The Role of Referral Agencies

As a condition of funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), local educational agencies are required to establish written policies and procedures for implementing federal special education laws.

• Public and private agencies providing this proactive, preventive, and positive support to schools vary but share a common devotion to avoiding aversive techniques.

• "You can't use zero tolerance and work with kids," says Terry Johnston, director of one such private agency set up in 1997, PEP Assist, based in Cleveland, Ohio. "We accentuate the positive and help kids understand what they're doing right."

• PEP, the longer-established parent agency, is a "positive education" consulting organization specializing in, but not limited to, children who are severely emotionally disturbed. It has been recognized for excellence and innovation by the U.S. Department of Education.

• PEP runs a variety of community programs for troubled children in Ohio and several other states. They include a home-visiting program for infants and toddlers at risk, early intervention centers for children to the age of six, and day treatment centers for school children.

• PEP Assist, Johnston explains, provides one-time or ongoing training and consultation for special and general education programs and teachers in public schools. It conducts functional behavior assessments, for example, or works with specific parents - whatever the school needs.

• A state-wide collaborative approach has been deployed in New York since 1948, when its education department set up a system of cooperatives called Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) [pronounced BOW-sees]. These service-management cooperatives, or agencies, help school districts pool funds and programs in many areas of educational life, including, but not limited to, special education.

• BOCES are public consulting agencies that attend to local needs. The Southern Westchester BOCES headquartered in Rye Brook, N.Y., for example, serves 35 school districts. It offers a variety of special education programs including one that helps gifted students who have emotional and behavioral problems. The BOCES gifted program conducts staff training and sets up and conducts classes in public schools.

• Similarly providing statewide public support, Illinois, through its State Board of Education, has created a "Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Network" for children who have emotional and behavioral disabilities. Since 1991 it has deployed 11 community-based sites that provide support and services for these youth. The goal, the board says, is to reduce the number of students placed "outside of their homes and communities."