Special Education Eligibility

Want to learn more about how a student in Virginia becomes eligible for special education and related services? Join us as we talk about what state regulations require, share the differences between educational and medical evaluations and discuss how schools must document the steps they take for determining eligibility for special education. You will also hear about VDOE’s most recent guidance on eligibility including local data requirements. After the presentation there will time for Q & A with the presenter.

Marie Ireland is an adjunct research associate at Charles Sturt University. She worked as a school-based Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and administrator and after 16 years retired from Virginia Department of Education SLP specialist position. She is an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Fellow and a Board-Certified Specialist in Child Language. Marie was ASHA’s Vice President of SLP Practice from 2018-2020 and served on numerous state and national association committees and councils. She was awarded the ASHA Editor’s award (2014) and the Topics in Language Disorders Katherine Butler Trailblazer award (2020) for her research and has authored several book chapters. She is frequently an invited speaker for school districts, universities, and professional organizations across the US and Canada.