GAO: Special-needs screening needs improvement - Army News ...

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/09/military-special-needs-screening-gao-091712/


By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 17, 2012 12:05:03 EDT

The military services must shore up their screening of family members to determine if overseas installations can meet special education needs before sending families with such needs to those installations, according to a new government report.

The Government Accountability Office found that some military families are being sent to overseas assignments that lack the educational resources for their children with special needs.

There are various reasons for this, GAO said: A service member may intentionally circumvent educational screening and enrollment in the Exceptional Family Member Program; a student?s needs may be more severe than indicated by the educational or medical screening; the military may override a recommendation by the Department of Defense Education Activity; or a service member may be approved for one location but then get reassigned to another.

Some 10,200 students ? about 12 percent of DoDEA?s student population ? received special education services in DoD schools in the 2011-12 school year. That includes 3,838 students in Europe and 2,025 students in the Pacific.

About 1,100 students, or 11 percent of those with special needs, are children of government civilian workers. Officials at two schools visited by GAO said that because civilian families do not undergo any systematic screening before transferring overseas, they tend to have the most severe needs.

Families told GAO they were generally satisfied with the special education services their children received in DoDEA schools, once they received them.

But families in 16 out of 22 focus groups reported challenges in obtaining services because of limited availability of providers on installations, particularly overseas.

Defense officials responded that a review indicated no long-term vacancies other than the hiring lag that can occur when running an overseas school system.

Military families with special needs generally must go through an assignment coordination process between their military branch?s Exceptional Family Member Program and DoDEA.

The process is designed to match families to locations that have appropriate services in place, according to defense officials. Each branch has its own process. But problems with the process may strain school resources, and may result in families being placed in areas where schools are not equipped to meet their needs.

Officials in DoD?s Office of Special Needs told GAO schools generally can accommodate children with mild disabilities regardless of location; it?s children with severe disabilities who cause concern.

At some small schools, officials must scramble to get the right staff members and resources to meet a child?s needs. One Navy Exceptional Family Member Program official at an installation visited by GAO said screening and assignment coordination failures can cost the military up to $100,000 per incident.

The Office of Special Needs is conducting an analysis of the Exceptional Family Member Program that will provide uniform benchmarks and performance goals for the special needs enrollment and assignment coordination parts of the program, according to DoD?s response to GAO.

The response was signed by Charles Milam, principal director of DoD?s office of military community and family policy.

The Office of Special Needs was established partly to monitor the services? support for military families with special needs, but it has limited enforcement authority over their special needs programs.

DoD said it is developing policy that will assign that responsibility to the assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management. The Office of Special Needs will report issues to that office, which will then direct the services to take corrective action.

This congressionally mandated report required GAO to look at how DoD provides special education services; how different entities within DoD coordinate to assign families overseas, and how schools are affected; and challenges families face in getting DoD services for their children with special educational needs.

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Source: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/09/military-special-needs-screening-gao-091712/

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