department of Education’s PBIS Network.

Information for families about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

Resources including videos, brochures and presentations on PBIS in Ohio.

PBIS for Families Resources

Information for families about PBIS on the Ohio Department of Education website.

Implementing PBIS with a Culturally Responsive Lens

The Technical Assistance Center on PBIS provides a valuable resource to assist building and district teams and coaches in their efforts to embed culturally responsive practices into all core components of school-wide PBIS.