: Exploring the Complexities of Title IX with Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 34

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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תוכן מסופק על ידי timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com. כל תוכן הפודקאסטים כולל פרקים, גרפיקה ותיאורי פודקאסטים מועלים ומסופקים ישירות על ידי timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com או שותף פלטפורמת הפודקאסט שלהם. אם אתה מאמין שמישהו משתמש ביצירה שלך המוגנת בזכויות יוצרים ללא רשותך, אתה יכול לעקוב אחר התהליך המתואר כאן https://he.player.fm/legal.

State Secrets: Inside The Making Of The Electric State

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The Secret To Getting Inspired: Millie Bobby Brown & Chris Pratt Go Behind The Scenes 21:04

לפני 6 ימים21:04

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21:04

Step into the mysterious and visually stunning world of The Electric State as host Francesca Amiker takes you behind the scenes with the creative masterminds who brought Simon Stålenhag’s dystopian vision to life. In this premiere episode, directors Joe and Anthony Russo, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and producers Angela Russo-Otstot and Chris Castaldi reveal how they transformed a haunting graphic novel into an epic cinematic experience. Watch The Electric State coming to Netflix on March 14th. Check out more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…

לפני שנה 54:10

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Episode Description:
Welcome to Legally Blind Justice, the podcast where we dive deep into legal issues impacting education. In this episode, we explore the evolving landscape of Title IX with Keith Altman, founder of K. Altman Law and a seasoned litigator in education law. Join us as Keith discusses the foundations of Title IX, the challenges schools face in compliance, and the critical legal safeguards for those involved in these cases. Whether you're a student, educator, or legal professional, this episode provides valuable insights into navigating Title IX matters. Stay tuned for an engaging Q&A session where Keith addresses complex scenarios and shares his expertise on defending educational rights.

www.kaltmanlaw.com

Transcript Summary:

Summary of the Podcast from a podcast/webinar featuring Keith Altman, a legal expert specializing in education law, particularly Title IX issues. Key topics covered include:

Title IX Overview:

Title IX, established in 1972, prohibits gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in educational institutions receiving federal funding.
It protects against both institutional discrimination and sexual harassment/assault between individuals in schools.

Key Changes and Challenges:

Upcoming regulatory changes in 2024 were revoked by the Biden administration, preventing significant erosion of procedural safeguards for the accused.
Gender identity issues in athletics and their impact on female participation and scholarships were discussed critically.

Processes and Protections:

Title IX requires schools to have policies to handle discrimination and harassment. Schools must investigate allegations and offer fair procedures, including hearings and appeals.
K-12 and higher education differ in their procedural requirements, with K-12 typically avoiding live hearings.
Investigations must be impartial, thorough, and conducted by trained personnel.

Consent and Standards:

Key legal standards include "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" for harassment and clear consent in cases involving physical contact.
The burden of proof in Title IX is typically a "preponderance of evidence," lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases.

Legal Remedies and Concerns:

Violations can lead to federal lawsuits with potential damages.
Procedural missteps by schools in handling Title IX cases can result in lawsuits for violations of respondents' rights.

Special Cases:

Challenges include dealing with incidents involving minors, disabilities, and overlapping criminal proceedings.
Faculty and staff are subject to different rules, including prohibitions on informal resolutions.

Expert Insights:

Keith Altman emphasized the importance of legal representation in Title IX cases, given the significant consequences for respondents.
He highlighted systemic issues, including untrained personnel and unequal protections, and provided practical strategies for defending cases.

The session concluded with questions on how Title IX applies in workplace-like scenarios and the anticipated impact of administrative changes. The podcast encouraged individuals facing Title IX issues to seek professional legal support.

37 פרקים

#Business #Podcasting Education #timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

: Exploring the Complexities of Title IX with Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 34

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

published לפני שנה

שתפו

MP3•בית הפרקים

www.kaltmanlaw.com

Transcript Summary:

Summary of the Podcast from a podcast/webinar featuring Keith Altman, a legal expert specializing in education law, particularly Title IX issues. Key topics covered include:

Title IX Overview:

Title IX, established in 1972, prohibits gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in educational institutions receiving federal funding.
It protects against both institutional discrimination and sexual harassment/assault between individuals in schools.

Key Changes and Challenges:

Upcoming regulatory changes in 2024 were revoked by the Biden administration, preventing significant erosion of procedural safeguards for the accused.
Gender identity issues in athletics and their impact on female participation and scholarships were discussed critically.

Processes and Protections:

Title IX requires schools to have policies to handle discrimination and harassment. Schools must investigate allegations and offer fair procedures, including hearings and appeals.
K-12 and higher education differ in their procedural requirements, with K-12 typically avoiding live hearings.
Investigations must be impartial, thorough, and conducted by trained personnel.

Consent and Standards:

Key legal standards include "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" for harassment and clear consent in cases involving physical contact.
The burden of proof in Title IX is typically a "preponderance of evidence," lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases.

Legal Remedies and Concerns:

Violations can lead to federal lawsuits with potential damages.
Procedural missteps by schools in handling Title IX cases can result in lawsuits for violations of respondents' rights.

Special Cases:

Challenges include dealing with incidents involving minors, disabilities, and overlapping criminal proceedings.
Faculty and staff are subject to different rules, including prohibitions on informal resolutions.

Expert Insights:

Keith Altman emphasized the importance of legal representation in Title IX cases, given the significant consequences for respondents.
He highlighted systemic issues, including untrained personnel and unequal protections, and provided practical strategies for defending cases.

37 פרקים

#Business #Podcasting Education #timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com

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Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Understanding Functional Behavior and Discipline: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 37 52:51

לפני 9 ימים52:51

52:51

Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Understanding Functional Behavior and Discipline Join host Tim Markley and the special education advocacy team at K Altman Law as they explore the critical role of Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) in supporting students and promoting positive behavioral change. Featuring special guest Michelle Guffey from New Horizons Educational Group, this rebroadcast of an insightful webinar dives into the FBA process, legal rights, effective interventions, and the latest DOE guidance. Learn how data-driven strategies can help address challenging behaviors, reduce disciplinary actions, and ensure schools provide the necessary support for all students. Whether you're a parent, educator, or advocate, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help navigate the complexities of special education and student discipline. 📌 Subscribe now and stay informed on legal and educational topics that matter! Need assistance? Visit www.kaltmanlaw.com or call 248-817-8510. Transcript: The follow transcript is autogenerated and may contain transcription errors. Tim Markley (00:20) Welcome to the Legally Blind Justice podcast. I'm your host, Tim Markley. In this episode, we're going to talk about functional behavior and its role in discipline. This will be a rebroadcast of a webinar held by our special education team in which they were joined by Michelle Guffey of the New Horizons Education Group. So sit back and enjoy the podcast. Hi everyone, my name is Sarah Loteck. I'm one of the special education advocates here at K Altman Law. And today we're going to be doing a webinar on functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans. We also have a guest, Michelle Goofy. She's from New Horizons Educational Group and she's going to be joining with us and presenting as well. Today we're going to discuss functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans and the new DOE guidance on those. All right, Sarah, take it away. Okay, so first as an introduction, today we're going to be presenting, it's going to be Taylor Ruiz, who is our Director of Special Education Advocacy here at K. Altman Law. And I already introduced myself, Loteck, I'm one of the Special Education Advocates. And then Michelle is joining us from New Horizons Educational Group. So we will be presenting together to go over the FBA process and behavior intervention plans. So I'm going to start by talking about the purpose of a functional behavioral assessment. So a definition is that an FBA is a structured process used to identify the cause of a student's behavior. It helps to determine the function of the behavior and the factors that maintain it. So the goal of an FBA is to look beyond just the behavior itself and really figure out what's driving it and why schools conduct FBAs. So schools conduct FBAs to really understand and support student success rather than resorting to discipline. So FBAs are best practice and allow us to take a proactive and data-driven approach to behavior. And it helps us identify root cause and develop effective interventions. The FBI lets us answer three key questions. What does the behavior look like? When and where does it happen? And what is the function or the purpose of the behavior? So again, I went over what actually a functional behavioral analysis is, why we conduct it. Again, it's to help better understand a student's behavior, to really figure out the function of the behavior. How we do that? We do that by observing and taking really clear cut data on where the behavior is happening, the function of the behavior. And then again, when the behavior is happening within that school day. Okay, so the FBA process. So in order to get the process started, we need to identify the behavior. So what is the actual challenging behavior that we want to study and analyze? We need to gather the data through observations, teacher reports, interviews, and ideally you wanna observe that student across settings, including different classes and times of the day. We need to analyze patterns and triggers. We usually do that through an ABC analysis, which is where we look at the antecedent, what's happening before the behavior, the behavior itself, and the consequence. And then we develop a hypothesis about why the behavior occurs. And I'm gonna talk a little bit about who should conduct an FBA and when it's warranted. So an FBA is conducted by a trained professional, usually a behavior specialist or a school psychologist. And it's necessary when a student's behavior interferes with their learning or their learning of other students, or if it's a result of a disciplinary action. And I just want to note something really important is that an FBA does not require an IEP. So a child does not have to be classified, does not have to have an IEP in order to have that FBA occur. And next, Michelle will talk about the key components of an FBA and the FBA process. Excellent. So Sarah did a good job going through an overview of the different steps in conducting a functional behavior assessment. And I just wanted to discuss some key considerations for each of those sections. So the first thing we want to make sure is, are easy behavior talking about observable and measurable? So If you read on your child's functional behavior assessment, the definition of the behavior, would you know what counts and doesn't count? So as a non-example, a behavior that's not well-defined would sound something like this. Hitting is when a student is angry and tries to hurt someone by swinging at them. So that would not be a great example because I don't know. the observer would need to assume intent behind the action, you know, when they're angry and trying to hurt somebody. So trying is not really able to be counted. And then what about swinging? So if we're talking about hitting, what if they miss or do attempts count? We're not really sure in that particular situation. Is there anything excluded? So especially students that are planning. Playing on a playground. A lot of times they're playing tag. They're you know, playing typical social games and maybe we have a situation where we're counting that as aggression or hitting when it really should be excluded or a high five or a fist bump. So we really want to be clear about what things count and don't. So another example might be hitting is defined as any instance of a student making forceful contact with another person using an open or closed hand. Making contact with any part of the other person's body includes hitting any other person's arms, legs, torso, head, or body part. Accidental contact, such as brushing against somebody while walking and contact made during appropriate play, is not included. So in that example, we know exactly what it looks like, what it doesn't look like, and what's included or not included. Something else we want to take into consideration is Is the behavior that we're talking about developmentally appropriate to be defined as a problem? So as an example, I was called to consult on a case where there was a kindergarten student and the private provider said that off task was defined as any instance away from a teacher at any point in time. Well, By that definition, I would venture to say most kindergartners are off task because they're looking away from the teacher. It happens all the time in kindergarten. And so we actually did take the data on that situation and we found that by that definition at any given point in time at the school, % of students in kindergarten were off task. So we really needed to redefine, okay, what is an extreme for a kindergartner? At what point should they be considered off task? and we redefined it as 60 seconds of not engaged with whatever the activity was. We retook the data and then we said, okay, only 12 % of the students are off task by that definition. So we wanna make sure when we're defining the behavior, especially in a school environment, that's different than a home environment, and that we wanna take into consideration what is developmentally appropriate. The next thing we wanna talk about is when we're collecting data. So we're collecting data through direct observation, interviews, we might do review. The thing I'm trying to figure out when we're looking at data is under what conditions does the behavior happen? And maybe even more importantly, under what conditions does the behavior not happen? And so we want to decide upfront when we're collecting the data, what data will be important based on the interviews and record reviews? So I've talked to the teachers, I've talked to the parents, I've kind of figured out what I think the problem might be. So whoever's leading the charge in collecting the data should create a common data sheet. for all relevant staff members to collect the data on. I personally love Google Sheets or Google Forms, and it's really easy to give teachers and staff members a QR code to a Google Form so they can fill it out right then and there when it's happening. We post the QR codes around. So let's say a tantrum starts. We scan that start time, stop time, and then the data is automatically collected and feeds into a response sheet. So just a quick tip. And then we want to make sure that when we're asking school staff to collect data that it's reasonable. So I had an instance I walked into a classroom with student was having a tantrum and engaging in a lot of aggression pretty frequent and the staff was standing there and. Instead of intervening and clicking every single time that this this hitting is happening and I said hold on a second, just tell me what time it started, what time it ended and and and let me know whether aggression happened because then we intervene and actually respond to this behavior. And the thing that we're looking at here are we're looking for patterns. So is the behavior happening at a certain time of day? Maybe it's every afternoon at one o'clock. I don't know. So those are the things that we're looking at and it's important to look. Another thing to consider is a day of week. So maybe on Monday, every Monday, it's more likely the behavior is going to happen because they just came back from the weekend. But by Friday, you know, toward the end of the week, the behavior isn't happening so much. I'm looking at time of month. We definitely had a student that had a spike at a certain time of month. Is it a certain subject? So is it reading or math or all of the subjects? And then is it a certain staff member regardless of the subject? So maybe there's a certain interaction that's happening that is creating an issue. And then we want to look at things like unstructured versus structured time. Okay, so those are all just some considerations when we're thinking of a data collection in ways that we can look at patterns. And specifically, when we're talking about antecedents and behaviors and consequences, we want to look at what's happening in the environment before the behavior happens. We already defined the behavior and then what's happening in the environment after the behavior happened. So consequence doesn't mean a punishment. Consequence in our case just means anything that's happening in the environment after the behavior happened. So a lot of times I'll talk with the team and they'll say, but there's nothing happened. It's just happening randomly. I don't know what's causing it. And so sometimes the answer isn't obvious. And when we're taking a functional and doing a conducting a functional behavior assessment, we want to take. I sometimes like the narrative data instead of check boxes for this, because then I can start to see the patterns and everything that's happening in the environment. So I had a student one time had a lot of aggression. She would take her iPad that she was supposed to be using to communicate and frisbee it across the classroom. And we really couldn't figure out what it was. And so we had to. pay really close attention to everything that was happening in the environment. And what we found out was she didn't like laughing. And if anybody around was laughing, then it would occasion this increase in behavior. But it took a lot of really careful observation to find that pattern. We really want to look for the things that are happening most immediately. So for example, it's time to do a math worksheet. The student throws the math sheet, starts picking on the peers next to them and cracking jokes. Well, is it the math or is it the attention from the peers? I'm not really sure which came first, the chicken or the egg. So then I have to think, okay, is this only happening in math? Well, if it's only happening in math, then math is the problem and not attention from peers, right? Because if it really was to get attention from peers, this would happen in across environments, regardless list of what the subject was. So then our next decision is to figure out why the behaviors happening. What is the student getting or avoiding by engaging this behavior? So typically behaviors happening for one of those reasons. So we're going to develop a hypothesis based on those data that we took, and then we're going to test it. It cannot be everything in the kitchen sink. So a lot of times we get behavior plans and there's a function and somebody has checked every box on the. Not usually the case. If we have multiple suspects, then I really want to look at those ABC data and count how many times did it occur for this and how many times for this, and there's usually a clear pattern. All right. So the last thing in this section we want to talk about is sometimes we conduct a functional behavior assessment and a BIP is not warranted, meaning that we've done an assessment and the team says we don't need a behavior plan. Here are some situations where that might happen. So maybe we collect data and we decided that the behavior or whatever is happening is not impacting progress in the educational setting. That could be one situation or not. What's out happening outside of the pier? So in the situation with the off task definition, we decided we weren't going to conduct or write a behavior intervention plan because the expectation that was set was unrealistic. So. We retook the data and the student was not off task more than other peers in the classroom. There was one time we took data that had 81 % of the students off task. If our student was in that classroom, I might start to ask, is this a specific student issue or is this a tier one classroom management issue? So is the student behaving any differently than the rest of the students in that classroom? If the answer is. Yes, they have problem behavior and no, it's not different than anyone else in the classroom, then we probably need to intervene at the classroom level before we're looking at the student level intervention. Another specific instance where we would not write a behavior intervention plan is what if there was an underlying or untreated medical issue that needed to be addressed that's causing the behavior? I was asked to write a behavior plan to have a student wear her glasses because they hypothesize that she wasn't able to access instructional materials. but there was no documentation that she had a correct prescription. So I wasn't willing to write a behavior plan until we had verification from a medical provider that the prescription was correct and it would make a difference and that we've identified she truly did have a need to wear those glasses. And then we can talk about the behavior plan. So those would be examples of when we wouldn't. Now, you cannot go to a student study team meeting and sign permission for a behavior plan and a functional behavior assessment and expect a one week turnaround. That is not a sufficient time to look at patterns in behavior. We really want to make sure the team has a sufficient time to collect data to look for those patterns, because again, if it's something that's only happening at certain times of the week, we need several weeks worth of data to prove that hypothesis. So those are just some considerations about the functional behavior. We'll talk more about the behavior intervention plan considerations, but we're going to let Taylor talk about the legal framework and parent rights. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Michelle. And I just had a couple of things to add before I get into the legal framework. I know so many definitions, so many things when it comes to behavior. Behavior is complex and measuring it correctly is critical for actually understanding, as Michelle mentioned, patterns, addressing progress and making informed decisions. So behaviors can be measured in a variety of different ways. One of the ways is through direct measurement, right? By recording frequency, by counting how often a behavior occurs. For example, a frequency, a student raises their hand five times in class. Duration recording, measuring how long a behavior lasts. For example, a child engages in a tantrum for a duration of 12 minutes. Latency recording, which is measuring how long it takes for a behavior to start. after a cue is given. For example, a student begins their assignment 30 seconds after being given redirection or instructions. Indirect measures. These are typically best when direct observation isn't possible. In schools, you will see behavior rating scales and checklists. These tools are completed by teachers or parents, such as the BASC-3 or Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Also, interviews and surveys. asking teachers, parents, or the child themselves about the behaviors and their triggers. Also, time-based measures. Some of the time-based measures are a little bit more complex. For example, we have partial interval recording. This is best for tracking behaviors across specific periods. For example, did the behavior occur at any point during a set time frame? Consider this scenario. You have a student, they called out in class at least once during a 10 minute period. So during that 10 minute period, that behavior occurred one time. Then you have whole interval recording. Did the behavior occur for the entire timeframe that you were recording? For example, the child remains seated at their desk for the entire five minute interval. And then lastly, momentary time sampling. This is when we check if a behavior occurs at the moment. Or if it's happening at a different time, for example, you can check every 10 minutes to see if a student is on task when you check and then you would record at that point. So I know that those are some complex areas, but when navigating FBAs and navigating behavioral data, I think that those are some really important measures to understand. And now I want to talk about the legal frameworks. and your rights as parents. Under IDAA and Section 504, there are very, very specific legal requirements schools must follow. An FBA or functional behavior assessment is required in two different situations. The first situation is when a student with a disability has behavior that's affecting their learning or the learning of others around them. The second situation would be when disciplinary action results in a change of placement. For example, if a student is suspended for more than 10 consecutive days, or there's a pattern of removal that amount to a change in placement. Also, that does constitute in most states an MDR, Manifestation Determination Resolution. So now I wanna briefly talk about parent rights. These protections ensure that families are involved in the process and that schools are following the laws. Informed consent is required before an FBA can be conducted. This means that the school cannot move forward without your approval as a parent. Parents also have the right to participate, and I mean actively participate in the process. They can provide their input, share observations, and contribute valuable information about their child's behavior. Finally, schools must ensure that qualified professionals, as Sarah mentioned, conduct the FBA. This should be a board certified behavior analyst, better known as a BCBA, a school psychologist, or another trained specialist who understands behavior and data analysis. This should not be a teacher or someone who does not have behavioral training. Understanding these legal rights really are going to empower parents and advocates to really, really dig in and advocate for their children. and it ensures that schools remain accountable in providing these appropriate supports. Some of the legal precedents, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Students with disabilities not covered by IDEA may still receive an FBA if their behavior directly impacts their ability to access education. ADA is the American with Disabilities Act. This law ensures that students with disabilities are not discriminated against in any way if they require an FBA. If their behavior is related to their disability and it's affecting their school population and their participation, they are required and are eligible to receive an FBA. I'm going to jump in here and talk about the BIP or the Behavioral Intervention Plan. So how does a BIP support positive behavioral change? So first, let's go over what a Behavioral Intervention Plan is. So it's a structured written plan developed and it's based off of the FBA, the FBA findings. So it focuses on teaching positive behaviors to replace the challenging behaviors that were defined during the FBA. It outlines strategies to reduce problem behaviors and teach positive alternatives. So think of it as like a roadmap based on the information gathered from the FBA. And why is it important to use evidence-based interventions when when creating the BIP, we have to use data-driven strategies because that's proven to been shown effective. And we have to tailor to the individual students. So obviously every student with a behavior plan, their behavior plan is going to be different because it's gonna be based off of them as an individual. And now Michelle's gonna talk about the key components of a behavior intervention plan and its implementation. So the first thing we need to define If we have a student that's exhibiting a behavior that we've identified through assessment that is problematic and impacting their ability to be participating in their educational environment, we have to decide what else do we want them to do instead. So if our student is hitting, then we want to define a replacement behavior. So again, When you're looking at your child's behavior intervention plan or you're writing a behavior intervention plan, it really should be again, not a menu of possible options to select from. They. To address exactly how a student should get or avoid the things that they want in a more appropriate manner. So those things were all defined in the functional behavior assessment. We're looking at how can we behave differently to still obtain the desired result of getting what we want or getting away from that. So for an example, if a student is engaging in a tantrum when they're told no, that they can't have something that they want, we can teach them to use a calming corner instead of having a temper tantrum. So that would be a replacement behavior. So we want to make sure that we're prepared to track progress toward learning these new skills. So if we said that this is what we're supposed to teach the student to do instead, how are we going to track their progress with learning that new skill? This is a good thing to put on the IEP and the Individual Education Plan in the behavior domain along with any other behavior reduction goals for the behaviors that we want to decrease. So we want to not just talk about decreasing behavior, but what behaviors we want to increase instead. OK, so the next thing we want to talk about is what are preventative strategies that we can implement to reduce problem behavior? So how can we arrange the environment at school? to make it less likely that the problem behavior will occur. So an example of that would be something like reviewing expectations before a task. So if it's something that we know the student doesn't like math, well, let's review the expectations of how we're going to do this math. And then we can talk about what will happen and what will, if a student follows or doesn't follow those explanations. So sometimes I even like to make a flow chart. You have choices. You could choose this or you can choose this. If you choose this, then these things are likely to happen. And if you choose this, then these things are likely to happen. It helps them to kind of visually organize how their choices will impact their their day and environment. So in the case of the math student who didn't was having some problems during math time. A preventative strategy might be to go ahead and put them in a small group with the teacher during small group time or arrange for a support facilitation or inclusion teacher to come in the classroom during small group time to work with the students so that they have more support during that time and are less likely to engage in that problem behavior. So again, we've set up the environment for success. Now we have to teach and reinforce those other behaviors that we talked about that we want the students to do instead. So here's a key. The time to teach a behavior is not when the problem behavior is happening. So at that point, we're not focused on learning. We're focused on getting away from situations or getting what we want. So we need to teach problem behavior and stable functioning. So example, if we're going to teach using a calming corner, then we have to provide multiple opportunities during the day where we're prompting the student to go to that calming corner. So what is the teacher going to say? go calm down or ask all for a choice. Would you like to use a calming corner or would you like to do XYZ, whatever the choices might be? And then we have to teach them what they're going to do when they get there. So just going to the calming corner is probably not going to be sufficient to get the behavior to deescalate if we're already, you know, amped up in the middle of a temper tantrum. So the suggestion is the calming corners should contain multiple tasks that are I say cognitively distracting, so you can't think about these things and continue to engage in problem behavior as well. So I have a student that really likes math and he likes to name all the perfect squares. So OK, we're going to go to the common corner. We're going to name all the perfect squares, whatever it is that they're interested in or might cognitively distract them. In the case of the student that didn't like laughing, she didn't have a lot of communication skills, so we taught her with a augmentative communication device to say no laughing, please, or let's get out of here. so that she had an appropriate way to ask to leave the situation or say that she didn't like it. And we could then address the situation without her having to frisbee the iPad across the room. It's really important that the environment get better for students when they choose appropriate behavior versus inappropriate behavior. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in the inappropriate behavior section. So how is the environment going to be better for the student engaging in what we want them to do versus not want them to do? that section which would be defining appropriate consequences and responses. So hopefully we have good preventive strategies. We're learning new problems, new problem behaviors to replace the problem behaviors and we don't have the problem behavior. But inevitably sometimes these problems still happen, right? In the consequences section. So again, just the response to behavior, not punishment, just what's going to happen after. It should read like a step by step flow chart. Who's going to respond and in what order? So if a student's having a tantrum and they need to be removed from the classroom, well, who is the order of the list to respond? Maybe the guidance counselors first, the assistant principal second. If the school doesn't have a plan for who's gonna respond in what order, then either no one responds or everyone responds and neither case is good typically. We want to make sure the student has returned to stable functioning before teaching or talking. So that goes with the teaching and replacement behaviors. You know if you're upset and you're kind of amped up if someone's barking commands at you, you're less likely to then calm down and engage in that. And then in the consequence strategies, ideally we want to include a time to practice or the replacement behavior after we have deescalated the situation, right? So we can return to the situation say, hey, I know you were really upset when the student was laughing. We're going to say no laughing, please and have them practice that skill in the situation. That way they can practice doing the things we want them to do instead. Be very careful about not accidentally reinforcing behavior that we want to decrease. So sometimes we have situations where things, students get things that are bigger and better after engaging in problem behavior than they do if they're not engaging in problem behavior. So an example is we remove a student from the class, they go to the office, everyone in the office is talking to them, asking how the day is, delivering stickers and candy and all of these things. But none of those things happen when the students not misbehaving. So you've got to think about and watch the environment as we're developing these behavior plans to make sure that the best things happen when the problem happens and the other things are kind of minimized after problem behavior happens. Okay, so let's talk about ongoing monitoring and support. Behavior plans are supposed to work. They are not a checkbox to say we did it and now what's next. If they don't work, then that means we need to be in relentless pursuit of what does work. It's not another placement isn't going to solve the problem necessarily by itself. So we have to figure out what is going to work. And the way I like to think about that is first we have to train the staff. So whoever's supposed to be implementing this plan has to be trained on the plan. So anyone who's involved with the student and that might be person responding to problem behavior needs to know what the plan is. What is the playbook? What is that flowchart say is going to happen? I would request that if you are school or if you are a parent, get a sign in sheet for the training, right? That then you have documentation. Hey, we train the staff on this plan. Here's an analogy. If a doctor prescribes you a Z-Pak to cure strep throat, but you take Skittles instead, it won't work. So if we wrote a behavior plan and we don't implement it and we do something else instead, we can't expect it to work. You're not gonna go back to the doctor and ask for a different prescription. You've got to take the one that you were given. So if you take it and it doesn't work, then you can go back to the doctor and say, hey, that didn't work. So when we're doing an FBA and a BIP, we need to know that it's working. And the only way to know if it's working is to implement the plan that's written. So making sure that we train the staff and then making sure that we're monitoring fidelity of the implementation will help us to know if it's being implemented. And then if it's not working, we can go back to the drawing board and say, no, this part's not working. This part is working and figure out what we need to do instead. So how are we going to know it's working? We know it's working by looking at data. We have to continue to take data even after. The behavior plan is written. It's not just part of the functional behavior process. We probably don't need to take ABC data anymore because we've already decided what the function is. The only time I would do that is if we suggest if we're suspicious that the function is shifted or a new behaviors arise and we want to make sure it's still under the same. It's happening. So we need to take those data and just like Taylor talked about, we're going to take data using usually frequency or duration. Be careful about the point sheet. So we don't sometimes point sheet data just says, hey, they got 80 % of their points for the day. OK, but you called me in and said that he was disrupting three hours of your day. You got 80 % of his points. It doesn't sound so bad. So we want to make direct measure and have a good picture of the understanding of what's happening by looking at the data being collected. OK, so we then have to write clear measurable goals. That's going to go on our. IEP as well. Typically under the behavior domain we would write a goal for reduction. So here is a bad example of a goal. The student will stop hitting others as much. OK, well that doesn't tell me a whole lot, so a better example would be by May the student will engage in zero instances of hitting per week across all school settings as measured by teacher and staff data collection with 100 % accuracy for three consecutive weeks. Then I know what the criteria are. for success. And then I have some measurements that we can put on the IEP data. Let's talk a little bit more on the next slide about implementation and accountability. So the role of the teachers and the school staff and the parents are to implement the plan. So sometimes parents are involved by monitoring the information coming home. Maybe you are monitoring point sheets that are coming home and looking at those data. A behavior plan, we talked about it not being a checkbox, but it's not a checkbox to move a student to, I say anywhere about here, ABH. A lot of times I will be called into a student study team meeting and they're like, okay, let's get this plan done because He's got to go to this school, that school anywhere but here. It's actually supposed to work. We need to get the team focused on finding out what does work by conducting and writing a good behavior plan. And then we can talk about where does that need to be implemented? Because we need to look at what they need and then ask the question, well, where can that happen? Where is the best place? So I always say for walls the students in, I've got to figure out what's going to work for this student and that's how the team should operate is really being relentless pursuit of that solution. And we need to make some decisions about how long you plan to work. You can't say you're going to come back to the table in a week. Just like we can't write the plan in a week, we also can't just implement it for a week before we're making decisions about changing it. We should probably agree to come back to the table. if there's a significant increase or a really significant decrease in the problem behavior. It's likely that this is going to happen more frequently than your annual IEP meeting. It probably should. And we do need to revisit and update the behavior plan as needed. So if a student requires very frequent reinforcement and we've seen no problem, we can decrease that frequency of reinforcement and how many times that we're having to, you know, reinforce that behavior so that it's more likely in that they can be successful with a natural environmental reinforcement. So here's a bad example. We had a 10th grader that we were called in to look at the bib and we pulled up the date that second grade. It's unlikely that the second grade behavior plan is relevant in 10th grade. A lot has changed between then. The school is different, the environment's different. The behavior assessment and the behavior plan should be relevant to the environment in which it occurs. which is also why sometimes home behavior plans from outside providers aren't necessarily applicable in the school setting. So we still need to make sure that we've conducted the assessment in the environment where it happens. I'm going to pass that back off to Taylor to talk about the legal rights and advocacy. Thank you so much, Michelle. That was really informative. Now let's dive into parent rights and the FBA and BIP process. and how you as parents can advocate effectively for your child. Understanding the legal protections under IDEA in Section 504 is really, really critical to ensuring that your student receives the behavioral support that they're entitled to. Parents have the right to request an FBA and a behavior intervention plan or VIP if your child's behavior, like I mentioned before, is impacting their ability to learn. you don't have to wait for the school to initiate the process. You can make a formal request. Another misconception is that ABA therapy or functional behavior assessments are only for children with autism. That is not true. There are even neurotypical children can benefit from having behavior intervention plans or functional behavior assessments conducted or having ABA therapy. As a parent, You have the right to request this, like I'd mentioned before, and the schools must follow through with that proper implementation. A behavior intervention plan is not just a document, it is a legally binding plan. Once it's in place and part of that IEP, the school is responsible for ensuring that all staff that interact with your child follow the strategies and interventions outlined in the plan. Now I want to talk a little bit about progress monitoring. One of the biggest mistakes that schools make is limiting behavioral progress monitoring to quarterly updates or set timelines or during annual reviews. These are living documents, People change, behaviors change on a regular basis. So their plan should change and their interventions should change and be reevaluated as needed. These interventions should be based on data, not timeframes. Behavior doesn't operate on a schedule, unfortunately. It changes based on circumstance, support, consistency. So, you you can't just wait for something major to happen and then say, well, I followed their behavior intervention plan. That doesn't quite work. The effectiveness should be reassessed on a continual basis. If an intervention isn't working, adjustments should be made in real time rather than waiting months and months and months to address the issue. As a parent or as an advocate, you have the right to request frequent progress updates, access to behavioral data, and team meetings if you notice that your child's plan isn't working. Advocacy in this process is really key to ensuring your child gets the support that they need to succeed in the school environment. Now I will pass it along to Sarah so that she can give you some more tips on how to advocate for a stronger behavior intervention plan and functional behavior assessment. Sure. So I'm going to talk about how to advocate for a stronger FBA and BIP. So I have some questions that you can ask at an IEP meeting while you're involved in this process. So the first question is, what data supports the need for an FBA or a BIP? So has the team conducted a thorough review of disciplinary incidences, classroom observations, or teacher reports? And what specific behaviors are interfering with learning and how are they being documented? Another question to ask is how will progress be tracked and communicated? So like Taylor said, how often will behavior data be reviewed and who will be responsible for collecting it? What communication methods will be used for keeping... families informed of what's happening? So will you have meetings, progress reports, data graphs, et cetera? And how will the team determine if the BIP is effective or needs modification? More questions to be asked related to reviewing behavioral data and to ensure that data is collected consistently is what data collection tools are being used? Are they using ABC charts? Are they using frequency counts? Are they using duration tracking? That should be something that you should be informed of as parents or advocates. when you're working with a child with a BIP. And are all team members trained in consistent data collection? You want to look for patterns that indicate effective intervention. So are there specific triggers times of days or environments where the behaviors increase or decrease? And do the data trends show improvement or is the behavior escalating? Those are all things that the data should show and that you should be having discussions about with the team. Another area to ask about is addressing concerns about ineffective intervention. So readjusting the plan if progress is not being made. So if behaviors persist, what alternative strategies or supports can be added? Can additional training or professional development be provided to staff implementing the BIP? And then holding the school accountable for proper implementation. So you want to ask how is fidelity of implementation being measured? If the BIP is not being followed as written, what steps will be taken to correct this? And what role would the IEP team play in ongoing monitoring and adjustments? I'm going to turn it now over to Michelle to talk about the legal rights. We just talked about the legal rights, but specific to changes within the US Department of Education. Thanks. So in November of 2024, so right at the end of the last year, the US Department of Education saw the need to provide some guidance to the country as a whole about best practices with FBAs and BIPs. So that guidance, it's a lengthy paper, so it is available to the public if you're interested in reading more about that. They also did do a webinar breaking it down a little bit more, so that is available to the public as well. But they really wanted to provide some guidance around using evidence-based practices and why it's important to conduct a functional behavior assessment. So just picking some interventions from wherever is not typically effective, we wanted to highlight the importance of doing the assessment, conducting the analysis, and matching the interventions that we're providing so that they actually address the problem behavior that we're seeing. So they looked at, can we provide positive and proactive strategies to prevent the behavior from happening to begin? And those are things that we talked about throughout this webinar earlier and the news that they wanted to get to the different school teams across the country. Let's focus on positive behavior supports. And then how can we reduce the reliance on the punishment procedures like discipline, exclusionary discipline, specifically with suspensions and restraints? So we want to reduce the use of suspensions and restraints. And I know most states have varying laws around whether those interventions are even able to be used. I know some states don't allow restraint at all or seclusion, removing the student from the environment. So your state may be different, but regardless, we would rather increase and react proactively and not reactively behaviors already have. We can provide the team some guidance about that, then hopefully that will reduce those occurrences. And then we wanna make sure that behavior supports are accessible to all students. I heard. Taylor say and Sarah say that it doesn't matter whether or not they have an individual education plan that all students have the right to a functional behavior assessment behavior intervention plan if that need is warranted. And we want to make sure that we are not singling out different categories and that we're not providing disproportionate discipline to different groups in our education process. Hi, everyone. My name is Sarah Loteck. I'm one of the special education advocates here at K Altman Law. And today we're going to be doing a webinar on functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans. We also have a guest, Michelle Goofy. She's from New Horizons Educational Group, and she's going to be joining with us and presenting as well. Perfect. Today we're going to discuss functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans and the new DOE guidance on those. All right, Sarah, take it away. Okay, so first as an introduction, today we're gonna be presenting, it's going to be Taylor Ruiz, who is our Director of Special Education Advocacy here at Kaltman Law. And I already introduced myself, Sarah Loteck, I'm one of the Special Education Advocates. And then Michelle is joining us from New Horizons Educational Group. So we will be presenting together to go over the FBA process and behavior intervention plans. So I'm going to start by talking about the purpose of a functional behavioral assessment. So a definition is that an FBA is a structured process used to identify the cause of a student's behavior. It helps to determine the function of the behavior and the factors that maintain it. So the goal of an FBA is to look beyond just the behavior itself and really figure out what's driving it. And why schools conduct FBAs. So schools conduct FBAs to really understand and support student success rather than resorting to discipline. So FBAs are best practice and allow us to take a proactive and data-driven approach to behavior. And it helps us identify root cause and develop effective interventions. The FBI lets us answer three key questions. What does a behavior look like? When and where does it happen? And what is the function or the purpose of the behavior. Do I need change slots? Yeah. So again, I went over what actually a functional behavioral analysis is, why we conduct it. Again, it's to help better understand a student's behavior, to really figure out the function of the behavior. How we do that, we do that by observing and taking really clear cut data on where the behavior is happening, the function of the behavior, and then again, when the behavior is happening within that school day. Okay, so the FBA process. So in order to get the process started, we need to identify the behavior. So what is the actual challenging behavior that we want to study and analyze? We need to gather the data through observations, teacher reports, interviews, and ideally you want to observe that student across settings, including different classes and times of the day. We need to analyze patterns and triggers. We usually do that through an ABC analysis, which is where we look at the antecedent, what's happening before the behavior, the behavior itself, and the consequence. And then we develop a hypothesis about why the behavior occurs. And I'm going to talk a little bit about who should conduct conduct an FBA and when it's warranted. So an FBA is conducted by a trained professional, usually a behavior specialist or a school psychologist. And it's necessary when a student's behavior interferes with their learning or their learning of other students, or if it's a result of a disciplinary action. And I just want to note something really important is that an FBA does not require an IEP. So a child does not have to be classified. does not have to have an IEP in order to have that FBA occur. And next, Michelle will talk about the key components of an FBA and the FBA process. Excellent, so Sarah did a good job going through an overview of the different steps in conducting a functional behavior assessment, and I just wanted to discuss some key considerations for each of those sections. So the first thing we want to make sure. Is our is the behavior talking about observable and measurable so? If you read on your child's functional behavior assessment, the definition of the behavior, would you know what counts and doesn't count? So as a non-example, a behavior that's not well-defined would sound something like this. Hitting is when a student is angry and tries to hurt someone by swinging at them. So that would not be a great example because I don't know, the observer would need to assume intent behind the action, you know, when they're angry and trying to hurt somebody. So trying is not really able to be counted. And then what about swinging? So if we're talking about hitting, what if they miss or do attempts count? We're not really sure in that particular situation. Is there anything excluded? especially students that are... Playing on a playground. A lot of times they're playing tag. They're you know, playing typical social games and maybe we have a situation where we're counting that as aggression or hitting when it really should be excluded or a high five or a fist bump. So we really want to be clear about what things count and don't. So another example might be hitting is defined as any instance of a student making forceful contact with another person using an open or closed hand. Making contact with any part of the other person's body includes hitting any other person's arms, legs, torso, head, or body part. Accidental contact, such as brushing against somebody while walking and contact made during appropriate play, is not included. So in that example, we know exactly what it looks like, what it doesn't look like, and what's included or not included. Something else we want to take into consideration is Is the behavior that we're talking about developmentally appropriate to be defined as a problem? So as an example, I was called to consult on a case where there was a kindergarten student and the private provider said that off task was defined as any instance away from a teacher at any point in time. Well, By that definition, I would venture to say most kindergartners are off task because they're looking away from the teacher. It happens all the time in kindergarten. And so we actually did take the data on that situation and we found that by that definition at any given point in time at the school, % of students in kindergarten were off task. So we really needed to redefine, okay, what is an extreme for a kindergartner? At what point should they be considered off task? and we redefined it as 60 seconds of not engaged with whatever the activity was. We retook the data and then we said, okay, only 12 % of the students are off task by that definition. So we wanna make sure when we're defining the behavior, especially in a school environment, that's different than a home environment and that we wanna take into consideration what is developmentally appropriate. The next thing we wanna talk about is when we're collecting data. So we're collecting data through direct observation, interviews, we might do review. The thing I'm trying to figure out when we're looking at data is under what conditions does the behavior happen? And maybe even more importantly, under what conditions does the behavior not happen? And so we want to decide upfront when we're collecting the data, what data will be important based on the interviews and record reviews? So I've talked to the teachers, I've talked to the parents, I've kind of figured out what I think the problem might be. So whoever's leading the charge in collecting the data should create a common data sheet. for all relevant staff members to collect the data on. I personally love Google Sheets or Google Forms. And it's really easy to give teachers and staff members a QR code to a Google Form so they can fill it out right then and there when it's happening. We post the QR codes around. let's say a tantrum starts. We scan that start time, stop time, and then the data is automatically collected and feeds into a response sheet. So just a quick tip. And then we want to make sure that when we're asking school staff to collect data that it's reasonable. So I had an instance I walked into a classroom with student was having a tantrum and engaging in a lot of aggression pretty frequent and the staff was standing there and. Instead of intervening and clicking every single time that this this hitting is happening and I said hold on a second, just tell me what time it started, what time it ended and and and let me know whether aggression happened because then we intervene and actually respond to this behavior. And the thing that we're looking at here are we're looking for patterns. So is the behavior happening at a certain time of day? Maybe it's every afternoon at one o'clock. I don't know. So those are the things that we're looking at and it's important to look. Another thing to consider is a day of week. So maybe on Monday, every Monday, it's more likely the behavior is going to happen because they just came back from the weekend. But by Friday, you know, toward the end of the week, the behavior isn't happening so much. I'm looking at time of month. We definitely had a student that had a spike at a certain time of month. Is it a certain subject? So is it reading or math or all of the subjects? And then is it a certain staff member regardless of the subject? So maybe there's a certain interaction that's happening that is creating an issue. And then we want to look at things like unstructured versus structured type. Okay, so those are all just some considerations when we're thinking of a data collection in ways that we can look at patterns and specifically. when we're talking about antecedents and behaviors and consequences, we want to look at what's happening in the environment before the behavior happens. We already defined the behavior and then what's happening in the environment after the behavior. Okay, so we are finished with the webinar. Thank you everyone for participating and for joining us. So if you need any more help related to FBAs, BIPs or IEPs, you can follow up with us at K Altman Law. Our special education advocacy team is ready to help you navigate the special education world. And you can reach out and schedule a consultation call with our intake specialists today. The most important thing here is that you are entitled as a parent to request a functional behavior assessment if... the behavior is impacting your child's education. Also, if you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to reach us at 855-K-Altman Law. Have a great day, everyone. Thanks for joining. I hope you enjoyed this episode focusing on functional behavior assessments presented by our special education team. Join us in our next episode as we continue the journey into student discipline. If you like this podcast or any of our other podcasts, make sure you subscribe. If you need help, reach out to us at 248-817-8510 or check us out at kaltmanlaw.com.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Advocating for Gifted Students: Legal Rights, Education, and Support: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 36 42:42

לפני 21 ימים42:42

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Advocating for Gifted Students: Legal Rights, Education, and Support Welcome to another episode of Legally Blind Justice ! Today, we’re tackling an important and often overlooked topic—advocating for gifted students and ensuring they receive the education and support they deserve. Gifted education is more than just advanced coursework—it intersects with special education, legal protections, and the need for proper accommodations. Joining us are experts Dr. Taylor Ruiz and Crystal Ash, who will break down the legal rights of gifted students, the importance of early identification, and how families can advocate effectively within the education system. If you have questions about education law, special education rights, or need legal support for your child’s educational needs, visit www.kaltmanlaw.com or call 516-788-5534. The team at K Altman Law is here to help you navigate the system and fight for the best possible outcome for your child. Stay tuned for an insightful discussion, and don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review if you find this episode helpful. Let’s get started! Unofficial Transcript: Welcome to the Legally Blind Justice Podcast, where we break down legal rights, advocate for those in need, and empower you with the knowledge to navigate the legal system. I'm your host, Tim Markley, and today we're diving into a critical, but often misunderstood area of education law, advocating for gifted students and ensuring they receive the support that they need. Gifted education isn't just about high achieving students. It's part of a special education system that too often gets overlooked. These students face unique challenges. from misidentification to a lack of appropriate accommodations. And today, we'll explore how parents, educators, and advocates can fight for their rights. Joining us today are Dr. Taylor Ruiz, Senior Director of Special Education at K. Altman Law, and Crystal Ash, a dedicated advocate for gifted students. Together, we'll break down what it really means to be a gifted student, the myths surrounding giftedness, and how the law plays a crucial role in securing the rights of educational support. So whether you're a parent fighting for your child and educator looking for guidance, or just someone interested in education law, stick around. You won't want to miss this episode. Thank you for joining us today to learn more about advocating for gifted children, understanding their rights as well as their educational needs. My name is Dr. Taylor Ruiz and I am the Senior Director of Special Education here at K. Altman Law. And my co-presenter is Crystal Ash, who is an advocate who specializes in gifted education here at K. Altman Law. Just to talk a little bit about what we do here at K. Altman Law, our team works on advocacy. So what we do is we partner with families to ensure that students have what they need to meet the IEP requirements for IDEA, FAPE, and other various education laws. We work in tandem with our educational attorneys to secure the best outcomes for our students and ensure that they're getting the accommodations that they need as well as appropriate placement. So today we're going to talk more about gifted students and how gifted education relates to special education. So for this webinar, just to give you a little bit more detail on what we're looking at today, in terms of gifted education and special education, we're really focusing on gifted education as a tenant of special education and touching on some aspects of gifted education, gifted children, special education, and other aspects that you might not be aware of yet. I'm sure you've all heard of gifted education, right, because you're here, but gifted education really is much more detailed. It has a lot more depth than you might realize. And so we really want to touch on the fact that gifted education is special education. And to do that, we're kind of breaking the webinar up into three different sections. First, we have our defined section. This is where we're really going to dig in what gifted education is and who our gifted students are. Then we're going to jump into debunking. So there are a lot of misconceptions and myths about gifted education. what it looks like, who our gifted students are, and there are some misconceptions about what that looks like in the classroom and at home, what their characteristics are. So we want to debunk anything that you might've heard that is not quite accurate to what we actually see in the classroom. And then we'll be moving on to the develop stage, which is what you can do for your gifted students, either as a teacher, as an administrator, or even as a parent. To go into our introduction. Here at Kaltman Law, we are advocates and we're all really devoted to special education. We come from all types of backgrounds. We have educational diagnosticians, behavior analysts, previous school principals, previous school district administrators, individuals who are well-versed in education law and policy, as well as our education attorneys. I myself come from a clinical behavioral health background with an emphasis in behavior analysis. And I was previously a school principal in the state of Florida. So like myself, our team is very diverse and well-versed in all of things special education. And we work together to secure the best outcomes for our students. And a little bit more about my background. I am a former educator. I was a general classroom teacher in the high school setting. in South Carolina as an English teacher. I do also have my master's degree in curriculum and instruction, as well as my certification in gifted education. So I'm very familiar with what gifted education looks like in the classroom and from that curricular side. So a little bit about defining gifted education. We really wanted to begin with defining what gifted education is because like I said, there are a lot of misconceptions out there. And whether or not you know what gifted education is, where you have a gifted student in your life, gifted and talented very likely is not what you have heard of before or have been led to believe. It's very in-depth, it's very diverse. And these gifted students are more than just that typical successful good student that you might think of when you hear the words gifted and talented. There are actually six profiles of gifted students and giftedness that gifted students can fall into. And each of these profiles has a very in-depth description, not only of the successfulness that that student might show in their giftedness, but in how they can be gifted. So giftedness is not just academically successful, right? There can be musical giftedness, there can be visual arts giftedness, there can be physical giftedness for students that are in sports and there can even be giftedness in terms of critical thinking or leadership. So we're trying to really expand your view of what giftedness is so that we can shift that mindset into understanding it as a tenant of special education rather than the opposite of special education, which is generally how it's presented in mainstream media. So diving into those profiles of gifted students, traditional academic performance, being very high is what we are familiar with. And that is what our type one successful gifted students look like. So these are children who demonstrate behaviors or feelings or needs and have learned the system and what the system expects from them. So this is that typical gifted student that you probably think of in your mind when you hear gifted and talented. This is someone who excels academically. This is a quiet student that is well behaved. probably sits at the front of the class, gets all A's, tutors their peers. This is generally who you think of. But what you might not realize is that our successful type one students, these students are often very reliant emotionally and mentally on the structure and the guidance of their teachers and of the school system, which can stunt them creatively. So this is really why we're holding this webinar is to see how Gifted students are very multifaceted and how even the successful type ones have some drawbacks and that giftedness is not necessarily this picture perfect thing that you might imagine. So our successful type ones often fall into a pattern of thinking that relies on that structure. But because they are so outwardly successful, how they are outwardly very academically gifted and they do well in school, we might not see that aspect of them. And because of that, we might not notice some withdrawal or some self-injurious mental thinking or behavior that stems from the fact that they feel that pressure to be perfect. because they have been typecast as this perfect gifted student. The other hand, we also have our type two. These type twos challenging students are still gifted, but they are gifted gifted divergently. So many schools actually fail to identify type two students because they don't fit that same typical mold as that type one successful student. These students. because they aren't identified become frustrated very easily because they're not receiving those services for giftedness that they need for their needs to be met. So they often present more challenging and I'll put that in air quotes, challenging behaviors that kind of contradict that image of the gifted student that you come to expect with that type one. They might be sarcastic, they might be the class clown, they might talk back, not out of defiance, but because they need to be challenged. and they are not, their needs aren't being met. And so the behaviors that they exhibit kind of seek that and may not necessarily be what you would expect from a gifted student because they're really not being treated like a gifted student. And if their needs aren't being met, they're not going to be as successful. And that need for validation is going to be expressed in other ways. These type two challenging students are actually at risk for becoming a type four, which we call a dropout. We'll get to that in a second. But this stage one, two and three type gifted student need a lot of attention or they are at risk of dropping from that gifted standpoint and actually losing those services that they need or losing the desire to achieve their giftedness. Our type three, the underground. This is generally a middle school female or maybe a high school male. This usually manifests a little bit later because it is very socially influenced. So these underground type three gifted students are actually trying to hide their giftedness. They have a strong desire to fit in that giftedness contradicts and oftentimes makes harder because as we see with that perception of a gifted student, they're kind of put on a pedestal up here with their standard peers on a lower level from them in the eyes of school or in the eyes of media. And so our gifted students are standing out. And these underground students don't want to stand out. They might be experiencing bullying, right? Because they are an easy target, because they are being set apart from their peers as gifted students. And they really need a gentle touch, because there's a reason that they're going underground and hiding their giftedness. They might be getting bullied, they might be losing friends, they might be uncomfortable with the attention that they're getting as a gifted student. And the more you push them to accept their giftedness and accept those services, the harder they're gonna push back. And we're at risk for losing these type 3s to that type 4, the dropout, because they feel a little bit out of control. Without that social standing and that social comfort that their other peers may experience, they're at risk for rejecting their giftedness and losing it altogether. Not to say that they would actually lose the gift, but they would lose the desire to express that gift and foster it, which is ideally what we want for our gifted students. Type four, this is our dropout. So this is not literally a dropout, right? This is not somebody who quits school at any level. These are gifted students that have dropped off the face of giftedness, you almost want to say. These students are angry. These are students that have been ignored for such a long time or in the case of the type one, two or three that move away from their giftedness, these are students that aren't receiving services that foster their giftedness. Their needs are not being met regardless of how we got there, whether they have gone unidentified or they have slowly moved away from that. And these students often become bitter because they feel rejected, right? They're not being taken care of academically or physically or artistically, however their giftedness may manifest. And so they start to reject others because of the rejection that they're feeling. So that's why we call them the dropout is because they are dropping out of participating in their giftedness. They're going to move on to interests that have nothing to do with school. They may withdraw from school. This might be your student that has their head down or their headphones in or their hood up because they have been rejected for so long and nobody else has taken care of them. that now they feel like they have to. This is a defensive response in response to their needs not being met. So they're going to seek other areas to be validated in and to feel accepted in because the school system has not been that for them for so long. And that's how our type one to threes end up shifting into a type four dropout is whether they have withdrawn themselves in the case of a type three. or their challenging behaviors as in the case of a type two, push teachers away from them, or even in the case of a type one, if they crack under that pressure of being the perfect gifted student, that's how we see students end up in a type four if they had been identified previously. Largely though, our type fours are students that were not identified or they were identified far too late as a gifted student to really foster their giftedness and make that something for them to be proud of. Our type five on our slides here, we have it double labeled. Generally now we call them twice exceptional. These are really the students that start to break that molded thinking of a gifted student versus special education. This is where we marry giftedness and special education because our twice exceptional students are students that are both gifted in one area or more than one area. but also have a disability of some sort, whether that is an emotional disturbance, an intellectual disability, a learning disability, a physical disability. These are our students that cross those lines and really prove to us that gifted education is special education. These students, however, are the most likely to fall through the cracks because as we have that stereotypical thinking, right, of special education and gifted education, These students are more likely to not receive services in one area or the other because once they are identified as either a gifted student or a student for special education, the diagnosis stops there. The identification stops there, which is really unfortunate because our twice exceptional students are exactly that. They are exceptional and to pigeonhole them into one area or the other instead of recognizing gifted education as special education. means that these students need to start going unmet and that they're losing out on services that can really just put them up to the next level if we're fostering both their giftedness and taking care of their needs that may come with their disability. We'll get a little bit more into our twice exceptional student in a couple of slides, but these students are the most likely to fall through the cracks and why it is so important to recognize gifted education and special education as one in the same. Our last profile of a gifted student is a type six, the autonomous. This student is going to very closely resemble that type one successful, right? This student is going to be academically gifted. They're going to behave well. They're going to enjoy school, but these students differ from a type one in the fact that instead of relying on the structure of the school system to validate them, they don't need you. They don't need me. They don't need the school. They have it. all figured out on their own. These students are very self-reliant. They're very confident in their giftedness and in their sense of self, and they have figured out how to make the school system work for them. They set their own goals. They are their own leader, and they make sure their needs are met. Whereas a Type 1 may rely on a teacher or just the structure of a school day to feel comfortable and to feel validated, our Type 6s only need themselves, and they are very successful because of that. because in the ways that type ones tend to not be able to have that self-confidence to pursue things, our type sixes are almost too confident in their abilities and that really sets them up well for the rest of their lives. You can almost think of a type one and a type six as two sides of the same coin. They're reaching the same end, but they have wildly different means to get there. So these characteristics of our six profiles just go into a little bit more depth on what each profile is going to look like. It kind of gives you a more well-rounded view of each of the descriptions that we saw on the last couple of slides. But what I really want you to pay attention to here is how these characteristics of these profiles don't necessarily fit into the dictionary definition that the word used to label the profile. may give you the impression of. So for example, in type one, right, we talked about how those students are very successful on the surface, but they may struggle when that support and that structure of the school day or the guidance of their teachers is taken away from them. So for example, our type ones are overachievers and they can be overly dependent on rules and structures and actually lose their creativity and their autonomy. because they're people pleasers and they can actually really struggle when they get to college because elementary school or primary school, middle school, high school, those were all super easy for them, right? Because they knew that structure, they knew the expectations and they thrive in that situation. Whereas college is very more loosely structured. You do not necessarily have the same amount of hand holding that you might have in the younger grades. And so the type one successfuls, although they have been very academically successful for their entire lives, they really struggle in the secondary education or in the workforce because they don't have that same level of comfort that they're used to in terms of the structures that they relied on. So really paying attention here in all of these bullets to how the word that is used to describe them is not necessarily how you describe them. If it's a little bit difficult to see on your screen, I'll just hit some of these points really quickly. Our challenging students are at risk primarily for becoming that level four dropout. They have a high degree of creativity, but that often leads them to questioning authority and having them be identified with ODD, oppositional defiance disorder, when that may not necessarily actually be a diagnosis for them. The way that their giftedness manifests, and especially if it goes unidentified, can kind of blur those lines. So interactions at home and school involving conflict, Class clowns, disruptions, those are all key identifiers of our type two challenging gifted students that may be misinterpreted as something else. Like we spoke on our underground students, this is more commonly females than it is males because they feel more of that pressure to conform and more of that insecurity because they are not intrinsic members of friend groups or popular clowns or cliques. But any type of underground student is going to feel a lot of internal conflict to fit in that is contradicted by the way their giftedness makes them stand out. And then we talked about our dropouts in depth. These are just our students that either have gone too long being identified or they have not been identified at all, or they are a type 1 through 3 that has really struggled with their giftedness, leading to them dropping back and taking a step back from pursuing their giftedness. These students may need a counselor or a trusted adult, their parents, a teacher, somebody in the school system, a coach even to help keep them on track with their giftedness so that they don't drop out and they don't fully pull away and in turn lose interest in school as a whole rather than just in pursuing their giftedness. Our twice exceptional students will primarily show up as a DNQ or does not qualify. when they are tested one way or the other. So if a student has an obvious physical disability, for example, they may not even be considered for gifted services because there is kind of a one track mindset of giftedness and special education that people get stuck in. And so these students are often not qualified for the other service that they may be qualified for. These students have a few characteristics if they are gifted that might indicate that they do have a disability that needs to be addressed with special education such as sloppy handwriting, low grades, poor test taking. But most importantly, these students can become very easily frustrated because they are repeatedly not listened to fully, right? Because if a student has obvious giftedness and they say, hey, I'm really bad at math. Well, No, you can't be bad at math. You're so good at reading, you get such good grades, right? So these students are very easily frustrated because either their giftedness or their disability overshadows that twice exceptionality, and then they go without services. And then our last one, our autonomous gifted learners. These usually show at an early age. If a student is going to be autonomous at school, generally they're autonomous at home, right? So if you have a headstrong toddler, you might be looking at a type six gifted learner. But these are often our leaders in the community. They're respected, they're liked. These students really seem to thrive on their own, but they do still need those supports that other gifted students need because their giftedness in being autonomous is something that needs to be fostered and supported. And they need to be given that freedom to explore. their autonomy to make their own goals, to be their own leader. And if that's not something that's recognized in the student and they're missing out on those opportunities to foster their autonomy, the same kind of thing they can backslide into a type four. Any of our gifted learners can kind of slide into that dropout territory if their giftedness is not fostered and they are not adequately supported in the classroom and at home. And then moving on. to that debunking. So really, this is where everything that we've talked about with those six profiles, I want you to kind of take and absorb and I want you to start shifting your mindset if you haven't already, I would hope you have by now. But if you have not started shifting that mindset between giftedness and special education, I want you to take a moment to do that now, right? Because we're moving into the territory of showing what giftedness is, debunking. the misconceptions about it and then looking at it in that special education point of view. So giftedness, like we've said, is not necessarily always what you think. Although these students do have a ton of unique traits and there are no two students that are the same, even if they fall into the same profile of giftedness, they often struggle with something, anything behind that facade of what a gifted student is supposed to look like. our gifted students of any profile often struggle with perfectionism, right? Especially our type ones and our type sixes, because if they're supposed to be this perfect model student and there are really high expectations placed on them because of their giftedness, they're going to internalize that. And they're going to start to struggle with perfectionism. And this can lead to, you know, them pulling back and cracking under that pressure. And that's how we end up with students in type four. Those high standards that they are placed under, they often start placing on others. And that really impacts them negatively, social emotionally, because if they're facing these high standards and they're struggling with that and they turn around and they start placing those high standards on their peers, well, their peers are going to start struggling with that, especially if their peers are not gifted and they are not at the same standard. or the same level that these standards were set on, they're going to alienate their peers, they're going to push their friends away. It's really going to impact them social emotionally in the long run for their well-being. And then we also kind of need to debunk that idea of success. Giftedness does not equal success. And conflating the two, especially for students that aren't gifted, has such a negative impact. Think if you have a student that is gifted, right? And you say that because you are gifted, you are successful and they're not successful. Think about what that's going to do to them mentally, emotionally, academically, and then think of it in the reverse. If we have non gifted students and we say. You can only be successful if you are gifted. They're going to stop trying. They're going to be defeated from the start. They're not going to understand what you mean when you say gifted students. are successful giftedness equals success. So really breaking down that mindset of what we think of giftedness as is such an important shift to make because giftedness is not success. Giftedness is not a compliment. Giftedness is a trait that a student has and is something that needs to be fostered. It's not a place similarly to how special education is not a place, right, in a school or in your life. It's an aspect of a student that needs to be recognized. And it's something that goes above and beyond the standard expectation for school and curriculum. So it's something that needs to be recognized as special education. Just continuing to kind of debunk some myths here. Our first one is that gifted education is separate from special education. I've said it a hundred times already, I'm gonna say it again. They are two sides of the same coin. Giftedness and gifted education are a tenant of special education. We also see the next one, gifted students don't have special needs or disabilities. While that may be true for some gifted students, we have our twice exceptional students who do make up a roughly two to five percent of the entire school age population and it is possible for gifted students to have special needs and disabilities. The myth that gifted students can't qualify for special education services again. are twice exceptional students, they absolutely can and they should if they have a disability and have needs that need to be met. Our next one, academic giftedness is the only type of giftedness is simply not true. Well, academic giftedness is what you might think of if you are still in that one track mindset of what gifted education is. Surely, right? Academic giftedness is a type of giftedness, but it's not the only type of giftedness. You can be gifted in sports, music, art. There are any number of things that students can be gifted in beyond just the standard doing well in school academically. The next one I really want to impart on you the importance of not discounting giftedness and the needs that come with that by saying a student is smart or quiet or well behaved, right? They'll be fine. They do so well. This is exactly how our gifted students end up becoming type four dropouts. If you just assume that your gifted student is fine and that they'll be okay and they don't need my help, they do. And if you don't recognize that and you just assume that they're gonna be okay, this is where we start to see students fall through the cracks, regardless of how they present in class or at school. They're kids and there's something that they struggle with and their giftedness might just be that thing like in the case of our type threes. If they're standing out and that makes them uncomfortable and they're struggling and you think that they're going to be just fine, they need support. And they need support in school, they need support at home, and that's really where we see giftedness overlap with special education. The next one is also very important to shift your mindset away from, is that student can't be gifted and talented. They're making poor grades, they misbehave, they have a disability. It's not true. Any student can be gifted just the same way that any student can have a disability, Giftedness and disabilities don't discriminate. So just because a student is not presenting the way that you would expect a gifted student to present doesn't mean that they're not gifted and doesn't mean that they can't qualify for gifted services. And then the final one, although it seems pure of intention, All students are gifted in some way, gifted education doesn't need to be specialized. While we do recognize that all of our students have unique skills and attributes that make them who they are, and a lot of these are positive, not all students are gifted, if you're thinking of it in terms of gifted education and special education. And categorizing all students and discounting students giftedness by saying everyone is gifted or everyone is special really takes away from those distinct independent needs that our gifted students have and makes them less likely to get the services that they need. So I'm gonna go ahead and kick this over to Taylor. I'm sure I have talked long enough for you, but Taylor's gonna kind of walk us through in her experience and in her expertise where she has seen giftedness and special education overlap and how even though there are some things that seem like differences between gifted education and special education, they're really similarities that are just handled in different ways. So Taylor, I'll let you take this one. Perfect. Thanks, Crystal. So in gifted education and special education, there are more commonalities than you may believe. Both of these educational models set additional goals for students, goals that are above and beyond the scope of a general education placement. of the coin require specialized assessments to determine eligibility, whether it be IQ test, a battery of educational assessments, both of them in order to identify a child as gifted or as special needs or needing an IEP or 504, they are provided with the opportunity to get evaluations and independent testing completed if needed. In special education, It's generally more so providing accommodations in the form of an IEP or 504 to support students with a specific disability. IEPs are typically based on several different categories that a student must meet to qualify for an IEP. 504s are used more so for medical accommodations during the school day. Overall, both gifted education and special education require personalized approaches for students. Just as students with disabilities need IEPs and 504s, gifted students need customized learning plans to stay engaged. Gifted students typically do well with project-based or problem-based learning that allow them to be creative. And like I'd mentioned previously, I really want to hone in on this. Schools often fail. to identify 2E, twice exceptional students, because they primarily only focus on the disability or only on the giftedness, not one or the other. Some clinical themes in gifted education are diagnostic oversight. Many students are overlooked because they aren't great at compensating for their struggles, right? Schools have to be able to balance academic rigor as well as learning accommodations to fully educate the whole child. Absolutely, and that's why it's so important for our next step, the development step for you to understand what you can do for your students. So just understanding what giftedness is or isn't and shifting that mindset is not enough. What's really important is to understand what you can do for them. And the first step is understanding who your gifted student is, right? So if you see on our right here, we have a chart that indicates that 59 % of students go unidentified. And that's one way or the other, right? That's not just for giftedness or just for disability. 59 % of students aren't identified for special education or for giftedness combined. And that number only starts to go down as we start to get more specific. So only 20 % of R2E students are identified. And remember, roughly 2 to 5 % of all school-aged children are R2E. So if we're only hitting 20 % of that very large number in the scale of things. It's a very small percentage of students who are identified and receiving services for 2E. Going down one more step, only 15 % of our students with disabilities are identified and only 6 % of our gifted students are identified. So the The really important thing that you can do to help your student is to understand the referral process, whether that's referral for giftedness or referral for special education or a referral for both if you think your student is 2E. Each district, each state, each town even might have a different referral process. So definitely reach out to your district or your school to see what that process might be. But generally speaking, the process has very similar steps regardless of where you are. There's usually going to be a specific referral period and a specific testing window. That test, depending on what you're seeking, may be a group test for giftedness with certain nationally recognized tests that provide a numerical score for giftedness or for a specific disability. If there's a physical disability, that might involve a physical test, or if you think a learning disability in dyslexia might be a reading test. So the test may vary, but there should be a test. and a testing window. A referral is going to be needed, but that referral can come from anywhere. It can come from you, it can come from a teacher, it can come from an administrator, a parent, a principal, it can even come from a doctor. So once you have that referral, the referral process generally starts at age six, but especially for our autonomous kiddos, right, that are gonna start showing signs early, it's never too early to start looking for that and to collect evidence and to just get some advice. on if your student needs to be referred. So don't be afraid to look into that process before age six. Schools just typically don't start the referral process until age six. And then keep in mind too that your student can be gifted in one or more areas. They can have a disability in one or more areas or they can be twice exceptional in one or more areas. There is no one thing that your student can be referred for and then that's it. As many things as they need services for, you can get services for them. and understanding the referral process and where to go from that initial observation of giftedness or disability or twice exceptionality. That's what's really important. Another thing that you can do to support your student is to understand and use gifted education resources. Some of the clinical themes in gifted education are perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Gifted students a lot of times place unrealistic expectations on themselves. A lot of times they think that their expectations of others, but they're really guided by how they feel about themselves and what's going on in their own mind. That is a telltale sign. know, so talk to your children, see where they stand, see what their expectations are. One thing that I used to do in my classroom when I was a gifted teacher, just to analyze and evaluate where they were, we used to do vision board sessions. And I would see that they had very, very high expectations for themselves and their lives. So just as a family, you could do something like that with your children and talk about the need for realistic expectations and being able to have achievable goals that are not overwhelming. Okay. Another thing is there's a lot of burnout related to this, as well as mental health risks, high achieving students, gifted students, they internalize stress. This leads to chronic anxiety and exhaustion, inability to truly focus and burnout. One last thing is there's a lot of social emotional gaps. Gifted students kind of typically feel emotionally disconnected from their peers. You'll notice that gifted students bond better with adults and speak like adults. So And that's because they are feeling miles above their peers. So maybe talking with your child and giving them some social strategies could be something that would help them in the classroom environment. So to close, I just want to empower you to know your rights as a parent, right? Know what the educational laws are. know what the policies are that relate to gifted education. Look at your state procedural safeguards. Look at your district gifted policies. Look at the different programs that they offer. These education laws vary by state. So you can really get more information by looking at the district level. Push for assessments. Advocate for your child. If a child is underperforming, despite you knowing that they have advanced thinking skills, request testing. Seek differentiation for your student. Gifted students benefit from enrichment programs, project-based learning, mentorship opportunities, anything that really gets their mind going. Advocate for dual support for your child. 2E students need accommodations, but they also need challenges. So keep that in mind. when offering strategies and solutions for your child. You know your child better than any IEP team or LEA. So go with your gut, talk to your child and you know, a lot of times the students will say, well, how was school? it was boring. Okay. We got those dry answers. So try to pull it out of them, right? And get, find why it was boring. Well, was it boring because you learned something different today than you learned something that you already know today and that was what you were doing in class. Is that why you were bored or is there another reason why you were bored? Just using those thinking patterns and bringing that out really helps students identify how they feel. So with that being said, thank you so much for attending. That wraps up today's episode of the Legally Blank Justice podcast. We've covered the importance of advocating for gifted students, understanding their legal rights and ensuring they receive the education they deserve. A big thanks to Dr. Taylor Ruiz and Crystal Lash for sharing their expertise on how gifted education intersects with special education and why early identification, proper accommodations and strong advocacy are crucial. If you have questions about education law, special education rights, or need legal support for your child's educational needs, visit us at www.kaltmanlaw.com or give us a call at 516-788-5534. Our team at K. Altman Law is here to help you navigate the system and fight for the best possible outcome for your child. Thanks for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review if you found this episode helpful. And until next time, stay informed, stay empowered and keep advocating for what's right. See you next time on the Legally Blonde Justice Club.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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The Impact of AI on Academic Integrity: Challenges and Controversies: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 35 23:13

לפני 4 weeks23:13

23:13

Summary: In this episode of the Legally Blind Justice Podcast , host Tim Markley discusses the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and its implications for academic integrity. AI-powered tools, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other natural language processing models, are becoming widely used by K-12 and higher education students for tasks such as essay drafting, summarizing readings, paraphrasing text, conducting research, and tutoring support. These AI-driven applications enhance learning efficiency and provide personalized study assistance, allowing students to access and understand complex information more easily. However, the widespread use of AI in academia has sparked ethical and legal concerns, particularly regarding plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and fair use. Universities and educational institutions have responded by implementing AI detection tools, including Turnitin and Grammarly’s AI Checker, to identify AI-generated work. Despite their intent to uphold academic standards, these tools are not always accurate, sometimes leading to false accusations of misconduct. As AI continues to evolve, the debate over its appropriate and ethical use in education remains ongoing. Schools and universities must navigate the balance between leveraging AI as a learning tool and preventing academic misconduct, ensuring that students develop genuine critical thinking and writing skills while using technology responsibly. www.kaltmanlaw.com…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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: Exploring the Complexities of Title IX with Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 34 54:10

לפני 7 weeks54:10

54:10

Episode Description: Welcome to Legally Blind Justice , the podcast where we dive deep into legal issues impacting education. In this episode, we explore the evolving landscape of Title IX with Keith Altman, founder of K. Altman Law and a seasoned litigator in education law. Join us as Keith discusses the foundations of Title IX, the challenges schools face in compliance, and the critical legal safeguards for those involved in these cases. Whether you're a student, educator, or legal professional, this episode provides valuable insights into navigating Title IX matters. Stay tuned for an engaging Q&A session where Keith addresses complex scenarios and shares his expertise on defending educational rights. www.kaltmanlaw.com Transcript Summary: Summary of the Podcast from a podcast/webinar featuring Keith Altman, a legal expert specializing in education law, particularly Title IX issues. Key topics covered include: Title IX Overview: Title IX, established in 1972, prohibits gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in educational institutions receiving federal funding. It protects against both institutional discrimination and sexual harassment/assault between individuals in schools. Key Changes and Challenges: Upcoming regulatory changes in 2024 were revoked by the Biden administration, preventing significant erosion of procedural safeguards for the accused. Gender identity issues in athletics and their impact on female participation and scholarships were discussed critically. Processes and Protections: Title IX requires schools to have policies to handle discrimination and harassment. Schools must investigate allegations and offer fair procedures, including hearings and appeals. K-12 and higher education differ in their procedural requirements, with K-12 typically avoiding live hearings. Investigations must be impartial, thorough, and conducted by trained personnel. Consent and Standards: Key legal standards include "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" for harassment and clear consent in cases involving physical contact. The burden of proof in Title IX is typically a "preponderance of evidence," lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases. Legal Remedies and Concerns: Violations can lead to federal lawsuits with potential damages. Procedural missteps by schools in handling Title IX cases can result in lawsuits for violations of respondents' rights. Special Cases: Challenges include dealing with incidents involving minors, disabilities, and overlapping criminal proceedings. Faculty and staff are subject to different rules, including prohibitions on informal resolutions. Expert Insights: Keith Altman emphasized the importance of legal representation in Title IX cases, given the significant consequences for respondents. He highlighted systemic issues, including untrained personnel and unequal protections, and provided practical strategies for defending cases. The session concluded with questions on how Title IX applies in workplace-like scenarios and the anticipated impact of administrative changes. The podcast encouraged individuals facing Title IX issues to seek professional legal support.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Top Five Mistakes When Dealing With Academic Misconduct: Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 33 15:17

לפני 9 weeks15:17

15:17

Podcast Description: Legally Blind Justice – Tackling Academic Misconduct Welcome to Legally Blind Justice , the podcast where we confront the toughest challenges facing students in their academic journey. Hosted by Tim Markley, Senior Director for Student Defense at K. Altman Law, this show provides essential insights and practical advice for navigating accusations of academic misconduct. In today’s episode, we discuss academic misconduct: what it is, how accusations arise, and the top five mistakes students make when facing these allegations. Whether it’s plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, or self-citation issues, we guide you step-by-step through the process and offer strategies to protect your academic future. Learn how to avoid common errors like overreacting, prematurely admitting guilt, ignoring university procedures, or attempting to face accusations alone. Discover how preparation, understanding your institution’s policies, and seeking the right support can make all the difference. Tune in to hear real-life stories, actionable tips, and lessons that will empower you to handle academic misconduct accusations with confidence and integrity. Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Success is determined on a case-by-case basis, and there is no representation that the services provided by K. Altman Law are superior to those of other attorneys. Subscribe, share, and leave a review to help more students navigate these critical challenges! For additional resources, visit us at www.kaltmanlaw.com. Show Transcript: This is an auto generated transcript and may contain errors. This podcast is for information only and should not be considered legal advice. There is no representation that the legal services to be performed by LOCA are better than the services of other attorneys. There is no guarantee of the outcome. Success is rendered on a case-by-case basis. Welcome to the Legally Blind Justice podcast, the podcast where we tackle the toughest challenges facing students in their academic journey. Today's episode is all about academic misconduct. What it is, how accusations arise, and, more importantly, what I consider the top five errors that students make when accused. I'm your host, Tim Markley, and I serve as the Senior Director for Student Defense at K. Altman Law. So whether it's a misunderstanding, an honest mistake, or a deliberate act, being accused of academic misconduct can be overwhelming. But there's good news. With the right approach, you can navigate the process effectively. So we're going to break it down step by step so you'll be prepared if this ever happens to you. So stick around. This is an episode you don't want to miss. So, let's start with this. What is academic misconduct? On the surface, it might seem obvious. Cheating, plagiarism, like things like that. But in reality, it's much broader and includes a lot of gray area. that students don't often think about. So the most common examples of academic misconduct include plagiarism, copying or paraphrasing someone else's work without proper attribution. That includes plagiarizing yourself by using older papers that you've done in a different class. It's cheating using unauthorized materials to collaborate on assignments meant to be done individually. falsifying data, sources, or even research. And then facilitation, helping others commit misconduct, such as sharing completed assignments or old tests. And finally, contract cheating, paying or coercing someone to do your work for you. Now, beyond these, there are less obvious forms, like reusing your own work, which I mentioned above, such as self-plagiarism. Now I once knew a student who got flagged for plagiarism because they included a sentence from a draft of their final essay, but they forgot to cite the original draft. They didn't even realize that self citation could be an issue. Now, this is something we see a lot with freshmen, first time college students and foreign students who are coming here from a different university system that has different citation rules. That's why it's important to understand your institution's academic integrity policy because every school handles and defines it differently. Now, some schools have zero-tolerance policies, meaning even minor infractions can lead to suspension. Other schools are more lenient. They have a kind of first-strike policy with just a warning. So take the time to read those school policies at the beginning of every semester or if you're transferring schools when you move to that new school. Knowing the rules can save you from unnecessary trouble. Now, you can typically find these rules in your student handbook or on the school's website. And this is all critical because there's an emotional impact to being accused of academic misconduct. Imagine you're in the middle of finals week, juggling multiple deadlines. and you get an email from your professor about academic integrity saying that you've been accused of misconduct. Now, what's your first reaction? For most students, it's panic. You might be shocked, embarrassed, or even angry. And these emotions are completely normal, but they can cloud your judgment if you're not careful. I had a client once who told me about getting an accusation for copying answers during a lab exam. Now in reality, they'd simply glance at a neighbor's screen to double check the time left on the exam. But their initial reaction was to fire off an angry email accusing the professor of targeting them. That only made the situation worse. The key here is to stay calm. Take a moment to process what's happening. And remember, an accusation is not a conviction. It's the start of a process. And how you respond will impact the outcome. Before doing anything, give yourself 24 hours to process the situation. Talk to someone you trust. It could be a friend, family member, academic advisor, or you even might reach out to an educational attorney. So let's move on and let's look at these top five errors that I think students make. Error number one. panicking or overreacting. The first mistake you make is letting your emotions drive your actions. It's easy to feel defensive or outraged, but impulsive responses like sending angry emails, confronting the professor, or posting nasty stuff on social media can and will backfire on you. I worked with a student once who did exactly that after being accused of cheating. went on a tirade on social media about how unfair the whole process was. Now, this post made it back to the academic integrity folks and it was used as evidence against them in their hearing. So remember, anything you say or do can be used to assess your character. So keep your communications professional and focused on resolving the issues. The second mistake I see students make. admitting a guilt without understanding the accusations. This confessing prematurely can get you into trouble. Some students think that admitting guilt, whether guilty or not, will lead to a lighter punishment, get the matter over with, and they can move on, especially if they know that the school has a two-strike or three-strike policy as it relates to academic misconduct. Now, in reality, This often limits your ability to defend yourself later. A student accused of plagiarism confesses because they didn't know how to properly cite a source. Now, later they realized the citation error was minor and it would have constituted plagiarism under their school's policy. Now, before admitting anything about those details, they should have looked at the policy talk to someone and maybe we could have corrected that before they were actually charged with plagiarism and it ended up on their record. Now, that's not to say that sometimes admitting your mistake is the best policy, but don't do it immediately. Think about the rules, the consequences, and what you actually did. Review the evidence, and if it doesn't make sense, let's get some clarification before we roll into a meeting that will get you suspended. put on probation or gets permanently placed on your record. Error number three, ignoring university procedures. Every school has a formal procedure for handling academic misconduct and ignoring results that can result in a direct guilty verdict. I've seen this happen with multiple students. They ignore a notice to meet with a professor. They ignore a notice about a hearing. And when they don't show up, they're automatically found guilty because they failed to attend the hearing. Simply ignoring it won't make it go away. You've got to read all the correspondence carefully. You've got to make sure you know the deadlines. Show up for meetings and hearings. If you're unsure about the process, consult an advisor, legal counsel, someone else. There are things like a five-day rule that can get you into trouble. Is it five business days or five calendar days that an appeal might be due? All of those things are important, so you've got to make sure you read those rules. Error number four. Going it alone. A fourth mistake is thinking that you have to handle everything yourself. Academic misconduct is complex and You need support. Like I said, it can be an advisor, a parent, or a legal expert. They can make a difference because oftentimes, they're not as emotionally involved as you are, and they can see the big picture. They're not blinded by the emotion of the situation. So, a student accused of plagiarism that I worked with had a campus advocate who helped them demonstrate that their so-called plagiarism was actually a citation error. They avoided penalties thanks to that guidance. Most schools allow you to bring a support person to a hearing. Don't hesitate to use this option. Even if the support person can't speak at that hearing on your behalf, can oftentimes they're there to provide moral support. And if you need to, you can ask for a break to have an outside conversation with that advisor. Now, error five, focusing only on the punishment. don't fixate on the potential consequences. While it's natural to worry about punishment, this mindset prevents you from preparing a strong defense. I know of students who spent hours pleading for leniency instead of gathering evidence to show that their actions weren't intentional. As a result, they go into the hearing, they're talking about leniency, and the committee automatically assumes if you're asking for leniency, you gotta be guilty. and they end up with the negative consequences. Instead, focus on presenting your side of the story. Gather evidence, drafts of your work, emails, assignments, instructions, anything to provide context for that argument that you were not guilty of this academic misconduct. So those are the five steps that I see folks make. Let's look at some things you can do to protect yourself and prevent that misconduct. Number one, as I've said this a hundred times, Understand the rules. Read your school's academic integrity policy, and if you're unsure about assignments or guidelines, ask a professor. I recommend you use the same tools that the professors use when they're looking at your papers. Programs like Turn It In or Grammarly will tell you if your paper looks too much like an AI paper or too much of it looks to be plagiarized. So if you Do those things ahead of time. That is a significant way to improve the quality of your paper and to improve the chances that you don't get accused of academic integrity. Communicate, communicate, communicate. If you're struggling, don't hesitate to reach out to your professor or an academic advisor. They are there to help you. Now, I will tell you to save those communications. They may be helpful if you are eventually accused of some kind of academic misconduct. Manage your time. Procrastination leads to poor decisions like cutting corners or rushing through assignments. And this is especially true for college freshmen. There's a real feeling sometimes when you're a freshman, you're on your own for the first time, and you think, I can stay up all night, and I'll cram that paper out just before it's due. and you find yourself cutting corners. Don't do that. Learn good study habits. That'll serve you all the way through college. So let's look at some of the lessons and things that we've learned here. Be prepared, read the rules, seek help. Now there are lots of stories about students accused of academic misconduct that I've been able to in my role to help students with. I once had a student accused of cheating during an online exam who proved their innocence by being able to show their browser logs and showing that they didn't have unauthorized resources or didn't access other things. I had another student who admitted to a citation mistake but was able to work with the professor to fix that issue and to deal with the concerns. And instead of being cited for plagiarism, He and the professor worked it out to teach how to do a proper citation. Now, those are just a couple of stories about what's happened and how to respond to accusations. So remember, academic misconduct can be daunting, but they don't have to derail your academic journey. Avoid the mistakes we discussed and follow the proactive steps so you can handle these situations with confidence and integrity. There are a host of resources as well to help you. Your school has an academic integrity office and a website with all kinds of materials. There are academic advisors and campus advocates. There's legal aid if you need it to help you with these things. And remember, the university has a whole legal department to write up these rules and help them interpret these rules. And if they don't have an in-house legal department, they have an outside counsel who fills that role. So... you need someone on your side. That could be an attorney, a parent, or someone trusted. But remember, get help, don't go it alone. So if you found this episode helpful, share it with your classmates, subscribe, leave us a review. You can also check us out on the web at khaltmanlaw.com.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

1
Navigating University Disciplinary Hearings: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 32 13:38

לפני 13 weeks13:38

13:38

Navigating University Disciplinary Hearings Keywords: university disciplinary hearings, student rights, due process, academic misconduct, Title IX, appeal process, legal advice, student defense Summary: In this episode of the Legally Blind Justice Podcast, Dr. Tim Markley discusses the complexities of university disciplinary hearings, including preparation, understanding the conduct board, ensuring fairness and due process, and the appeal process. He emphasizes the importance of being well-prepared and knowing your rights as a student facing allegations of misconduct. Takeaways: Disciplinary hearings can be overwhelming, but they don't have to be. Preparation is critical for a favorable outcome. Understand the charges and review the specific policies you're accused of violating. Gather evidence and prepare your statement for the hearing. Dress appropriately and stay composed during the hearing. Due process means your hearing should be fair and transparent. If the decision doesn't go your way, don't lose hope; appeals are possible. Review your school's policy for filing an appeal and meet deadlines. Stick to the facts in your appeal letter; avoid negativity. Universities have legal departments; you should have support too. Sound Bites: "Bring in an advisor for support and guidance." "You have the right to due process." Transcript: Tim Markley (00:00.046) This podcast is for information only and should not be considered legal advice. There is no representation that the legal services to be performed by LOCA are better than the services of other attorneys. There is no guarantee of the outcome. Success is rendered on a case-by-case basis. Hello and welcome to the Legally Blind Justice Podcast, where we tackle legal and disciplinary challenges that face college students and K-12 students. and we show you how to navigate them with confidence. I'm your host, Dr. Tim Markley, and today we're diving into an important topic, university disciplinary hearings. Whether it's an allegation of academic misconduct, a Title IX violation, or some other serious issue, disciplinary hearings can be overwhelming, but they don't have to be. With preparation and understanding of the process and the rules, you can face that panel with clarity and confidence. So in this episode, we're going to cover the following topics. What happens in the university conduct hearing? How to prepare effectively? How fairness and due process are built into the system and what to do when they're not. And finally, we'll talk about a decision if it's not in your favor and the importance of appealing those decisions. So stick with me as we break down these processes, share insights for some real college policies. and show you where to find the help you need. And remember, you can always visit our website at kaltmanlaw.com or call us at 1-855-K-ALTMAN. Let's jump in. Let's start with the basics. So what is a university conduct board? These panels are put together by universities or colleges when a student is accused of some kind of offense. It is typically composed of faculty and administrators, deans, department chairs, and sometimes include students. In some rare cases, it may be a student only panel. Or if it's a Title IX hearing, they may actually hire someone from the outside to serve on that panel. So here's a breakdown of what you can expect. A notification of charges. Tim Markley (02:19.68) Most universities, like the University of California, require students receive written notice of charges at least 10 business days before the hearing. This allows you time to prepare for your defense. Not all schools, though, are as specific as the University of California, and it may actually take longer and sometimes even shorter. Now, the hearing itself. At schools like Michigan State, you'll have the opportunity to present evidence, call witnesses, and respond to questions. In most cases, you're allowed an advisor, but in nearly every instance, the advisor is not allowed to speak on your behalf. The exception here is a Title IX hearing. In a Title IX hearing, your advisor will actually be the one that questions the complainant, the respondent, and any witnesses. So that's a major difference in a Title IX case. Now, these are adjudicated on a very different standard than most legal proceedings. If you watch TV shows like Law and Order or Perry Mason, beyond a reasonable doubt, it's the standard. But most universities use a standard called preponderance of the evidence. This means that they determine whether it's more likely than not that the alleged violation occurred. That's all it takes to be found responsible in these hearings. So it's important to treat these hearings seriously. Even though they're not criminal trials, they can have a significant consequence. It can lead to suspension, probation, expulsion, a permanent mark on your academic record. So you've been charged with this violation. What do you do? Let's talk about preparing for the hearing. Preparation is critical. A well-prepared student has a much stronger chance of a favorable outcome. First and foremost, understand the charges. Review the specific policies you're accused of violating. For example, the University of Texas Student Code of Conduct outlines academic dishonesty, and it includes unauthorized collaboration. Tim Markley (04:41.698) submitting the same work in multiple classes without approval or falsifying data. So you've got to look at what you're being charged with, know the exact violation, because that will guide your defense. Second, review the evidence. Request evidence is going to be used against you. Many schools like Penn State provide access to this information before the hearing. But it's your responsibility to ask for it. They are not simply going to send it to you. Gather other evidence, emails, text messages, class notes, testimony from witnesses. For example, if you're accused of plagiarism, your drafts with time stamps can be a crucial defense. Prepare your statement. Write a clear, concise explanation of your perspective. Practice speaking confidently so you're ready to answer questions from the panel. And don't take this as an opportunity to get back at a university administrator you think has done you wrong. They want you to be professional. They want you focused on the academic chart, what you're being charged with. This is not a chance to get your pound to flesh. Five, bring in the advisor. Most schools allow advisors. like a lawyer, a professor, or someone else to be present during that hearing. While they may not speak for you, they can provide critical support and guidance. And most hearings will allow you to stop and have a conversation with your advisor before answering questions or moving forward. We always recommend an attorney or a professional who does this kind of work. But having someone there with you can provides you with great support. It can calm you down and provide you someone to have a conversation with if you're confused by what's going on. So for an example, imagine being accused of disruptive behavior during a dorm event. If you have text messages from the event organizer thanking for you and your participation, those messages can serve as evidence that challenge the claim against you. So preparation is about more than evidence though. It's also about presentation. Tim Markley (07:07.63) dress appropriately, be respectful, and stay composed. Next, fairness and due process. A common question that students ask is, will I be treated fairly? And that answer lies in what's called due process. Due process means that your hearing should be fair and transparent, and that it's going to follow those rules that are established in the school's code of conduct. So due process typically starts with One, notification of charges. Schools like Stanford require students receive written notification of the charges and include the evidence against them. Two, the right to be heard. a university, students are guaranteed the right to resent evidence and witnesses, ensuring that they have a fair chance to defend themselves. The third part of due process is decision making, and it needs to be impartial. The University of Illinois, for example, requires that all panel members disclose any conflicts of interest to avoid bias. And unfortunately, some schools, though, do fall short of the standard. So, for example, if a university denies you access to the evidence until the day of the hearing, that's a procedural violation and becomes grounds for appeal that we'll talk a little bit about in a moment. If you believe your rights have been compromised, Don't hesitate to bring this up with your advisor or to file a formal complaint with the university. Next, filing an appeal. If the decision doesn't go your way, don't lose hope. Most universities allow you to file an appeal, but timing on appeals is often critical. And I will tell you, we have had clients where they lost their first round, but in the next level of appeal, they were successful. I even had one place where we had to go through four levels of appeals. It started with a professor. It went to the department and then went to the College of Education to the provost and finally all the way up to a state review board for that client before it was finally overturned. Now, appeals typically fall into four areas, procedural errors that affected the outcome. So. Tim Markley (09:30.754) You weren't allowed to see the evidence. That's a procedural area. New evidence that wasn't available during the hearing. Maybe one of the witnesses that you wanted to call was out of the country and came back into the country after the hearing. The sanctions are disproportionately harsh. You're a freshman student and you accidentally plagiarized something or failed to cite properly and were charged with plagiarism. And then you were dismissed. That's an excessive sanction. for a relatively minor violation. Number four, the evidence of bias or misconduct by a panel member. So when you're doing this and you find out that one of the panel members is best friends with a professor who is accusing you of cheating, there may be some bias there. You may have a basis to appeal because of that. So how to file an appeal? Review your school's policy. For instance, Syracuse University requires appeals to be filed within seven days of the decision. I've seen other schools where that review period is as short as three days. Some have a 10 day appeal. You also have to understand, is it calendar days or business days? How does spring break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break impact the counting of those days to be appealed? Write a strong letter of appeal. Be specific about why you believe the decision was flawed. Reference back to those reasons for appeal that are outlined in the school's policies. For example, if you weren't allowed to present a key witness, explain how this affected the outcome. Don't get mad, negative, and judgmental in this letter of appeal. Stick to the facts. Stick to the errors in procedure. Next, submit Follow up, make sure to meet the deadlines, confirm that your appeal has been received. So that's the hearing process kind of in a nutshell. But let's let's wrap up and review one more time. So quick recap. Treat disciplinary hearings seriously. Prepare thoroughly. Understand your rights under the university policies. If something feels unfair, speak up. You have the right to due process. Tim Markley (11:57.098) Appeals can be a powerful tool to overcome that first hearing. Have an advisor with you to help you guide you through the process. I cannot stress this enough. For more information, check your university student code of conduct or contact your school's legal aid office. Nearly every university has that office. Additionally, you might want to get personalized guidance. visit someone else outside of the university. Check out our website at K. Altman Law. We have a lot of resources that can help you in matters such as this. Or give us a call at 1-855-K-Altman. We specialize in helping students navigate complex disciplinary matters and protecting your rights. I want to remind you universities have entire legal departments or access to outside counsel to help them navigate their own rules and processes. And you should have someone helping you do that as well. So I want to thank you for listening to the Legally Blind Justice podcast. If you found this episode helpful, subscribe, share it with a friend, leave us a review. Next time, we'll dive into another topic about student defense, navigating academic integrity violations, K-12 issues, or special ed issues. Until then, stay informed, stay strong, and remember, you're not alone.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Navigating Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 31 32:54

לפני 16 weeks32:54

32:54

This episode of the Legally Blind Justice podcast features a webinar replay focused on transition planning for students with disabilities. The discussion emphasizes the importance of creating effective transition plans as students move from high school to adulthood, covering legal frameworks, key elements, measurable goals, and the roles of parents and students in the process. The speakers provide insights into the challenges faced in transition planning and offer practical examples and resources to support families in navigating this critical phase of education. takeaways Transition planning is essential for students with disabilities. IEP transition plans should start by age 16 or earlier. Parents should actively participate in IEP meetings. Transition assessments help identify student needs and goals. SMART goals are crucial for effective transition planning. Community resources play a vital role in successful transitions. Students should be involved in their own transition planning. Guardianship considerations are essential as students approach adulthood. Collaboration among parents, students, and schools is critical. Transition plans must be individualized to meet each child's needs. keywords: transition planning, special education, IEP, guardianship, post-secondary education, vocational rehabilitation, student advocacy, legal framework, measurable goals, community resources www.kaltmanlaw.com…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Understanding Student Rights Through Landmark Cases: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 30 15:00

לפני 18 weeks15:00

15:00

This episode of the Legally Blind Justice Podcast explores the evolution of student rights through landmark legal cases. Host Dr. Tim Markley discusses significant rulings that have shaped due process, Title IX, and the protections afforded to students in educational settings. The conversation highlights key cases from the 1960s to 2019, illustrating the ongoing development of legal standards that protect students from discrimination, harassment, and unfair disciplinary actions. takeaways Students have a right to due process before expulsion. The Tinker case established free speech rights for students. Public universities cannot discriminate against student groups based on beliefs. Suspensions require an opportunity for students to present their side. Title IX protects against sex discrimination in education. Academic dismissals have different procedural protections than disciplinary actions. Schools can be held liable for deliberate indifference to harassment. Peer-to-peer harassment is covered under Title IX. Mental health issues do not negate a student's due process rights. Title IX investigations must be conducted fairly and without bias. keywords: student rights, due process, Title IX, education law, legal cases, student defense, school discipline, harassment, academic dismissal, legal advice…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Common Disciplinary Violations in College: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 29 13:32

לפני 21 weeks13:32

13:32

keywords: college, disciplinary violations, academic dishonesty, Title IX, hazing, alcohol-related incidents, student rights, prevention, legal advice, college policies Summary: In this episode of the Legally Blind Justice podcast, we discuss common disciplinary violations faced by college students, including academic dishonesty, Title IX violations, hazing, and alcohol-related incidents. Our host emphasizes the importance of understanding these issues and the pressures that lead to violations. He also stresses the role of awareness and prevention in avoiding disciplinary issues, making students feel proactive and responsible. We encourage students to seek help when needed and to understand their rights within the disciplinary process. Takeaways Understanding the disciplinary process is crucial for students. Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, cheating, and AI violations. Pressure and time management issues often lead to academic dishonesty. Colleges offer resources like tutoring and writing labs to help students. Title IX violations stem from a lack of understanding of consent. Hazing is often underestimated and can have serious legal consequences. Alcohol-related incidents are influenced by college culture and peer pressure. Students should be aware of their college's alcohol policies. Prevention and awareness are key to avoiding disciplinary issues. Seeking help from legal professionals can be vital in serious cases. www.kaltmanlaw.com Phone: 1-855-k-altman…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Due Process and Special Education: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 28 51:14

לפני 25 weeks51:14

51:14

Welcome to the podcast! This podcast episode provides an in-depth exploration of due process in special education, focusing on the complaints process, the roles of advocates and attorneys, and the importance of exhausting local options before filing. The discussion highlights the complexities of due process hearings, the significance of legal representation, and strategies for maintaining positive relationships with schools. The episode concludes with resources for families navigating these challenges. Some takeaways from the episode: Due process complaints are formal complaints regarding special education disputes. Filing a due process complaint can be necessary when schools refuse evaluations or services. Due process hearings are complex and can be adversarial in nature. Exhausting local options is crucial before filing a due process complaint. Advocates play a vital role in supporting families through the process. Once a due process complaint is filed, the child's placement is protected under 'stay put' provisions. Legal representation is highly recommended during due process proceedings. Expedited due process is typically tied to disciplinary actions. Parents can request independent evaluations if they disagree with school assessments. Maintaining a positive relationship with schools is important for ongoing support. Check us out at www.katlmanlaw.com for more information.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

1
Exploring Academic Misconduct: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 27 11:00

לפני 27 weeks11:00

11:00

In this episode, the Legally Blind Justice Podcast explores the topic of academic integrity in the digital age. The rise of online learning and the accessibility of digital resources have presented new challenges in maintaining academic standards. The conversation covers various forms of academic misconduct, including plagiarism and contract cheating. It also discusses the use of technology and policies institutions implement to combat cheating. The ethical dilemmas and legal implications of academic misconduct are also addressed. The episode concludes by emphasizing the importance of fostering a culture of honesty and adapting to the realities of a digital world. Whether you're a student grappling with disciplinary allegations or simply seeking to understand the system better, join us as we demystify the college disciplinary process. Stay tuned as we equip you with the knowledge and resources to navigate this legal landscape effectively. Thank you for tuning in to the Legally Blind Justice podcast. If you have any legal questions or need assistance, don't hesitate to contact us at 1-516-788-8963 or visit our website at www.kaltmanlaw.com .…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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Back to School With Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 26 18:06

לפני 30 weeks18:06

18:06

This podcast episode discusses various issues college students may face when returning to school. Topics include changes in living conditions, adjusting to school rules and regulations, obtaining accommodations for disabilities, managing social media presence, maintaining academic integrity, and navigating Title IX issues. The conversation emphasizes the importance of seeking legal advice when dealing with serious disciplinary matters and provides guidance for students returning to campus. Takeaways: College students may face changes in living conditions and need to adjust to new roommates and dorms. Students need to be aware of and comply with school rules and regulations. Obtaining accommodations for disabilities is essential, and students should not hesitate to seek them. Students should be cautious about their social media presence and be mindful of what they post. Maintaining academic integrity is crucial; students should avoid using artificial intelligence to complete their work. Seeking legal advice is essential when dealing with serious disciplinary matters, such as Title IX violations. Go to www.kaltmanlaw.com for more information.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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K Altman Law MDR Webinar: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 25 56:17

לפני 33 weeks56:17

56:17

This episode is a replay of the K Altman Law webinar that discusses the manifestation determination review (MDR) process in special education. Hear from our Expert Special Education Team as they discuss this important issue. The MDR is a meeting held when a student with a disability is suspended for 10 or more days. The team answers two questions: whether the behavior is related to the disability and whether it is a result of the IEP not being followed. The webinar covers the federal and state guidelines, school responsibilities, parent responsibilities, and the outcome of the MDR. It also discusses the option of filing a due process complaint if the outcome is not favorable. The webinar emphasizes the importance of having an advocate present during the MDR and the need for timely communication and documentation, empowering parents to take an active role in their child's education. Takeaways The MDR is a pivotal meeting in the special education process, convened when a student with a disability faces a suspension of 10 or more days. This meeting, where the team addresses two fundamental questions, can profoundly impact the student's educational journey. The team answers two questions: whether the behavior is related to the disability and whether it is a result of the IEP not being followed Parents have the right to fully participate in the MDR, providing them with the opportunity to share relevant information and documentation, which is their responsibility The outcome of the MDR is not just a resolution to a specific incident. It can significantly influence future disciplinary hearings and the provision of additional support and services, underscoring the importance of the MDR process. Filing a due process complaint is an option if the outcome of the MDR is not favorable www.kaltmanlaw.com Remember, you're not alone. Call 1-888-984-1341 if you need help with a special education issue. We're here to support you.…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

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The MDR Process: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 24 23:14

לפני 36 weeks23:14

23:14

Join us as we delve into the intricacies of the Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) process, a critical component in the world of special education. Keith Altman of K. Altman Law provides an insightful introduction to MDR, explaining its importance for students with IEPs or 504 plans who face disciplinary actions. Following Keith's overview, we sit down with Ashley Bennett, Director of Special Education Advocacy at K. Altman Law, to explore the MDR process in detail. With over 25 years of experience in special education, Ashley shares valuable insights into the rights of parents and students, the procedural safeguards in place, and the critical steps involved in MDR meetings. This episode is essential listening for parents, educators, and advocates seeking to understand and navigate the MDR process effectively. Don't miss our upcoming webinar on MDR scheduled for July 17th at 5 PM. Register at www.kaltmanlaw.com .…

Legally Blind Justice Podcast

1
Why AI Detectors Are Problematic and What To Do Instead: Legally Blind Justice Podcast: Episode 23 13:36

לפני 40 weeks13:36

13:36

Welcome to the Legally Blind Justice podcast with Tim Markley from K Altman Law! This episode delves into a pressing issue in our AI-driven world: "Why AI Detectors Are Problematic and What To Do Instead." Artificial Intelligence is becoming ubiquitous, influencing everything from our communication and shopping habits to our work and entertainment. As AI advances, it increasingly handles writing tasks, posing unique challenges for educational institutions. Many schools are losing faith in AI detection software due to its unreliability and lack of transparency. Join us as we explore the flaws of these tools, including high false positive rates, discrimination against non-native English speakers, and inherent biases. We'll also discuss how universities like Vanderbilt and Northwestern are responding and propose alternative approaches for educators. Learn how to embrace AI in education, encourage critical thinking, and foster academic honesty without relying on flawed detection tools. Tune in for an insightful discussion on navigating the complexities of AI in education and discover strategies for leveraging AI’s potential while maintaining integrity and fairness. For more information, visit www.kaltmanlaw.com or contact us at timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com. Don't miss this essential conversation on the future of AI in academia!…

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Legally Blind Justice Podcast « » : Exploring the Complexities of Title IX with Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 34

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: Exploring the Complexities of Title IX with Keith Altman: The Legally Blind Justice Podcast Episode 34