IEP Help

Most of this information is from About.com, Terri Mauro

What is an IEP?

Who Attends an IEP Meeting?

What Happens at an IEP Meeting?

Where do IEP Meetings Take Place?

How Should I Prepare for an IEP Meeting?

What Should I Bring to an IEP Meeting?

What Should I Wear to an IEP Meeting?

Should My Child Come to IEP Meetings?

Do I Need an Advocate?

How Can I Get the Very Best Services for my Child?

Before You Sign Your Child's IEP
How To Report an IEP Violation

Keep a Contact Log

Five Reasons to Keep a Contact Log

What Does This Acronym Mean?

It's Those Wonderful Rights (about IDEA)

What is the Role of the Paraprofessional?

What is an IEP?

IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan (alternatively called an "Individualized Education Program," "Individual Education Plan," or some combination thereof). This is a legally binding document that spells out exactly what special education services your child will receive and why. It will include your child's classification, placement, services such as a one-on-one aide and therapies, academic and behavioral goals, a behavior plan if needed, percentage of time in regular education, and progress reports from teachers and therapists. The IEP is planned at an IEP meeting.
The individualized part of IEP means that the plan has to be tailored specifically to your child's special needs -- not to the needs of the teacher, or the school, or the district. Goals, modifications, accommodations, personnel, placement, all should be selected, enforced and maintained with the particular needs of your child in mind. "We don't do that," for example, is not an individualized response. If your school has never had a child like yours (and since your child is an individual, they haven't), and now they do, and a service is appropriate to his or her needs, then they do do that now.

Who Attends an IEP Meeting?

The IEP meeting is attended by members of the Child Study Team, which usually includes a social worker, a psychologist, a learning specialist, and your child's teachers and therapists. Parents are always to be included in IEP meetings. You have a right to be notified in advance and to change the date if necessary. Although IEP meetings are rarely pleasant, do not be tempted to skip them. You are the expert on your child, and are therefore the most essential member of the team.

What Happens at an IEP Meeting?

Sometimes an open and honest exchange of information, sometimes a lot of game-playing and intimidation, sometimes wailing and gnashing of teeth. IEP meetings can be some of the most emotionally difficult experiences parents of children with special needs can endure, and given the way most specialists interact with their patients' parents, that's really saying something.
Early in your child's special education experience, IEP meetings will focus on arranging for testing, giving a classification, and assessing needs. These are hard mostly because you will hear how very far your child is from the "norm," and begin to realize how his or her educational experience will differ from the one you had or your other children had. You may feel that the professionals at the table are only looking at your child as a disability -- or, equally difficult, you may feel that they are not giving enough attention to the depth of your child's problem and the intensity of his or her needs.

As your child moves through the special education system, annual IEP meetings will involve assessments of progress and the planning of the following year's program. Your child's teacher and therapists will read their reports, and the case manager will propose changes to the program or keeping things as is. There may be discussion of changing classifications, adding or subtracting services, moving the child into a different type of classroom, behavior plans and academic goals. If your child is doing well and you feel everything appropriate is being done, these meetings can actually be a pleasant opportunity to interact with school staff. But if there are issues -- if you feel your child needs something different than the team is offering, if you are surprised by reports of problems you have not been previously notified of, if you want more services or fewer services, if you want a different classroom or a different school, if you feel goals are not being met and are not being written appropriately -- meetings can get very ugly very quickly.

Your child is entitled to a reevaluation every three years, and you will be invited to a meeting whose purpose is mostly to decide whether or not to do that reevaluation. If the school feels all is going well, they may suggest that you skip the evaluation. There may be reasons to go along with that -- but they should be your reasons, not the school's. Generally, it is a good idea to have the evaluation take place, to have some statistical evidence of your child's progress or lack thereof and to hold the school accountable for that. You will especially want to have the reevaluation at times when a change of placement will definitely occur -- such as moving from special-ed pre-K to an elementary special-ed track, going from elementary to middle school or middle to high school.

Where do IEP Meetings Take Place?
 

Generally, IEP meetings will take place at the school where your Child Study Team is based. This may or may not be your child’s school, depending on the size of your district and where your child is placed.

How Should I Prepare for an IEP Meeting?

There may be meetings where you’ll feel that you should have prepared with a kickboxing class and maybe a morning at a shooting range. But in general, you should prepare the way you would for any important meeting: make notes on what you want to say, do some research if necessary, and know what you want to get out of it. It might be helpful to talk with other parents -- whether in your school district or on an Internet bulletin board or e-mail group -- to find out what services they have received for children with similar needs to yours. You will be in a stronger position to make requests if you can back it up with proof that other schools and other districts do indeed offer those services.
It’s also immensely helpful if you can go into a meeting knowing what you want. As a good team member, you will still listen to and consider the opinions of other members of the team, and you will consider compromises and concessions. But the more you rely on the professionals to tell you what you think, the more likely you are to agree to things that are not really in your child’s best interests. Put your solution or suggestions out there, and let the burden be on them to tell you why or why not, and to offer alternatives.

To mentally prepare for what can sometimes be a challenging and emotionally wrenching discussion, it may help to do a lot of reading about your rights and successful strategies. One excellent Web site for this is Wrightslaw, a treasure trove of information about special education rights and advocacy. But my personal favorite source of IEP-girding inspiration is an essay called ”Play Hearts, Not Poker”, which outlines the sort of collaborative but assertive attitude that I think offers the best chance of IEP success.
 

What Should I Bring to an IEP Meeting?

What Should I Wear to an IEP Meeting?

This matters more the more you’re trying to get out of the meeting, but in general, if you want to be taken seriously as a member of the team, it doesn’t hurt to dress as though you were going to a business meeting. You want these professionals to take you seriously as an informed participant rather than an emotional parent, and everything you do should contribute to that impression. Depending on your relationship with your Child Study Team, you may absolutely be able to be an effective advocate in a sweatshirt and jeans, but if there’s any chance that your credibility will be doubted, dressing up is an easy way to add to it.

Should My Child Come to IEP Meetings?

Your child is entitled to come to IEP meetings, but whether it’s a good idea will depend entirely on your child. At younger ages, caring for your child during the meeting can be a distraction from the serious business at hand, to which you will need to give your full attention. Older kids may have something to offer, but may be disturbed to hear all their weaknesses spelled out. Some kids may feel they have something they want to say, and others may not want to be pulled out of class. If your child does have an interest in attending, suggest that he or she come for the beginning of the meeting and make his or her contribution, then leave.

Do I Need an Advocate?

An advocate may be necessary if you have a specific fight with the system, but it may be wisest to start without one and bring one in only if the school district digs in. Often, just the threat of involving an advocate will be enough to start things moving in your direction. While many parents have used advocates effectively and indeed have not been able to get their children appropriate services without them, they do raise the level of contentiousness significantly. Save them for the big battles and the hardest fights.
However, it doesn’t hurt to bring another person with you to meetings. Ideally, both parents will attend the meeting, but you can bring a friend or relative instead. It can be very, very hard to take in all the things that are thrown out in an IEP meeting, and a second set of ears assures that less will be missed. If you get emotional, you’ll have another person to offer your voice in the discussion. And it will be harder for the team members to say you misheard or misunderstood things later on if they know there were two of you listening.
 

How Can I Get the Very Best Services for my Child?

Start by changing your terminology. The law entitles your child to a “free and appropriate public education,” not a superlative one. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for less than you feel is necessary; it just means you have to phrase your requests in a way the system can recognize. The magic word is “appropriate.” If you’ve decided what you think would be best for your child, figure out how to word it as appropriate instead. For example, you may feel that a highly structured classroom is the best place for your child and the only place he can reach his full potential. But what you’ll want to say is that a highly structured classroom is the appropriate placement for someone with your child’s particular disabilities, and a looser classroom structure is inappropriate.

And look at you -- you’re talking like a Child Study Team member!
 

Before You Sign Your Child's IEP

The Child Study Team may suggest you sign it sight-unseen, or hurry you to sign once the document is delivered. An IEP can be an intimidating pile of paper, full of jargon and charts and evaluations and lists. What should you be making sure of before you make it official? Here are some common areas of concern:
 

Goals
 

Whether academic, social or behavioral, for speech or occupational or physical therapy, all goals should be clear and measurable. Just saying there will be improvement in an area is not enough -- how much improvement? who decides? Generally, there should be a percentage listed as a criteria for mastery.
 

Modifications and Accommodations
 

Absolutely everything your child needs should be listed in this document -- one-on-one aide, instructional aide, inclusion teacher, resource room, alternate assignments, assistive technology, adaptive gym, extra time for tests, reduced homework, bus transportation, anything that's ever been discussed as helpful. If it's in the IEP, the school is obligated to provide it. If you just sort of remember that somebody said something about it at one time, you may have trouble getting that enforced.
 

Therapies and Related Services
 

The details of any speech, physical or occupational therapy your child receives should be spelled out, not only with clear and measurable goals but with an indication of how many sessions a week will be given and whether these will take place individually, in a group, or in the classroom. Additionally, any related services should be specifically mentioned and details given.
 

Definitions: Related Services
FAQs: Related Services
 

Inclusion
 

The percentage of your child's day that will be spent in regular education and the percentage in special education should be clearly indicated. If this doesn't correspond with your understanding of how your child's services and education will be provided, request explanation and adjustment as needed.
Least Restrictive Environment Requirements
Special Education Inclusion
 

Behavior Plan
 

If an IEP makes reference to a behavior plan, the behavior plan should be in the IEP. The ways in which behavioral goals will be achieved needs to be spelled out and agreed upon. An IEP may make it sound as though some sort of magic wand is going to effortlessly make your kid behave. Have the methodology behind this specified in the IEP, or ask them to send you one of those wands to use at home.
 

Background
 

If there's anything you want the people working with your child to know, make sure it's in the IEP. There should be a section devoted to your child's background, and if the information isn't there, there should be a section for parents' comments where you can have it added. It may be that no one will read it, but if it's in the IEP, they can't claim they were never informed.

How To Report an IEP Violation

The IEP is a legal document, carefully planned by the Child Study Team and requiring full implementation by the school district. That's the intention, anyway. The follow-through's often lacking, and you're liable to find that your child is in fact not getting all those specialized services he is legally entitled to. Some problems may be easily fixed, and some battles may not be worth fighting. For the ones you want to take on, these four steps will in most cases bring you to a resolution.

Difficulty: Hard

Time Required: Anywhere from a couple of phone calls to your every waking moment

Here's How:

1.     Call the Child Study Team and explain the problem. State specifically what you want to be done about it. Set a deadline for the correction to take place. Follow up with a fax or certified letter describing your conversation and the solution that was discussed. If for whatever reason the Child Study Team is not able to resolve the situation, move on to the next step.

2.     Call the special education director for your district and explain the problem, including your lack of success with the Child Study Team. State specifically what you want to be done, and set a deadline. Follow up with a fax or certified letter describing your conversation and the proposed solution. If for whatever reason the special education director is not able to resolve the situation, move on to the next step.

3.     Call the special education office for your county and explain the problem, including your lack of success at the district level. State specifically what you want to be done, and set a deadline. Follow up with a certified letter describing your conversation and the proposed solution. Copy the letter to the district special education director and superintendant. If for whatever reason the county special education office is not able to resolve the situation, move on to the next step.

4.     Call the special education office for your state and explain the problem, including your lack of success at the district and county level. State specifically what you want to be done, and set a deadline. Follow up with a certified letter describing your conversation and the proposed solution. Copy the letter to everyone you've had contact with previously.

Tips:

1.     At each level, if you can handle things through phone calls only, go ahead. Keep good notes about who you talk to, when, and what they promise. As long as things are proceeding in good faith and your child's safety is not an issue, you can remain at the phone level.

2.     Sometimes a good letter can give things the jolt they need to get moving. If you can keep things at the district level with a letter and repeated telephone nagging, do that. Only go on to the county level when you feel that the district has repeatedly failed to follow through or act appropriately.

3.     The severity of the situation will determine how quickly you skip from step to step, and how quickly you expect to see action. Don't go great guns for a relatively minor violation, but don't let a potentially unsafe situation drag on through endless unreturned phone calls and insincere assurances.

4.     In all contacts, by phone or on paper, reign in your anger and frustration and keep your tone calm, professional and purposeful. The law is on your side, you know it, they know it, and although you are a reasonable person you do expect the situation to be corrected.

Keep a Contact Log

Staying organized when you're juggling your child's education, health care, therapy, behavior, and six million other little details can seem like an impossible task. One easy way to feel more organized is to set up a system for keeping track of the conversations you've had with case managers, teachers, therapists, specialists and administrators. Here's how to have all those details, recommendations, promises and proposals right at your fingertips.

Create a contact log form.

You can lay it out on a word processor and keep a stack of blank forms on hand, or print out the list and use it as a guide when you make notes on a plain piece of paper. Either way, each log entry will need to include the following items:

·         Date of conversation

·         Type of conversation: Phone, meeting, informal encounter

·         Who the conversation was with: Name and title.

 If the person you want to speak with is not available and you have to leave a message, make sure to write the name of the receptionist or secretary with whom you spoke.

·         Who initiated the conversation: Did you contact them or did they contact you?

·         Reason for contact: What did the person who initiated the contact hope to accomplish?

·         Items discussed: Take notes on any important information discussed, as well as any personal or non-relevant information that might be useful.

·         Actions initiated: If something was asked for or planned on, write what it was, who is responsible and when you expect it to be completed.

·         Follow-up required: Write down anything you need to do as a result of the conversation -- including checking that the other person does what they're supposed to do -- and when you'll be doing it and/or contacting them again.

Make an entry for every conversation.

Have whatever version of the form you choose at hand every time you initiate contact with someone who works with your child. If the other party initiates the contact and you aren't prepared to take notes at that time, write them as soon as possible afterward, while the information is still fresh in your head.

Find a way to organize the log that works for you.

Some folks like things to be super-neat and aesthetically pleasing, others know they'll never get anything put together if they fuss too much with the format. Try one of these suggestions, or develop one of your own. Remember, though, that taking notes doesn't help if you can't find them when you need them.

·         Keep completed forms in a notebook. Use tabs to keep contacts with particular individuals or agencies together for quick reference.

·         Keep completed forms in an accordion file. Label the different pockets with the name of the individual or agency contacted.

·         Keep completed forms in file folders. If you have a file cabinet, an individual folder for each person or group may work well.

·         Keep the log in a bound journal. Keep a desk calendar with a daily or weekly format specifically for this purpose, and write log information in the space provided for the day the call was made. Use post-it notes or flags to color-code the pages by person or organization contacted so you don't have to flip through every page looking for your notes.

·         Keep the log on index cards. Keep them organized in a file box, with tabs dividing different contacts. Or use different-color index cards for each different person or group, and throw them loose into a shoebox.

Use the log information for follow-up contacts and conversations.

·         Write a letter after any contact that is supposed to result in action by you or the other party, and use the information from your notes to remind him or her of your conversation and spell out your understanding of the responsibilities assigned and the timetable for their completion.

·         Have the log of previous conversations on hand when you call again, so you can specifically reference what was discussed, with whom, and when.

·         Bring your log or a summary of it to any meetings with the people involved. You may want to pull pages out of your notebook and put them in a file folder or portfolio, or use a copy machine to combine groups of index cards onto sheets of paper. You probably don't want to just dump your shoebox out on the table -- although if you've had to make an extraordinary number of calls to get anything done, that wouldn't be a bad way to show it.

Five Reasons to Keep a Contact Log

Oh, come on. You know you should. You know this stuff is important. You scrawl it down on bits of paper and then lose the bits of paper and say, "I really should find some way to organize this." But just in case you need extra reasons for keeping a contact log whenever you speak to school personnel, here are five more:

1. It makes requests more convincing.

"I spoke to you about this on September 3 and you said you would have it for me by September 10. Where is it?" will get you what you want faster than "Um, I think you and I spoke about this a while ago, and you said something about maybe getting it for me sometime around now?"

2. It makes letters more incriminating.

If you have to bump requests up to the county or state level, you want to be able to make your local administrators and Child Study Team personnel look as bumbling as possible. Painting a trail of exact names, dates, conversations and statements will do that. Vague recollections? Not so much.

3. It puts people on notice.

Once school personnel know that you're taking notes, they're much more likely to make responsible statements and back them up. A reputation for enforcing accountability is one you shouldn't mind getting.

4. It prevents IEP meeting flip-flops.

"What's that? You say my child is making no progress? Let me pull out my contact log -- why yes, here are 57 times during the school year you told me personally that my child was doing great! Were you lying then, or now?"

5. It encourages you to make contact.

Once you're working that log, use it proactively. Make contact with your child's teacher and therapists on a regular basis, and record what you learn. Look for problems you can solve, or problems no one seems interested in touching, and use your log info to address what you see. If you meet resistance, you've got back-up.

It's Those Wonderful Rights

IDEA

Characters from the holiday classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life" assist in presenting this fun and interactive presentation about procedural safeguards.

http://www.cflparents.org/presentations/

What is the Role of the Paraprofessional?

The following is an article featured on the website Autism Today.

Ask the Experts: The Role of the Paraprofessional
From the September-October 2002 issue of the Autism Asperger’s Digest magazine

By David F. Freschi


Q: I am a new aide and the classroom teacher does not provide me with much direction. I’m not sure what I’m doing is best for the child with autism I work with. Help!

Q: The school has agreed to hire an aide for my son, who has autism. I get the impression they don’t have a clue as to what this person should be doing. What should the aide be doing?

Q: What exactly is the role of the paraprofessional? The aide in my classroom seems to think that her role is to replace me in my job. What do I do?

So you’ve got an aide, now what do you do? There has been steady growth in the number of paraprofessionals in our schools, especially those assigned to work with children with Autism, Asperger’s, and similar challenges.

Each of the three questions above highlights common themes and concerns that arise when employing a paraprofessional for the student with Autism/Asperger’s:
1. What is the role of the paraprofessional?
2. What knowledge and skills does this person need to be effective?
3. How do we make good use of this resource?

A paraprofessional can provide tremendous benefit but also pose significant risks. On the plus side, the paraprofessional can support the student’s learning, help to develop social skills, support other students, allow the teacher to focus on teaching strategies, and promote functional application of curriculum knowledge. On the down side, the paraprofessional can increase dependency, slow the development of communication, sabotage the school/home relationship, and interfere with integration and interaction with peers.

The Role of the Paraprofessional
There are some pretty straightforward Do’s and Don’ts for a paraprofessional working within the school system. The primary role is to assist the teacher in helping the child have a successful educational experience. Their job is to support learning and social skills and help the child expand his/her communication. They can be of great benefit with behavioral issues by coaching the child in working with other students, modeling appropriate behaviors and offering suggestions for alternative behaviors. The paraprofessional will often be the person that deals with issues as they come up in the “real” world. They are the ones who might have to deal with the meltdown in the lavatory, navigating the hallways, or interacting appropriately on the playground. They also have the opportunity to support academic skills learned in the classroom. “Count the spoons at your table, John.” “Before you go up the slide you need to use your words.” “That is a beetle. What did we learn about beetles?”

It is not the paraprofessional’s job to be the student’s personal servant, to over rule the teacher or sabotage her plans, or be a private information source for parents on what the school is doing wrong. Once this type of behavior starts, disaster is usually not far behind.

Required Skills and Knowledge
In working with various school systems, classroom teachers and paraprofessionals themselves, we have identified a cluster of skills that all paraprofessionals need to have to be successful with their students. These skill areas are:

• Basic knowledge of the disability. How does the disability impact the child’s learning? Do you know what visual learning is? What will we do when the child follows a direction literally when that is not what the teacher meant? Will we talk more or less when the child is having a tantrum? When the schedule is disrupted how will we handle it? All of these situations and more will happen on a daily basis. Without some basis for understanding the disability, the child often ends up paying for our mistakes. Every child is a unique individual, and a few mistakes here and there will happen. However, lack of a sound understanding of autism/AS and the outward manifestations of the disability will result in harm to the child through lost time and inappropriate or ineffective teaching methods. At the barest minimum, the paraprofessional should have taken an introductory course in Autism or Asperger’s that includes a discussion of effective teaching techniques in relation to behavior, communication and sensory issues. There are a number of these available.

• The use of reinforcement. The use of reinforcement and motivators is critical for learning. With students who may not respond well to social reinforcement, knowledge of reinforcers and the skillful use of reinforcement become very important. We must know when to reinforce, how often to reinforce, how to fade and how to increase expectations. Furthermore, paraprofessionals need to be keen observers of children with autism/AS to ascertain what types of reinforcers will be important and meaningful to a particular child. No two children with autism are alike; having an assortment of meaningful reinforcers is a must. Observation is another skill that needs to be learned and practiced. It does not come naturally.

• Supporting and promoting communication. The paraprofessional must know what the student’s communication system is and how to use it to promote initiation and independence. They will often be the one who has the real life opportunities to help the child communicate with peers, other people in the school and in the community.

• Knowledge of behavioral intervention techniques. Mistakes can be costly in dealing with students who have behavioral challenges. The para needs to know how to reinforce acceptable behavior and how to avoid strengthening negative behavior. They need to know how to avoid “blackmail” situations and that just because; “It worked with my kids at home.” it may not be appropriate for these students. Also, with the last revision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), paras need to be well-versed in Positive Behavior Interventions, Strategies and Supports or at a minimum, know what they are and how to best implement the plan put forth in the student’s IEP.
• Promoting independence. (Arguably the most critical of all) One of the most frustrating, difficult, and debilitating problems for children with Autism/ Asperger’s is the risk of becoming prompt dependent. Closely related to this is the phenomenon of “learned helplessness.” Both can cause constant problems in life; reduce independence, access to the community, and acceptance by others. There are specific strategies that can help to prevent this. The para needs to learn these and to practice them regularly.

• Basic Task Analysis. The paraprofessional is often the person who handles many of the routine tasks that make up a child’s day. The ability to break these routines into steps and teach/support through these steps is an ongoing challenge that will need to be met. Using basic task analysis, the paraprofessional can provide a great deal of help for the student in organizing his/her school life. Examples might include organizing the locker, navigating the hallways, setting up the homework assignments etc.

• Presentation and Correction techniques. Most parents and good teachers know that the way material, especially something new, is presented can either make or break its successful acceptance by a child. We also know that there are effective ways to correct a student’s mistakes that promote learning, rather than embarrassment. A paraprofessional that knows and uses these strategies can be a tremendous help to the student.

• Ethical/professional behavior: The paraprofessional may face some unique ethical challenges. They are often from the community in which they work, which can interfere with confidentiality issues. They may come from another program and have training in a very narrow skill area. This can be a challenge in working in a team setting. (We often see this with paraprofessionals who previously worked with the child in a so-called ABA program. They usually know a little about discrete trials, almost nothing about ABA and often don’t have a clue on how to use ABA in the real world when the child faces abstract content in a public school setting.) Sometimes we see a Para who has worked with the family before the child attends school and is hired to be the child’s aide. On the surface this looks great. It can set the stage for problems though. The child can become too dependent on one person. The involvement with family, child, and school can become over involvement and lead to difficulties in the area of confidentiality and in rare cases deliberate negative interference in the child’s learning program.


Without basic knowledge of these areas and the paraprofessional’s ability to use these skills, we have found that untrained paras run the risk of undoing progress for a student, rather than providing the encouragement and support that we expect of these individuals. Remember the skills don’t appear just because we read about them. They require practice and review.

How Do We Successfully Utilize the Paraprofessional?
The paraprofessional needs to be viewed as an integral part of the educational team. This must extend beyond lip service to actual involvement, including having the para participate in meetings with parents or a child’s IEP meetings. It is the teacher’s job to act as the educational leader. Sometimes this can be difficult, as most teachers have little or no training in how to supervise an aide or make the best use of their time. Sometimes the specific role of the para will be included in the child’s IEP; other times it will be the responsibility of the teacher to collaborate with the para to achieve success in the goals and objectives outlined in the IEP. Furthermore, it should be make crystal clear whether the para’s primary goal is to support only one child in the class, or to assist the teacher with several students. Either way, the teacher must provide ongoing coaching, frequent feedback, clear expectations, and listen to the paraprofessional’s concerns. Helping a child succeed with academics and social life is the ultimate goal of our educational system. If any member of the educational team is not carrying his/her weight, that success will be jeopardized.

As with teachers, paraprofessionals must receive training if they are to be effective. This training needs to be more than the occasional workshop on conference day. Training should be ongoing and should include other paraprofessionals and/or other members of the child’s team. If we can provide this training and support to teachers and paraprofessionals, we can generally expect to see great results where it counts – in the child’s growth.

David F. Freschi operates Simply Good Ideas, a consultation and training service based in the Albany, NY area that focuses on practical ideas and “solutions for success.” He has worked with children and adults with Autism and Asperger’s for more than thirty years as a paraprofessional, teacher, administrator, and consultant. David specializes in teacher training and development, paraprofessional development, and program improvement for children with Autism/Asperger’s or related disabilities. He has developed a number of training programs for teachers and paraprofessionals. Contact David at dfreschi@yahoo.com or 518 758 6836.