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This sounds SO similar to my son (7, adopted from foster care, ASD, gifted). I made the mistake of allowing the school to do their own re-eval while in the process of the IEEs. Their re-eval was a waste of time, but only strengthened their argument to say "look, we now have TWO assessments contradicting the IEE!" Things got to the point where he was assigned an aide and a BIP under the 504- but now that we are on the IEP they removed a BIP and said "its not needed." The battle when you have a child who doesn't have academic delays but needs social/ emotional and executive functioning supports is not easy.

My 7yo is on an IEP. His private BCBA requested to do a school observation, to help us figure out how to best support him at home, as well as additional accommodations to request at school. The school has stated she is only allowed to do a 20 min observation, and only with me and the principal present as well. I work full time and cannot be there, plus if I'm there it has a significant chance of changing his behaviors in the classroom. We are in CA. Is there any regulations around classroom observations?

Wow. This is a lot and some is outside of my expertise, but below are the things that jumped out at me: 1. I don't know Ohio specifically, but I would want each suspension to be "formal" and not "informal," so that you could build up to the 10 days needed for a manifestation hearing, which in turn might lead to additional testing and support. So when they call you to pick him up because he has been "informally suspended," I would refuse until you received something in writing that he is being "formally suspended." But again, maybe "informal suspension" is a thing in Ohio? 2. Find or ask for the school board policy on formal (and informal?) suspensions and manifestation hearings. 3. I would argue they're out of compliance regarding the IEE request, but that's a little fuzzy. Under the IDEA the school district must provide this "without unnecessary delay." I don't see anywhere where the time is suspended for summer (as it would be for a request for a school evaluation). The director of spec ed (who normally handles requests for IEE's) would likely be a year-round employee and could have started on this request. There is caselaw that three months is considered "unnecessary delay." I would really push back on this and insist they get the ball rolling with respect to the IEE. 4. Given the poor quality of the school evaluation and that they've had multiple opportunities and sufficient time to do their own evaluation (requested last December!), I would not give up my right to an IEE or delay this process. You need to reach out yourself and get on a waiting list - don't wait for the school to do this. I understand your concern with it taking "a million years," but the school district is also taking a million years and you can't trust them to not keep stalling. Plus, their evaluation will likely be insufficient, so better to wait for a good one than get a bad one and have to start all over with the IEE process. Make sure it is done in ALL areas off concern. But to answer your question, unless there is something specific in Ohio, I don't think (but am not sure) there would be any harm in letting the school district do further evaluations - as long as the IEE process continues. If it's an "either or," I would choose the IEE route because you're probably going to end up there, anyway. 5. ln terms of "proving" the 504/BIP is not enough, that's why you need to insist on FORMAL suspensions. You also need to journal all the times you are made aware of him being in the hall, in another classroom, or with an administrator, as well as "informal" suspensions. You could also revise the BIP to require data collection.

Admin Note: I don't normally do anonymous posts, but this person is having trouble getting past the recaptcha, which we're trying to figure out. In the meantime, I said I'd post her question so that hopefully it has responses by the time she can get in. --------------------------------------- I have been fighting our (Ohio) school to get an IEP for my 9yo son (diagnosed with Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder, PTSD, and ADHD; adopted from foster care and had extensive early neglect) for over two years now. He gets good grades and tests well, but struggles extensively with the social-emotional parts of school and executive function stuff. Last year he was spending time in the hall, in another classroom, or with an administrator at least three times a week for a solid hour at a time and getting informally suspended more and more frequently, which to me means not accessing FAPE. In second grade, they declined to assess for an IEP based on classroom observations and good grades and punted him to RTI for speech. Not knowing what I know now, we assumed good faith and went to get a private psych eval to get diagnoses and prove disability, which took nearly a year. When I got the psych report last November, I sent it to the school and asked again for an IEP assessment in December. I followed up in February when they were out of compliance, and they slapped together a 504 Plan in February for his ADHD. At the same time, his behavior was getting more explosive, and he was getting informally suspended more and more frequently. (Also didn’t know that was a thing at the time.) When he got formally suspended for the first time in March (and my conversation with the principal revealed that the principal believed he was three incidents away from expulsion), I hit the roof and demanded all the things. The school psych used the private psych report to put together her portion of an ETR, the school gave us an FBA with one of the district BCBAs, and the school SLP declined to evaluate for the ETR again, somehow, despite my son receiving speech services at the local children’s hospital (for pragmatics and articulation). They were rushing a lot of stuff because by this point it was the end of the school year. At the ETR meeting, the LEA/school psych said he did not qualify for an IEP on the grounds that there wasn’t evidence that his disabilities were impacting his access to FAPE, and that we needed to use the BIP and “wait and see.” This is where I finally did some Googling and discovered y’all and started learning the process. I talked to our state disability rights org, who assigned me a short-term advocate to give me advice. She read the ETR and said it was really badly done and I absolutely had grounds to request an IEE. She specifically pointed out that not having a speech eval for a communication disorder was ludicrous, that there was no OT eval despite SPCD being related to autism, and that the report the school psych cribbed from the private eval failed to address the clinically significant results of various assessments. I asked for an IEE using the Don’t IEP Alone template at the end of July, and the district IEP person said that we needed to wait for the school year since most staff were 10 month. I emailed to follow up today (3 days into the school year), and she said that we could either proceed with an IEE (we’re not on a waitlist yet) or the school could do the speech and OT assessments and we could have a new ETR and meeting. I need advice on this. I am torn, because I feel the school has been acting in bad faith for a long time and the IEP rep did not mention readdressing the psych eval concerns. On the other hand, an IEE is gonna take a million years. Is there any harm in saying yes to the re-eval while getting on IEE waitlists in case they keep trying to deny the IEP? Now that I found Don’t IEP Alone, I am keeping much better documentation, I am working to find a longer-term advocate, and I hope to have a much stronger case and be more prepared for an ETR meeting. Also, how do I prove the 504/BIP is not enough when there’s no IEP mandating data collection? When I asked for my son’s behavior record last year (in writing), they gave me one mostly-empty page documenting the one formal suspension and that was it.

If you are in PA, then Chapter 14 applies. In other states, it's § 300.303 Reevaluations and any local case law that applies. And the federal law seems vague to me. You can file a state complaint for not following timelines - it's a procedural violation in PA: https://odr-pa.org/parent-resources/state-complaint-process/ Without knowing for certian what state's rules apply, it's possible that your school is OK with timelines and the new eval is due in October 2025 or March 2026. In most state, I believe you can request an IEE at school expense when a school fails to do a timely triennial eval. Most state also allow the school & parent to agree that an eval isn't needed. In this case, the progress reports are what defines the stude's baseline on which to determine goals & services. The Stay Put process varies from state to state. If you are not in PA, you should look at the procedural safeguards in your state as that should explain what to do. Given this is a national group, unless a question is posted in a Pennsylvania-specific part of this site, I tend not to assume that the poster is in PA - especially when they call an IEP meeting a CSE meeting. CSE seems to be a New York term. I tried to confirm what the reeval timeline is for NY & I didn't see where it said 3 years from the school's evaluation. It said reevaluations every 3 years or sooner if needed but not more than once a year. And there are exceptions to the once a year rule as well.

Thank you, Annique! Super helpful.

Which date/set of data should drive the timing of the 3 year eval-original or IEE? The original school evaluation date (April 2022) drives the 3-year reevaluation timeline, not the date of the IEE: IDEA Regulations – IDEA 34 CFR §300.303, / PA Chapter 14 Regulations Are they required to compare any new evaluations to the IEE neuropsych data in the IEP or PLOP? Yes, if the IEE was accepted in full or in part and used to determine eligibility and develop the IEP. The school must consider that data when reviewing progress or conducting future evaluation: IDEA 34 CFR §300.502 If he doesn’t qualify, or if the school doesn’t conduct a comprehensive evaluation, can you request another IEE? Do services continue during that process? Yes, you can request another IEE if the district’s reevaluation is insufficient or you disagree with the results. Services continue during this process under "stay-put" protections: IDEA 34 CFR §300.502 and §300.518 / Office for Dispute Resolution (ODR) – IEE and Due Process Guidance

Hello. My son was originally evaluated in April, 2022 by our district and found to not qualify for services (dx: anxiety and ADHD). We requested an IEE, for which a neuropsych evaluation was done in October 2022 (new diagnoses of moderate dyslexia and dysgraphia and disorder of written expression). The report wasn't available until March, 2023 with our original IEP meeting June 1, 2023. He has been receiving services since Sept, 2023. There was no discussion of re-eval at our CSE meeting this year (May, 2025) though the CSE chair had resigned, and the school psychologist was serving as interim. A few questions: Which date/set of data should drive the timing of the 3 year eval-original or IEE? Are they required to compare any new evaluations to the neuropsych data (IEE) which qualified him for services and is in the PLOP? If he doesn't qualify, or they don't do a comprehensive evaluation, I can request an IEE, correct? Would services continue during this process? Thanks, Betsy

It's hard to comment without knowing the specific facts of each case (for instance, it might matter whether the private placement was by the parent or by the school), but if a parent can waive FAPE in a settlement agreement that includes a private placement, I would assume that would mean the entirety of FAPE - even the "free" part. Waiving FAPE in order to receive the services of the private school allowed the school district to use this as an argument to not cover at 100%. May not be the best result, but I can't think of a reason it would not be allowed in a situation involving a private school not subject to FAPE, and perhaps having 50% covered was the best the parents thought they could receive without spending more time and money. Unsure in Seattle (actually, Kansas City :))

I was reading a post in a Facebook group and I'm in a bit of shock about what I saw. This was about a school district in PA and out of district placements. An advocate posted that they've seen this district cover 50% of the tuition for private schools for several students. I thought that offers from a school needed to be FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education. It's not 'Free' if only half is covered. I did ask the advocate how they are able to only offer 50% and it's OK. She said, because the parents were waiving FAPE, that the school wasn't obligated to pay for 100%. Settlement agreements, where the private school isn't going to follow an IEP, does require a parent to waive FAPE. I thought that this was waiving the right to having an IEP where the student would be getting special instruction to meet specific goals - in other words, the 'A' in FAPE - Appropriate. I didn't think they would also be waiving 'F' - Free. Does this sound right to you?

I have friends who live in the same school district (if it's the district with an East & West HS that sends students to TCHS) that I know and I was shocked what they did to my friend's child and attending the school they were zoned for. That said, what I would do is write a letter stating that the school's policy doesn't apply in your case because (1) it happened off campus, (2) you were told by the appropriate agency, CYF, to not report this to the police (3) but there was a legal settlement for your child to go to a different school from this child for 6 years. I would ask that they honor your request of having your child attend East rather than West which your neighborhood is zoned for. (You might need documentation from a MH professional that he should not be attending the same school as this other child due to PTSD.) You'll probably need to say you will transport as that tends to be the big ticket item with a student not going to their neighborhood school. He should be able to ride the bus to TCHS from East but you'd need to get him to/from East. On 2nd look, this part may apply: "A student victim (or his/her parent/guardian) may apply to the LEA to transfer to another school within thirty (30) calendar days after the incident is reported to school authorities." IMO, you are somewhere within this 30 day timeline as you recently told the SD about the assault. Use the points I outlined to make your formal request. You might want to call the superintendent and then follow up the call with an email so you have a paper trail. Or you might need to show up in person. I know the person in charge of school safety in my district and they might be someone to have involved with this process. Include the Title IX coordinator too.

Reading between the lines, I'm seeing the special ed director saying all the teacher needs to do is babysit the students and gaslight parents that they are getting FAPE. Some people say that IEP means I Expect Progress. This won't happen without special instruction shown to help mitigate issues from the disability. Depending on the student & the disability, I'd like to see ADLs worked on at a minimum.

If you have a reading eval done, most evals (same exact eval) cannot be redone within the next 12 months. The school's perspective is that outside evals are biased and school evals are not so they only have to consider your eval & not follow it. Given this, I would wait for the school's evaluation to be done. Also, ESY is not expected to cause a student to make progress - sometimes student do make progress. It's there so that a student who's learning a new skill doesn't backslide when there isn't any instruction over the summer. Compensatory things are generally decided by due process although schools will call something this when a student didn't get FAPE and they didn't need due process to determine this. I'm not familiar with "a specific OG READING EVALUATION". I'm thinking that their certified special ed teacher might have an eval they do to determine what the area of need in reading is that is specific to the protocol for the program. (Do ask to get a copy of their assessment results.) This way they can match remedial instruction to what the student needs rather than starting with step 1 which might be something a student already knows. (There are dozens of OG based programs that are out there and are research/evidence based. They are all a bit different which is why a student could make progress with one & not another. You can think of it like chocolate ice cream. Breyers is different from Turkey Hill or Friendly's or your store's brand but they all fill the requirement for chocolate ice cream.)

Not in Pennsylvania, so others might know more. But for me, it would help to see the language in the NOREP as to what was agreed to at the meeting. Regardless, however, it looks like you were given some bad advice during the meeting from individuals who did not understand the entire process or know all the facts in your case. Under the board policy, you appear to be out of luck. My suggestions are: 1. Ask for all policies regarding ability to transfer schools. There might be some other way to request a transfer. 2. Write a letter to the superintendent and school board members pleading your case. Since you don't have any policy or legal ground to stand on, appeal to their emotions to make an exception. However, there are a couple of legal issues you could allude to (but I would start out nice and not demanding in this initial letter/email). State how this would affect your son and his ability to access his education (he would be so traumatized he wouldn't be able to focus and learn - I would even suggest getting a letter from a psychologist/psychiatrist stating the environment would making learning difficult, if not impossible, and attach the letter). Hopefully they could connect the dots that they would be denying FAPE. Another legal angle would be adding something like "it would be be devastating to my son physically, mentally, and emotionally if another attack were to occur." Hopefully they could connect the dots in terms of their liability if an attack occurred and they were on notice of the previous one. 3. If they insist on knowing the other boy's name, keep in mind that the school district is required to keep this confidential.

We had an IEP meeting for my 19 year-old son to transition to TCHS in the afternoons and attend SD in mornings for which I signed a NOREP. The SD is now going back on what they said in the meeting regarding a change in high school building placement. Do I go to mediation? They haven't replied to my last email. We requested a transfer to East HS so that son will not have to see a student at West HS who sexually assaulted him years ago in our neighborhood. The attack did not take place at school and son was not a student in the SD at the time (we live in the same place, but he was in a charter school at that time so technically in a different district. Also, we settled with a lawyer for son to attend private school for 6 years, so son has not in SD). Both boys were under age 14 and both have special needs. It was reported to CYF who concluded that no other authorities should be notified, that there was no legal recourse, and I followed their policies on what to do afterwards. I have said and written this to the SD but they are changing my words around. In our IEP Meeting, SD said we only needed to submit a formal request for the change in HS buildings and gave me a link for the request letter and nothing else during the meeting. I was told it needed to be short and to the point- it was supposed to be just a formality and after I emailed the request, they emailed me the NOREP. They called to have me sign it while I was on the phone with them, which I did. They had an incorrect name on it, though, so they fixed it and resent it for me to sign again, which I did. The next day, SD emailed me many forms including Board Policy saying they would like all supporting documentation for the assault (there is none and we do not feel comfortable telling the SD the other boys name). The policy states: The Pennsylvania Department of Education, as required by the Unsafe School Choice Option provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (Section 9532), hereby adopts the following standards for a student who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense while in or on the grounds of the public elementary or secondary school that s/he attends. Local Educational Agency or LEA - shall include a school district, an area vocational-technical school, an intermediate unit or a charter school. Victim or student victim - shall mean the student against whom a violent criminal offense has been perpetrated while the student was in or on the grounds of the public elementary or secondary school that s/he attends. Student Opportunity to Transfer Except as provided below, a student who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense while in or on the grounds of the public elementary or secondary school that s/he attends, must be offered the opportunity to transfer to a safe public school within the LEA, including a charter school. In order for a student victim to be entitled to transfer to another school under these standards, the violent criminal offense first must be reported to law enforcement authorities by the student, the student’s parent/guardian, or school officials. A student victim (or his/her parent/guardian) may apply to the LEA to transfer to another school within thirty (30) calendar days after the incident is reported to school authorities. The assault did not take place at SD grounds or schools, we were told NOT to report it to law enforcement officials, and it's past 30 days so none of this is applicable to us. The forms they sent are attached below. My advocates advised not to fill them out and we restated our request, but SD has not replied. What could we do? Thank you! NO103-AG-4 Report Form for Complaints of Discrimination11.11.20.pdf NO103-AG-3 Discrimination Complaint Procedures11.11.20.docx.pdf NO103-AG-2 Title IX Sexual Harassment Procedures and Grievance Process for Formal Complaints11.11.20.pdf NO103-AG-1 Letter Documenting Objection to Child Participation in an Investigation11.11.20.pdf

You're absolutely right to feel frustrated. What that director said is incredibly telling and concerning. When a director frames the primary needs of an MSD (Moderate to Severe Disabilities) classroom as “showing up and communicating with parents,” it reveals how low their expectations are for both the students and the role of the teacher. Yes, reliability and communication are important; but those should be the minimum expectations for any teacher in any classroom, not the whole job description. Students in MSD classrooms deserve instruction, support, progress, goals, and dignity. They deserve teachers who believe in their potential and are trained to support them. Reducing the job to just “be there and talk to parents” doesn’t just undersell the position, it underserves the students. And it sends the message that they aren’t worth the time or effort it takes to actually teach them. It’s a red flag, not just about that director, but possibly about how the whole school or district views their high-needs population. I'd be asking follow-up questions, and if your daughter takes the job, document everything.

My daughter will be a first year sped teacher. I’m a veteran sped teacher. I went to an interview for and MSD job. Discussed all the ways I would work with the students and teach them. My daughter was called for a MSD position interview same school different position. They told her what they wanted a someone to show up everyday and have parent communication. She got the position. To me this is a downgrade to this population of students and their parents. How do you feel about the sped director saying this?

I may have missed something, but when did the "compensatory reading" come into play? Also, I may not be following all the timelines, but if it's been one year since the school evaluation in academics, ask for one. If denied (or if given and you disagree), ask for another IEE. You mentioned when summer instruction starts. I don't think you'll likely be able to get a private evaluation in time for it to make a difference this summer. I would just wait out the year so you don't have to pay. But, of course, that's totally up to you. I'm a little confused about the "specific OG reading evaluation." That isn't a thing in special education, so it must be something used for their general education intervention. Make sure you understand the difference. Reach out and ask for the policy, steps, qualifications, etc., for the "specific OG reading evaluation." I don't understand how they're tying that to "compensatory reading for the summer." Compensatory minutes are minutes missed in the special education setting.

Thank you JSD24 and Carolyn Rowlett. I appreciate the help. Fortunately, my child completed a full IEE with a Neuropsychologist in 2024 paid for by the district. They used this data to place him for summer reading instead of a reading evaluation specific to Orton Gillingham. At the CSE meeting they were saying a specific OG READING EVALUATION was required before they could award compensatory reading for the summer and that I was too late to get one so he'd have to wait until fall for OG Reading Eval. When I used the other Advocate's script, they awarded summer reading and speech. However, I was concerned that they said the OG Eval was necessary then said they would skip it. That's why I was thinking of getting a private one anyway. What do you think? Should I get this step on my own since they are skipping it and using IEE that is almost a year old? Summer instruction starts Tuesday.

If the school "skipped" the step of doing a reading evaluation, you shouldn't have to pay for one yourself. Ask for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at school/public expense. They have to give you this or take you to court to prove why they shouldn't have to. Or they might just go ahead and do the evaluation themselves. If you disagree with their evaluation, you can still request an IEE after its completion.

For Mich- RTI is Response to Intervention and MTSS is Multi Tiered System of Support. Both are part of general ed assistance for struggling students. (Schools generally call it one or the other with RTI being the 'old' way of doing things.)

Hi. You replied to me too about reading recently. You give very thoughtful and thorough replies. Thank you. Would you let me know what RTI/MTSS is? Forgive my ignorance. TY. Mich

I want to thank you both for your thoughtful replies. I am happy to report that I posted a similar post on another Special Education Advocates forum and she gave me a script for my CSE meeting. The IEE that was done in the fall got reviewed by the Reading Support department. He was given 3 sessions per week of OG Reading Comprehension and 2 speech therapy sessions for the summer. Crossing my fingers and saying my prayers that he makes meaningful progress!! I am trying to decide if I should invest in an individual reading eval since they skipped that step.

For Mich- The specially designed instruction in the IEP should target the area of need specified in the evaluation report. If he hasn't been assessed or doesn't show that O-G instruction is needed, it's not going to happen. You need to advocate for the evaluation to be sufficiently comprehensive so the area of need with reading is defined to a point where it can be matched to a research/evidenced based program. If the school recently did an eval, an IEE at school expense might be what to ask for. Education advocates and special ed attorneys can read over the eval to see what was done/what might have been missed. What is taught in a self contained class should be the general ed curriculum as well as there being special instruction that addresses the student's areas of need. They might also be pulled for special instruction. Ex: Speech therapy is hard to do in a classroom with background noise. You'd want it done in the SLP's office/classroom.