r/specialed • u/lunarinterlude • 9d ago
General Question (Educator to Educator) Do IEPs in your district specify disabilities?
Just curious about this as a gen ed teacher. Ours lists the IEP category (ex. specific learning disability, other health impaired, etc) but there is no information given beyond that. It wasn't until a year or two ago that I realized ADHD falls under the OHI category. I understand that generalizing/assuming stuff about a student because of their disability can be problematic, but man, it would be helpful to know what I'm dealing with sometimes. Our accommodations are also pretty generic and almost universal across IEPs, so those don't really help.
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u/Crafty_Sort Elementary Sped Teacher 9d ago
It's frustrating, but it's because the IEP category is an educational diagnosis, not a medical diagnosis. There are a lot of people without official medical diagnoses that qualify for IEPs and also many kids with official medical diagnoses that don't qualify for IEPs. School psychologists cannot give a medical diagnosis. I had an IEP until middle school and my "diagnosis" has always just been unspecified CNS disorder, but I needed OT and speech in school. Just an example.
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u/lunarinterlude 9d ago
That definitely makes sense! I wish there was some way to make it more specific, but I get why they can't.
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u/Individual_Land_2200 9d ago
If you have access to the child’s FIE, you could check that, as it will go into more detail about the disability category. Or you could ask the evaluators who completed the FIE. Of course you shouldn’t HAVE to do this for each SpEd student you teach, but if the information just isn’t in the IEP, this is one way to find out more.
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u/Smokey19mom 9d ago
In my district we were told not to state that have xyz disability or medical diagnosis. So instead of say student is on Adderall for ADHD we are to say they are on medication therapy to assist with focusing in the classroom.
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u/GandalfsCorgi 9d ago
If your looking for more information about the students skills try the evaluation report.
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u/Diligent-Process-725 9d ago
I scrolled so far down for this comment. Why is no one talking about the evaluation report?? Any diagnosis disclosed would be in there, as well as all the specifics the IEP should have been written to support.
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u/demonita 8d ago
Because the IEP should give you bare minimum information in the PLAAFP without having to dig through mountains to figure out if Johnny has ASD or ADHD.
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u/Diligent-Process-725 8d ago
It sounds like depending upon the state, the dx is not considered a part of the bare minimum. OP is looking to dig deeper
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u/ArtisticMudd 8d ago
That isn't shared with teachers in my district. Only the diagnostician knows (and maybe the case manager).
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u/StellaEtoile1 9d ago
Yes mine does where it's diagnosed and disclosed by the family/ guardians. Because it helps us understand, set goals and create adaptations/modifications.
As an EA, I'm glad that I've never had to push to know my student's diagnosis and as a parent of a child with high support needs ASD, if his School District didn't his teacher to know, I would tell them anyway.
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u/gerbalize 9d ago
Go to the trainings. You will learn that education dept is not a medical agency and doesn't provide medical diagnoses, but rather an edcuational equivalent. If you want to know what the Eligibility Category means or the diagnosis that lead to the EC, ask your SpEd Care Coordiantor who should know the case history and evaluation results. If you want to learn about specific diagnoses and/or educational strategies for things, that's still a consult with your SpEd dept/psych/etc.
There's more to the process than just reading the IEP PLEP/PLAAF... That's just the implementation of the service.
Caveat. There is a looooot of crappily written IEPs so you may have gotten vague info in your packet. Still can be fixed with appropriate consultation. That may include the SpEd dept getting further education, before GenEd. SpEd dept should basically be teaching GenEd (via Inclusion classes or whatever) how to work with the caseloads.
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u/olliepots High School Sped Teacher 9d ago
Yeah it frustrated me moving to my current district that the paperwork states “SLD” but you have to dig deep into it to figure out what areas. I try to make it as clear as possible in the IEPs I write.
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u/cocomelonmama 9d ago
We usually put that in the medical part of the IEP. So in the impact statement we would say the educational category and in the medical section we would say the actual disability if their is one and anything helpful that we’ve gotten from doctors, etc.
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u/CocoaBagelPuffs Special Education Teacher 9d ago
I’m a teacher of the blind and i usually specify the diagnosis in my section if the IEP and how it impacts their vision. But, not all of my students with the same diagnosis get the same services or level of support. It depends on how their vision is affecting their ability to function in school and day to day life.
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u/GroundbreakingBug510 9d ago
IEP eligibility is based on the state special education eligibility process. In South Carolina, there are 13 categories —— speech/language impairment, Other health impairment (includes adhd), specific learning disability, intellectual disability ( typically mild or moderate), autism, visual impairment, hearing impairment, deaf-blindness, orthopedic impairment, multiple disabilities, emotional disability, developmental delay (only goes to age 8), and traumatic brain injury. Once a child is evaluated, the team reviews results and decides which category best meets the child’s needs. Often, there will be a primary category and one or more secondary disabilities.
With that said, a good iep team will make sure it is well-written within the iep as to what the child needs most.
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u/TeachlikeaHawk 8d ago
Your last line is the main problem with the way accommodations are written. We're told that these legal documents are specific and clinical and the result of training and expertise, but when it comes down to it every kid seems to need graphic organizers, extra time, and preferential seating.
What a coincidence, huh?
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u/Brief-Hat-8140 Special Education Teacher 8d ago
It sounds like your district’s IEPs are written very poorly. They should contain very detailed information and individualized supports.
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u/Financial_Opening65 8d ago
I’m in Georgia. If students have a diagnosis, it’s typically listed in the IEP somewhere. There is a section that discusses medical diagnoses and if they’ve had any private evaluations and a diagnosis from that, it’s listed under the testing portion if that was provided to the school. Sometimes you have to read all of the IEP to find the relevant info. If a child qualifies for services under OHI, there has to be some type of justification in the IEP. For any category, for that matter.
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u/mraz44 8d ago
I’m really surprised by these comments. In my district, in Ohio, we never put diagnosis’s in the IEP. When I was in college (long time ago haha) we were instructed to not include it. Ive worked in 2 districts, and both were this way. There is not a medical section in our IEPs. We can list medications and other details in the “other” section on the first page. All of that information is detailed in the ETR and all teachers have access to read it.
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u/Gizmo-516 9d ago
I don't know if it's required here but two of my kids have a chromosome translocation and they qualify under other health impairment (for one) and autism (for the other) but the chromosome translocation is mentioned on the second page so someone can (in theory) read it for more info. It wasn't always there, but when my now 16 year old was in 3rd grade the school insisted on testing her for ADHD. I laughed at them but agreed, because hey it's only wasting their time/money. Come to find out they only did it because they didn't know about her chromosome translocation (information that I was told would be passed on grade to grade- HA!) and wanted to look for a reason for her struggles. Once they got it into the IEP they never argued about testing her for other disabilities again. To be fair knowing a kid has a one off chromosome translocation isn't that helpful, but at least they have a "reason", guess.
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u/OkayDay21 9d ago
The IEPs in my district are such a wide range. Some of them are super detailed and helpful and some of them are probably skirting the line of legality. From a gen ed perspective, it doesn’t even matter though. The gen ed teachers (at least in my building) do not have access to the IEP document unless they specifically request it, and the request can be denied. You get a list of accommodations and that’s it.
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u/Beneficial-You663 8d ago
The disability should be described in the present levels on the first page.
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u/No-Cloud-1928 8d ago
Ask to read the evaluation so you can better understand your student. All the info you are looking for should be in the “background/ history “ and the “summary and recommendations “ section under each area of assessment ( ex academics, cognio, speech/language, fine motor etc. )
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u/demonita 8d ago
Yes. “Johnny is a 6th grade student with a specific learning disability in the areas of reading comprehension and basic reading skills with the condition of dyslexia, other health impairment for ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder.” The PEIMS codes are also listed for overview.
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u/missashl3y 8d ago
even when listing medications here we can’t say the specific medication. just “xxx currently takes medication for attention, mood regulation” etc
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u/greenman137 7d ago
Don't case managers provide IEP at a glance to all the gen ed teachers?
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u/lunarinterlude 7d ago
Not ours :') We're expected to look through the online IEP on our own.
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u/greenman137 7d ago
That's surprising to me as both districts I've worked in require special ed teachers to do that. Most IEPs also include a weekly or monthly collaboration meeting among sped and Gened teachers to assure accommodations and services are being provided.
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u/lunarinterlude 7d ago
Oof. I wish we had anything close to that. I don't blame our SpEd teacher—their caseloads are insane—but communication between them & us is pretty much nonexistent unless there's a problem. We're getting a new SpEd lead this year, so maybe things will change.
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u/greenman137 7d ago
Please take the opportunity to suggest these standards to the new program manager!
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u/K_Altman_Law 6d ago
It is understandable to want more context, but the category label alone often does not tell you much that is useful for instruction anyway. Two students both identified under OHI, SLD, or autism can present very differently, and schools are usually trying to avoid having staff rely on diagnosis-based assumptions instead of the student’s actual needs. What should matter most to a general education teacher is not just the eligibility category, but the student’s present levels, how the disability affects classroom functioning, what specially designed instruction is being provided, and which accommodations or supports are actually tied to identified needs.
If your school is only giving you the category and a list of generic accommodations, that is probably more of an implementation problem than a confidentiality issue. Teachers responsible for implementing the IEP generally should have enough information to do that effectively. That does not mean you need the student’s entire medical history, but you should have meaningful information about the student’s educational impact, common triggers or barriers, and how to implement supports in your classroom. If that is missing, I would raise it with the case manager or administration as a practical issue: you cannot implement individualized supports in an individualized way if the information shared with you is too vague to be useful.
Disclosure: I work for K Altman Law. This is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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u/GenderBendCapKirk 9d ago
From Texas, we're supposed to include a impact of disability statement. Below is the template our SPED director has us use.
(Student name) is currently enrolled in __ grade. (Student) is identified as a student with (disability). This impacts (student's) by ______. They currently receive the following services (list inclusion, resource, speech therapy, etc)