At School

School Lunch and Special Dietary Needs

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program, which includes breakfasts and after school snacks in some cases, are required by law to make accommodations for children who are unable to eat the standard prepared meals because of a disability or health issue.

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Individual Health Care Plans and Emergency Information Forms

To create an IHP for your child, work with your child's physician. Most physicians have IHP forms for specific health conditions, and most forms require the physician's signature prior to submitting it to your child's school.

Develop an Individual Health Care Plan

Performance Domains - Areas to consider for Special Education evaluations

Both the initial evaluation and reevaluation include testing and observations requiring parent consent. The student should be evaluated in all areas - referred to as performance domains - related to the disability or area of concern. Performance domains are the skill areas in which a student can be evaluated; they provide a framework for consideration of the individual's instructional needs. The seven performance domains are: academic, behavior, physical, health, hearing/vision, adaptive, and communication.

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Medical and Educational Models - Why and how they are different

It is helpful to understand that sometimes the difference between medical and educational recommendations for the same student is due to different standards and obligations, not because of wrong data or bad intent. The medical recommendations that are made by doctors and therapists are always going to aim for the maximum growth, but could be limited by insurance approval. The school IEP team is not obligated to provide services that will maximize a student's potential but instead must provide students with disabilities with a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

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Care Notebooks - Important Information from Families

A Care Notebook is an organization tool for families who have children with disabilities or special health care needs. The notebook is used to keep track of important information about a child's healthcare. Some programs provide families with notebooks, some families purchase Care Notebook software, and some create their own. For these reasons ASK decided to focus on the parts of a Care Notebook rather than one specific product.

Read the ASK Resource Center PDF