In our schools, special education programs are designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities and ensure their inclusion in the school community. Similarly, a Special Education PTA (SEPTA) is a PTA organized to support the needs of families with special needs students, whether those needs are academic support and accommodation or gifted and talented education. Their role is to build partnerships between families, teachers, administrators, existing PTAs, and the community to advocate and educate on behalf of those students. Here’s how your PTA can support these families or assist in creating a Special Education PTA.

Within Your PTA (or PTA Council) or a SEPTA?

The answer to this question is going to depend on your special needs families. Are their concerns more focused on special education implementation at their child’s school, on district policies and procedures, or both? Are there enough families interested in forming a SEPTA? Depending on the answers to those questions, it may be more beneficial to implement a special education committee in specific PTAs or at the PTA Council level (or both) to begin. As connections between families, schools, and the district grow, spinning off a separate SEPTA may make more sense than continuing with committees across the district.

What Can a SEPTA (or SE Committee) Do?

As their focus is a bit different from a local unit PTA, a SEPTA tends to concentrate more on family engagement, education, and advocacy. One of the major benefits of a SEPTA is that it is a place to offer support to families in similar circumstances. Some SEPTAs will finish their business meeting and then adjourn to offer some off-the-record parent support time. Those shared experiences can build strong connections between SEPTA families.

Other things that SEPTAs may do include:

  • Educational programming on understanding specific aspects of special needs or diagnoses, understanding IEPs or 504 plans and available accommodations, or understanding child and parent rights under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).
  • Advocating for changes in district policies or procedures or individual school special education implementation to better accommodate the needs of students.
  • Fostering connections and communications between special needs families and the special education teachers and specialists who support their children.

How Do We Create a SEPTA?

Forming a SEPTA is similar to creating any local PTA. Find a group of like-minded parents and caregivers who would like to work together supporting their special needs children, then contact Illinois PTA at info@illinoispta.org saying you’d like to create a SEPTA. Illinois PTA will have someone from your area come and help set up the SEPTA, create bylaws, and elect your first officers.

Resources

Whether you are forming a SEPTA, setting up a special education committee in your PTA or PTA Council, or simply looking to provide programming and resources for the special education families in your community, here are some resources you may find helpful.

Image courtesy of pngegg.com.