This page contains DPI guidance, technical assistance, and best practice resources to better support students with IEPs who have neurodiverse, social and emotional, and behavioral needs as well as other needs common to students identified with autism, an emotional behavioral disability, or other students with IEPs.
The Supporting Neurodiverse Students (SNS) Professional Learning System provides learning events, virtual cohorts, coaching, resources, and technical assistance to support educators and families serving students with disability-related needs in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL). The goal of the SNS is to support a skills-based approach to challenging behaviors that will improve a student’s social understanding and emotional management skills. The SNS System provides learning opportunities with a focus on regulation, social communication, flexibility, resilience, sensory processing, and executive functioning.
The SNS Learning Events provide in-person events, live virtual events, and virtual four-session cohorts that support learning about disability-related needs that often occur for students with differences in social and emotional skill sets (e.g. students with autism, students with emotional behavioral disabilities, and students with other disabilities that impact social and emotional learning competencies). For more about these events and registration information, please visit the SNS Learning Events Registration webpage.
Complete information about the SNS can be found at the Supporting Neurodiverse Students Professional Learning System webpage.
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College, Career, and Community Readiness for Students with IEPs
College, Career, and Community Readiness for Students with IEPs
This DPI web page provides resources on transition to postsecondary including family and community support and IEP decision making guidance. This page also features video interviews with adult students with autism and other developmental disabilities, their families, and disability resource centers in higher education sharing tips, information, and strategies to prepare for college.
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DPI and DHS Joint Guidance for Behavioral Treatment for School Age Youth
DPI and DHS Joint Guidance for Behavioral Treatment for School Age Youth
In conjunction with the Department of Health Services, the department has developed joint guidance on providing behavioral treatment for school-age children, covering such issues as school absences and treatment in the school setting. This guidance document clarifies the responsibilities under both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and federal Medicaid law, and highlights important considerations for both school districts and behavioral treatment providers.
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Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)
Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)
User guide and toolkit designed to improve practice in the use of functional behavioral assessments (FBAs), the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and the implementation of behavior intervention plans (BIPs) to address the needs of students whose behavior interferes with learning.
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Information Update Bulletin 06.02 Legal Requirements Relating to Disciplining Children with Disabilities
Information Update Bulletin 06.02 Legal Requirements Relating to Disciplining Children with Disabilities
This bulletin discusses the legal requirements identified by IDEA for maintaining a safe learning environment for all and the protections to prevent the inappropriate exclusion of students with IEPs.
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Information Update Bulletin 07.01 Addressing the Behavioral Needs of Students with Disabilities
Information Update Bulletin 07.01 Addressing the Behavioral Needs of Students with Disabilities
This bulletin discusses the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) emphasis on positive strategies and interventions to programmatically address the needs of students with IEPs whose behavior interferes with the child’s learning or that of others. The goal is to develop positive behavioral intervention plans that are based on child specific data gathered through the process of functional behavioral assessments.
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School Mental Health
School Mental Health
School mental health services and supports are an effective means of addressing the mental health needs of children and improving the learning environment.
- Mental Health, SEL, Trauma & Safety Online Training Materials
The Student Services/Prevention and Wellness Team at DPI provides guidance for students through their online training materials. There are resources for Mental Health Framework, Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Sensitive Schools, Adult Compassion Resilience and Culturally Responsive Practices. Found within these materials are group and individual interventions that build students’ skills to manage mental health challenges. While these resources and plans are part of a larger system of support, they can be considered for use if found to meet the needs of a student with an IEP.
- Effective Individual and Group Interventions
Effective Individual and Group Interventions includes Counseling Angry and Aggressive Students; Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment; and Teen Self-Care Planning.
- Intensive Mental Health Supports for a Few
Intensive Mental Health Supports for a Few includes Counseling and Support Teams, Reentry Plans, Emotional Regulation Plans along with other supports.
- Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
The Wisconsin Social and Emotional Learning Competencies can be used to guide IEP teams in identifying areas of strength and need when developing a student’s individualized education program plan in the areas of social, emotional and functional performance.
- Trauma Sensitive Schools
Wisconsin’s Trauma Sensitive School Initiative provides an Online Professional Learning System that helps support schools as they embark on the transformative process of becoming a trauma sensitive school.
- Emotional and Physical Regulation Tools
Within the Trauma Sensitive Schools Online Professional Learning Systems are tools to support individual and small groups of students to recognize when they are becoming dysregulated and manage those sensations successfully.
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Wisconsin Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Network
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Wisconsin Safe & Healthy (WISH) Schools
Wisconsin Safe & Healthy (WISH) Schools
The Wisconsin Safe & Healthy (WISH) Schools Training & Technical Assistance Center builds the capacity of Wisconsin public school districts to implement programs in prevention and intervention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, mental health, and promote school safety in order to reduce barriers to learning.
Videos
Understanding Autism
A playlist of self-advocates, parents, and educators sharing perspectives on autism. To see other videos from this project that provide ideas how to prepare students with autism and other developmental disabilities for college go to the College, Career, and Community Readiness for Students with IEPs.
