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I think you're going to need a lawyer. Someone who knows both special ed as well as criminal issues. Your child committed a crime because his in loco parentis failed to follow the agreed upon IEP. It sounds like the 9 page threat assessment will be evidence this lawyer will use when they defend your child in court - that's when the DA will see this. Not sure if you have a counter suit for damages caused by how the school allowed things to play out. Your child was traumatized and you now have legal expenses in order for him to have a defense to the criminal charges that resulted due to non-compliance with the IEP as well as not curtailing the bullying your child endured at school. This could be a case the ACLU or disability rights group in your state might be able to take on. Both groups employ lawyers who have experience with dealing with issues like this.

Is the other teacher also providing special education services? I think the quickest way to get your question answered is to call your state department of education. States vary on what is accepted in terms of "certification" and in what environments.

Our child is receiving homebound services due to a suspension that resulted in juvenile probation. We mostly wish to keep our child out of trouble until the probation period is over. We will meet to extend homebound services but for now services will continue until next month. My question is - does the teacher providing the services have to be a certified teacher ? Our child has two teachers - one is a certified sped teacher. The other is not. Is there some sort of loophole the school is using ?

We do have an advocacy center that has been helpful. I have called them several times. The school cancelled the DP since the MD clearly showed his disabilities caused his behavior. The school is not willing to drop the charges and the DA wouldn’t look at the 9 page threat assessment done by the LPC the school uses (and is now my son’s new LPC). The DA also refused to look at the medical information from seven medical professionals.

You can request a travel training assessment to see if she is capable of walking home safely from this sort of activity. If she can't, the school need to provide transportation given what Carolyn posted. Hint: The school might need to contract with a 3rd party for this is their drivers don't work late enough to accommodate the team's practices. And there is Uber for teens - they need to be at least 13.

The IDEA requires the following: The public agency must ensure that each child with a disability has the supplementary aids and services determined by the child’s IEP team to be appropriate and necessary for the child to participate in nonacademic settings. This can include transportation. The issue in your scenario is that the IEP team removed the service. You need to request a meeting to discuss this decision. The reason for removing a service cannot be because "the bus doesn't run that late." It can only be removed if the service is not necessary for the child to participate in the extra-curricular activity. That it what you need to stress - that curb-to-curb transportation is necessary for your child to participate. It is for the academic setting, so why wouldn't it be for the non-academic setting? There are other ways to provide curb-to-curb transportation such as Ubers and cabs.

What's going through my brain is: what did the eval cover? You posted that your concerns included reading, writing & spelling. Did you let the school know these are the areas you suspect he has a disability in? School evals should look at 'all areas of suspected disability'. Since these are not areas of concern with the school, I can see them not looking at these but if you said you thought there were issues in these areas, they should have provided you with data to support him doing OK with this or they should have evaluated this. (You could ask for them to show you why they aren't concerned.) Now if you didn't mention this to the school, now is the time to tell them. They may want to do their own eval before okaying a neuropsych or an IEE. I'm also curious what he scored on PSSAs. I'm not a fan of state testing but if he did OK on the PSSAs, that can assure you (to a degree) that he's on grade level. Basic & Below basic are failing - Proficient & Advanced are passing. If your school uses a platform like PowerSchool, they should have PSSA grades there. These should also be mailed home sometime in August, September or October - depends on when all the tests are graded. PSSAs are given in grades 3-8 and in HS, they do Keystones which are now a graduation requirement.

My daughter ha curb to curb transportation, and decided to do volleyball this year. She’s been doing great, but my mom has been picking her up after practice. Well, my mom‘s car broke down. The school doesn’t offer a bus later than 4, and practice is off of school grounds for 7th graders. She had in her IEP that she got transportation from afterschool activities, then they took it out in 6th grade saying the coop doesn’t allow for it because they don’t run that late. Is there anything I can do to get her transportation for sports? Other kids walk home (she’s an eloped) or get picked up.

Thank you for these great suggestions. Yes, there was an IEP meeting to review the most recent school eval and report from the end of 6th which focused on reading, speech, and writing that was done in response to a private language and literacy SLP eval we shared with the school that diagnosed Disorder of Written Expression, Specific Reading Disorder with impaired comprehension, issues with spelling, and Expressive Language Disorder. I reviewed the protocols for the school eval, because I wanted to see his writing. The school was saying he just needed to work on editing his work, and this did not fit with what I was seeing in his school work or writing done for the private eval. I will continue to collect writing samples and present them to school staff. What seems to hold weight though is the writing done for standardized and normed assessments done as part of school evaluations. So, it seems important that I can see that writing that is described as "average". Reading support and progress monitoring - My son told me he did not work with anyone other than his teachers for reading other than for DIBELS testing. I also found a document from the PA Dept of Ed. that described parental engagement as a key factor that made PA's RTII unique, but I'm not sure this document is current. It makes sense that "disabled" meant that progress monitoring was "turned off". Thanks, I didn't think of that. I like the idea of asking for a neuropsychological evaluation. My son is a student who is really curious, wants to learn and do well., and does what the teacher asks. He's quiet, polite, and hard working. He's masking so much at school! JSD24, did getting a school neuropysch open doors to support or at least understanding that weren't available before? Does the school usually have someone on staff to do neuropsychs? If we are able to get a school neuropsych, can we ask for an IEE if we feel it isn't thorough/don't agree with it? Alternatively, is there any way to get an IEE neuropsych even though his last school eval was 15 months ago? Are there criteria that this eval must meet? Is it a good idea to get put on a waiting list for an IEE neuropsych? It seems important that the school withheld information and didn't tell us our son was receiving reading help at the same time we were presenting major concerns about reading and writing. Does this help our ask? This reading support is not mentioned anywhere in his school evals. His report card comments from first grade mention he's working on his decoding skills and show he's approaching meeting grade level skills in this area. (I didn't know at the time this meant he was getting extra help of some sort.) His first eval report from 4th grade describes writing as his weakest skill and subsequent evals just suggest he work on editing his work. It also seems that having extra reading support in school may have swayed our private evaluations a different direction if we had this info at the time. As I said, my son is very good at masking his challenges, and we have helped support/remediate reading at home which was not really accounted for in his private or school evals. I am really angry about all of this. School staff didn't just lie to me and my husband. They lied to my son. And they continue to lie to us. I'm angry because we lost time to remediate reading and writing early on. I'm angry because this has caused my son a lot of heartache, frustration, confusion, and to feel badly about himself. This has hurt him deeply. It's not okay to be told you're doing great, are one of the best readers and writers in your class and to know inside that this isn't true. I have a new thing that came up this week, too. My son is learning a foreign language this year, Spanish, and I am curious to see how he does and also very concerned. I asked his case manager if my son's spelling, writing, and reading accommodations would apply for this class. (I feel they should as they are written to apply to all academic or general ed classes but wanted to double check.) His case manager emailed and said that spelling SDIs are not applied in Spanish. The reasoning is that spelling is a key part of language acquisition. One letter can change the meaning of a word in Spanish which makes accuracy very important. Assessments are aligned with IEP supports and often include helpers like word banks, multiple choice, and matching. Spelling deductions are small. The case mgr noted that extended writing assignments (which my son struggles with in English) might be the biggest challenge and can be handled on a case-by-case basis. Upon closer inspection, there isn't a specific SDI for spell check in the IEP, but my son's most recent writing goal was met using spell and grammar check. His unedited (by computer) work has many spelling (sometimes even with a word bank), grammar, and convention errors (lack of capital letters and punctuation) . I am confused why staff are so concerned about his spelling for Spanish but are perfectly fine accommodating spelling in English with spell check. Is my best option to ask the school for a neuropsych?

Families who receive settlement agreements for comp time (or any other reason) need to sign non-disclosure agreements so it's hard for info to be shared. In my area, there was an article about this (Philadelphia Inquirer carried it - see below). Like Carolyn said, filing a state complaint is one route to getting funds when a school fails to provide FAPE. I'm in PA and the complaint form asks what would the person filling out the form want to see as the resolution of the complaint. Saying that having the school provide funding for compensatory services is something to put on the form if this is what a family wants. I've heard stories where lawyers got involved and were able to get a settlement agreement for compensatory services for families outside of mediation or due process as going these route cost school districts additional lawyer fees. In my area, there are law firms who take cases on a contingency basis. With a contingency basis, the lawyers are only paid when the case results in a settlement from the school. Needless to say, it's the bigger law forms that do this. Link to article: https://www.inquirer.com/education/special-education-programs-philadelphia-region-deficiencies-due-process-settlements-20250805.html?id=hw81GFuWaPeFr&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwY2xjawMIVVJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFjcExDWm5rMGdvbFdWa2dqAR7mEMHyrBBqBJukiofL2ZzR_xBduS9zjCCZTF7WStIB10l_aO7BK_LPTf8XEQ_aem_R_1oOUbJvrgZz5nodeTiVg

What state are you in? PA has a Consult Line to call & get questions answered. There should also be a parent training center. There should be a way to cancel the due process and they should be able to tell you how that gets done. This needs to come from the school - they took you to DP. They would need to drop it.

Many schools in PA use an MTSS framework for providing extra support to students in general ed. I don't believe that progress reports are part of what's done in MTSS. From what I'm aware of, only IEP goals require that progress reports are given to parents. Since RTI & MTSS are part of general ed, I don't expect any type of regular parent communication about what's going on. What I would expect is for something to be mentioned during parent/teacher conferences. Something like: He sees the reading specialist 2X a week and seems to be making progress. Saying 'we have no concerns' and then providing extra support seems like an outright lie. I was able to open the attachment. The way I read this was that progress monitoring was turned on in 2019-2020 and turned off/disabled for the 2020-2021 school year. This might have been due to COVID and not seeing students for MTSS that year with social distancing and only having 50% of students in the building at a time. My kids brought home some school work. These are 'writing samples'. They aren't part of an eval, simply 'classwork'. If you feel what you see being brought home isn't at his grade level, you can use this as data to base concerns on. (Protol with evals is you gather the sample, write the eval report and then shred the sample.) My suggestion and I'm not sure if this will work (it did work for me) is this. Let the school know that you have concerns about academics with your child. You're read through the evaluation report and you feel the report doesn't describe the struggles you see your child having. You'd like the school to do a neuropsychological evaluation to see if there is something more than the autism diagnosis/what was looked at during the school's eval. You feel there might be an element of him masking at school because he's smart. Based on him saying "he couldn't understand why other kids were reading chapter books and he wasn't." my guess would be SLD reading or dyslexia. Could also be dysgraphia. It could be executive function or having difficult starting a project. Difficulty starting things can be an autism thing. They lied to you. Shouldn't this change your perspective of the school?

Yes! This is exactly what happened. Thankfully the IEP team agreed his behaviors were a manifestation of his disability. He will be homebound for a few months until we get find an appropriate ADHD medication and the pending court case is held. We will also amend his IEP and he’ll get a paraprofessional - finally! I’ve been asking for years. I am also pushing to get his case dismissed but no one seems to know how to do that. I will keep texting and calling. For now, I’m pleased with how things went. I’m beyond frustrated it took my son being arrested and sent to juvenile jail for him to get the help he needs though.

I am not in PA and others on this site are, so I didn't do a thorough dive into what's required in your state, but I did find "A Parent's Guide to Response to Intervention in Pennsylvania," which appears to answer some of your questions. In that guide, it refers to parental involvement as a "key feature" in the response to intervention process. It also requires that progress monitoring be provided to the parents. Neither of these things seem to have happened in your case. It is good that you have asked for a re-evaluation in writing and to add reading (I assume this was done via email/in writing). Have they approved this yet? Have you signed for consent? You need to push for this so that the 60 days can begin. What is the school district basing their accommodations on for writing and reading? These have to be tied back to the present levels. If he needs accommodations, there could be some data in the present levels that he needs specialized instruction, as well. You state you were "permitted to view evaluations and special ed records at the district office." Is there an evaluation report? Was an IEP meeting help to go over the results? With respect to the destruction of evaluation protocols, you need to request a copy (or find on the school district's website) of their records retention policy. There is no reason why the school can't give you copies of his writing only (without the protocols). But if you continue to get pushback on this, ask for writing samples from his general education teachers or have him do something at home with a prompt from you. Additional documents I would request are results of all dyslexia screeners from Kindergarten on and all standardized testing results from K on (these may not start until 3rd grade). As far as this affecting your relationship, you now know you need to be very diligent in requesting what, if any, interventions are occurring with you son, as well as progress monitoring resulting from such interventions. You also should not rely on school staff telling you "he is fine." Ask for evaluations.

I had no problems recording and the district recorded as well so we both have a recording. I will say that my recorded did not pick up everything because some people speak softer than others. I also had to record offline because our school is a bunker. that said in the future I have picked up a conference room microphone to plug in to pick up everything when I record for future meetings. And the Otter AI app I used did a decent job of transcribing and the summarizing information. so I was able to send a follow up email with bhours of the meeting. I am hopoing that in the future that the app will voice recognition so that each person can introduce themself when recording starts. etc. I know with zoom etc. it does keep track of that stuff.

I haven't had to go through either of those processes. But a client of mine did file a state complaint and was successful in getting compensatory services through that route. If you have good facts, that might be an easier route to try first.

Has anyone been able to receive reimbursement and or compensatory time without due process or mediation? What is your experience in seeking one or both of these outcomes?

Hi, again. I'm providing some more info, as I am not sure that the document I attached is viewable. What it shows is that my son received intensive and strategic reading support in k and first grades. He had a mix of intensive, strategic, and core support in 3rd (coded red, yellow, green). In the student rostering section the following is listed under "Progress Monitoring": K No 1st Yes 2nd Yes (disabled) 3rd No We didn't receive any info past 3rd grade, so I am guessing DIBELS wasn't used from 4th grade on. I'm confused and wondering why "disabled" is listed in 2nd grade progress monitoring, while we were verbally told this same year that the school would not do an evaluation as he wouldn't qualify for an IEP. They said that he was doing great and teachers had no concerns. Am I just misunderstanding regular classroom support, RTI/MTSS, and special education? Thanks.

Hi! We're in southeast PA. My 8th grade son qualifies for an IEP under Autism. 2e. Very into math, science, and figuring out how things work. He learns well by doing and watching videos. Reading and writing are weak areas. I recently requested most of his education records. Among the info we asked for was DIBELS info and received the attached document showing that my son received reading support and progress monitoring in K-2nd that my husband and I were never informed of. Is this normal? This feels like a huge violation of trust, but maybe this is typical. We have been very open with the school and shared a lot of information with them in the spirit of collaboration. We first had concerns in K and brought them to his teachers and the school counselors attention in first and second grades. The feedback was that he was doing great, and they had no concerns which I have in emails. All I ever heard was, "We have no concerns." I had a lot of concerns! His first grade teacher asked my son why he was giving us such a hard time with homework and refused to do any or to read or write at home. (There were behaviors at home with reading and writing including refusal, frustration, anger, and yelling.) My son later told me he couldn't understand why other kids were reading chapter books and he wasn't. My gut kept telling me something wasn't right. When I verbally asked about an evaluation in 2nd grade, I was told he wouldn't qualify and was just a little "quirky". (I didn't know to put this in writing at the time.) We have continually been made to feel that we are making a big deal out of nothing. He has had some writing support over the years that has been hit or miss. School staff continue to say his reading is fine, but his reading is pretty limited to comics and magazines, and he has a lot of difficulty with spelling and writing (mechanics, grammar, and getting thoughts out wise.) School has agreed to accommodations for writing and reading. At his annual IEP meeting in May, school staff casually mentioned that because he met his writing goal, they no longer consider him to have writing needs despite his writing being riddled with grammar and spelling errors when not typing and using spell/grammar check. We're asking for a reevaluation in writing, auditory processing, and reading to help sort this out. His IEP does not match him and what he needs. Now, I am wondering if there are there other documents I should request from the school? (We received a counseling contact log, report cards, attendance records, and DIBELS and associated progress monitoring. I was permitted to view evaluations and special ed records at the district office. In their replies, the school considered this a FERPA request.) Also, I reviewed his reevaluation protocols from 6th grade at the district office to see what his writing looked like, since we have significant concerns about this area. I asked to review the protocols for his initial school evaluation from 4th grade (prompted after we presented a private evaluation to school staff at beginning of 4th). I was told that staff couldn't find the protocols and they think they were destroyed which is permitted after 6 months. Should I expect the 6th grade protocols to be destroyed at some point, too? This seems ridiculous, because then there is no record of his writing from those evaluations. The school refuses to give us copies of his writing from the evals, because we aren't professionals. What do I do with this new info that we weren't told about? How does this affect our relationship with school staff? Thanks! DIBELS xname.pdfDIBELS xname.pdf

So the school decided to ignore the BIP and things spiraled out of control. That's what I'm getting from your post. He needed the support that's written into his IEP & the school failed to provide it. Not sure why they are taking you to Due Process over their non-compliance with his IEP. On top of that, they decided to further traumatise him by cuffing him and having him spend the night in a detention center. My guess is the school is looking only at what your child did and following school board policy - 'you hit a classmate and destroyed school property and you're expelled' is probably what the policy says. What they aren't looking at is the non-compliance with the IEP and the lack of support they were supposed to provide that led up to this happening. I'm thinking you want to bring an attorney with you to this hearing. They aren't going to listen to your side of things without one. I could say more about how this school allows classmates to bully (it's bullying because it's repeated) your child. They shouldn't allow this to be happening - pretty sure there's a federal regulation about bullying in schools not being allowed. I'm thinking this might not be the right placement for your child. If the bullying happened with the school following the BIP, the BIP might not be FAPE. This is something to also bring to the attorney's attention. Sorry to hear that the school messed up and you now need to deal with this.

Did you make your request for your child to be placed with her friend in writing? If you did, include a copy of that when you ask why they aren't together. There is a saying in education: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. I feel this is something parents should be aware of. My mom-to-mom suggestion: Get your child formally diagnosed. This way, when you want to start meds, you're not waiting months to get in to see someone who can diagnose. I did this with my oldest. Diagnosed in K; started meds in 4th. (Also, it can take months to get in to see a psychiatrist to prescribe meds. You might want to also find someone who takes insurance & will prescribe - this could be your PCP or someone else. When the time is right to start meds, you don't want to have these roadblocks and delays to starting them.)

I live in a 2-party state. We have a form to fill out if we want to record. They want 7-10 days notice because the district wants to record if the parents are recording. Allow sufficient time with telling them you plan to record in case they also want to record. (They might need to dig out and dust off an old cassette recorder. ) It's hard to participate and take good notes at an IEP meeting. IMO, recording the meeting should be something all schools allow.

This doesn't sound like a due process hearing in the realm of special education. Who was the letter from?

We did receive a letter that states the hearing is due to breach of code or conduct and he’s been suspended - threatening others and staff, disrupting school environment. I’m assuming depending on what happens at the MDH will determine what happens with the DPH - expulsion, further suspension (he’s not been in school for 11 days already due to the meetings being pushed back twice), alternative school

I don't understand this "scheduling" or "calling for" a due process hearing. Did you receive any paperwork on this? The paperwork should explain why the school district is filing for due process, give you a deadline for your response, etc. It sounds like you've had an attorney before. I would consult with him/her on this matter.