August 26, 2026 Meeting Minutes - Self-Advocacy, Graduation, Training, Employment
- PALS
- Aug 26
- 4 min read
PALS Meeting Minutes
August 26, 2026 9:30 a.m.
Virtual Meeting using Zoom
Open Forum
Open Forum allows participants to share experiences, ask questions, and provide resources in a mutually supportive setting.
Upcoming PEAL Center Training
PALS is delighted to host an upcoming PEAL Center training during our regularly scheduled October 28, 2026 monthly virtual meeting. Regardless of age, grade, and whether or not your student has ever faced disciplinary action at school, this training is packed with great information that may help you or someone you know now or in the future.
Training
Behavior and Discipline Guidance for Students with IEPs
Outcomes
• Be able to describe exclusionary practices, Informal Removal, suspension
• Empower parents to go to meetings with examples of patterns of exclusionary discipline, use Section 504 to help determine appropriate placement.
• Provide multiple ways of supporting a student’s mental health needs, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline.
Back to School: Starting With The End In Mind
With the beginning of the school year upon us, we thought today's conversation might lead with this in mind. Interestingly, the conversation revolved around graduation and transistion to life after high school. Now before those with younger/elementary age students think this isn't useful, we must remember that every support a child receives is a building block to the next level of ability. No matter how small, how large, how in-depth, or not; things like IEP Goals and SDIs build on one another throughout the years.
We often hear from parents of recent graduates about their child's transition to higher education, employment, and training.
For instance, every student with an IEP begins receiving support from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) in 10th grade. This support moves beyond graduation and into areas of further training and employment support. "OVR counselors assist disabled individuals with obtaining, maintaining, or advancing employment through personalized services, including vocational guidance and counseling, goal setting, creating Individualized Plans for Employment, job placement and more. Social Security disability beneficiaries are exempt from the OVR Financial Needs test." OVR has 21 district offices –15 Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. (BVRS) offices and 6 Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services (BBVS) offices– along with the Commonwealth Technical Institute at the Hiram G. Andrews Center (CTI at HGAC) in Johnstown, PA. Training also available at A.W. Beattie Career Center with two and three year career education during a student's high school years.
Note: some school districts, like Fox Chapel, do not allow Sophomore's to attend Beattie Tech. The question then becomes, can a student receiving special education services entire a Beattie Tech three year program in their Junior year and continue for an additional year, after their Senior year. Considering students receiving such services have the right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education until they turn 22 years of age this is a valid question. With that, also note, students may "age out" of special education by receiving a regular high school diploma. Additionally, the previous state policy stated eligibility ended at the end of the school term in which the student turned 21. Currently the Age 22 Rule is in litigation and remains in effect as the legal battle continues. Since implementation and district response can vary during the legal appeal, families should confirm their specific timelines directly with their local school district's special education department.
What about students transitioning to higher-education? There are three option:
Attend dedicated accredited colleges (comprehensive support colleges) like Beacon College and Landmark College, that are exclusively built for students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and Autism.
Attend traditional universities that feature dedicated support centers (structured support programs at mainstream colleges) going beyond basic ADA accommodations like University of Arizona's Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques Center (SALT), University of Denver's Learning Effectiveness Program (LEP), Rochester Institute of Technology's Spectrum Support Program, Curry College's Program for Advancement of Learning, American University's Learning Services Program, and University of Iowa's REACH program. These are just a few examples; there are more and some programs cover specific areas like Dyslexia, ADHD, and Autism.
Attend mainstream universities and seek standard accomodations through disability services. The majority of U.S. colleges and universities have an Office of Disability Services. Through this office students must self-advocate in disclosing their disability and submit documentation in requesting academic accommodations. Once approved, it is the student's responsibility to communicating the accommodations with individual professors each term along with managing their own coursework, organization, and deadlines.
Self-advocacy and support, beyond home and family are important keys to success. Work with your child's school based IEP Team members to write a Self-Advoacy Goal within the child's IEP. Remember, this Goal, like all others, should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, and Time-bound. It is never too early to teach self-advocacy.
We also discussed graduation requirements and overall communication of these requirements by the school district. Do not hesitate to ask for clarification. Request a meeting to go over all the requirements and ask all the questions you need. We have discussed graduation over the years and you can find specific information as it pertains to FCASD gradation in those meeting minutes;
Additional Resources
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PALS Calendar of Events
PALS shares notices for many in-person and virtual events from local, regional, and national organizations, including webinars, support groups, research opportunities, and activities for children and teens. Updated weekly, the PALS Calendar is a valuable resource. Please email your additions to palsfcinfo@gmail.com.
Next Meeting: September 30, 2026 9:30 a.m. Virtual Meeting using Zoom.
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