Special Education Academy: Special Education Evaluations: Why and How We Evaluate Students with Disabilities

ANDREA YU: All right. Thank you everybody for being here. We are going to do part three of 10, and today we’ll talk about the Special Education Academy, which is our first time series that we’re doing. We have different topics that we are discussing throughout this 10 part series. I do have the assumption that you know some of the basics already, but if we don’t, that’s okay. We can always have our session for Q&A, which I will have at the end.

I mean, we are going to talk about everything that has to do with evaluations when it comes to students with disabilities or suspected disabilities. So today’s agenda, we will be talking about everything about evaluations and the expectations of the evaluations and what to look for in an evaluation, what kind of procedures, what are your rights, and how to move forward, and how to ask for an IEP evaluation.

We will not discuss 504 evaluations in depth. I will just maybe say a little glance over, but I will talk about them. This is more about the IEP evaluation. We will also have some advocacy strategies that you can take with you and you can implement right now. And then we will have our session for the Q&A.

Who we are here at DREDF. We are a unique alliance of people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, our vision is to have a just world where all people live full independent lives free of discrimination. Disability rights are civil rights.

We are not lawyers. We provide technical information to families to help them understand their rights and what resources out there. And of course, we are here to answer your questions.

There’s a Parent Training Information Center in every county. We serve 30 counties. We also serve families from zero to 26 years old. We also provide support for professionals. If you’re a professional here in the training, very much appreciate you being here.

And we also do trainings such as this. We go out to the community and do our very best to answer the questions when we do our public outreach. And we also do trainings in person, but they’re far in between. Right now, we’re focusing in Zoom as we know that we can cover the 30 counties throughout this medium.

All right, so some expectations to just quickly go over. We will talk about the school district’s evaluations and the obligations when it comes to evaluations, how to request an evaluation for an IEP, specifically, the 13 categories under IDEA, which I will not go over them, but we will definitely have them in one of our slides.

What is the assessment plan? What does it look like? And of course, some advocacy strategies. And let me just double check in that poll, if we can go ahead and get that. Thank you so much. I will also have another poll at the end, so I do appreciate everybody answering them.

So why do we use the word disability and not special needs? When we say the word disability, it is tied to civil rights. When we say special needs, it’s as if we’re creating the assumption that the student needs to have something extra, and we are providing that support that is extra for the student.

We try to stay away from the term special needs. Sometimes it can lead to that assumption of, oh, I am doing you a favor, or I’m doing your student a favor. However, when a student has a disability, the district, the service staff, et cetera, they’re not doing the student a favor.

They are providing the expectations that are set for the student’s ability to be able to receive a free, appropriate public education, which is the basis of the IDEA law. The IDEA is how the student receives an IEP.

And again, I’m going through a lot of terms. IDEA is Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is an education law, and it only applies until the student is in the district. It could be until they graduate or until they’re 22. Depends on what is appropriate for the student.

And through the IDEA law is how the student receives an Individualized Education Program, which is how they receive services and supports based on their needs. So it’s a very specific term and is very tied to civil rights and anything outside the scope of not providing the appropriate support for the student based on needs can be something that we’ll need to discuss.

But we do want to just reiterate that we want to use the word disability from now on. Okay?

So based on the student needs is what derives the goals and what derives the services. This slide is very important because this is the foundation of what an IEP document will provide.

To start off, an IEP document is a legal document. It is an agreement between the district and the parents. And when I say district, I also say charter schools. I also say non-public schools because it is the local education area or school that is providing the support.

When we look at the evaluation for the student, the evaluation is the foundation of what creates the needs. Because this evaluation has the data through the assessments, the grades, any type of observations, parent reports.

That is how the district is able to gather the needs of the student, based on these needs, which again, the evaluation is a whole process. That’s something that we covered in the other two trainings. The evaluation is a process that has to look at all these areas.

Through this data is how we come to goals. So based on the areas of need, what are the goals now? The areas of need has to be educationally related. Education is not just academics. That’s one portion.

But we also talk about the social emotional support, the behavior, the daily living skills. As a preschool teacher, I can attest that a bathroom goal is something that is available to students, and if it’s a need, then it is going to be a goal.

So based on these needs is how we create the SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, but also ambitious, relevant, and time bound.

It can be something vague like Andrea will be able to read by the end of second grade, for example. That doesn’t give me any specific information. It doesn’t tell me when that goal may be achieved, maybe second grade.

But what level, when you say reading, what do you mean? Especially if the student, let’s say, is in kindergarten reading level. What does that mean? How, why? It doesn’t give me enough information.

So that goal itself is not SMART. So we do wanna look at these goals. Based on the goals that are SMART, that’s how we derive the services.

The services have to be individualized for the student. They have to be based on what specific accommodations they need, what type of related services, what type of therapists are going to be supporting the student, occupational therapy, speech therapy.

Is there going to be a behaviorist in the classroom? Then there should be a behavior goal. So that is how it goes. Needs derives goals, derives services.

And then we talk about this placement. Placement is where will the student receive the supports to meet their goals? It could be in a gen ed classroom, it can be in a special day class, or it could be in a non-public school.

But we always start in the gen ed first because students are gen ed first. Regardless if they have a disability or what type of disability they have, we need to see if they cannot meet their goals in a gen ed classroom, then why can they not meet it?

Why is it not appropriate? Then let’s go forth and look at a special day class. How does this special day class will be able to make sure that the student is able to meet their goals?

What is different about the special day class that is appropriate? That is a placement.

And I do see a question in the chat. Again, I will look at those in a later moment.

So why do schools evaluate? First of all, it’s a requirement. It’s under Child Find, and this is the educational code. If you want to ever look at it, you can. You will receive these slides too, by the way.

You can Google it and you will find this exact thing. Every school, every district needs to evaluate a student based on suspected disability. So they do have that obligation.

And I’m not saying known disability, I’m saying suspected disability. The student can be attending the school, right? Of the district.

I am going to say, just for example’s sake, Berkeley, right? So Berkeley needs to look at all the students in the school to see who are we missing?

There might be some student who we need to evaluate because there might be a suspected disability, that this disability does not allow them to access their education.

But what if the student goes to a private school? They still need to meet that requirement. They need to actively look for students.

What if the student is not attending a school at all? What if they’re in maybe, let’s say homeschool? Then they still need to look at what student needs the support, and they need to evaluate.

Once they evaluate, they can make the offer if the student is eligible to receive special education supports through an Individualized Education Program.

So they do have that requirement to make sure that they’re identifying, they’re locating and they’re evaluating the students. And this is just something to keep in mind that they do have that obligation.

Parents are usually the ones to come to the district and say, hey, I have a concern. I would like my student to be evaluated either for a 504 plan or an IEP document. Right?

And I will just cover this a little bit. I’m not going full in depth, but I will cover that the 504 plan, that is a plan so a student can receive accommodations and they can receive supports. It’s not as data driven as an IEP document.

Students who receive a 504 plan are usually in a gen ed class, and they’re receiving some type of accommodation based on their disability.

So for example, if a student has ADHD and is unable to focus in a very large classroom that’s noisy, then maybe the accommodation will be to have a noise canceling earphones for the student.

Or let’s say they have a lot of anxiety, and especially when they take tests. Okay, well, the student as an accommodation can receive some, maybe, let’s say the accommodation can be a separate classroom that is quiet with the supervision of a teacher.

So those are usually what the 504 plan has. The 504 plan does not have to be in writing. It’s best practice if it is, but it’s not required.

The 504 plan team can be the teacher, the principal, the parent, et cetera, and they can gather and have a meeting on what’s working, what’s not, and how to change this 504 plan.

But it’s not required for the parent to be in a 504 meeting. It can just be the teacher and the principal. And that’s the meeting.

With the IEP document is very specific. Districts must always have the parent in the meeting, in the IEP meeting to be more exact.

If the parent is not in this IEP meeting, it cannot go forth. Unless the district has made several attempts to contact the parent, and the parent is not responsive, then they can make the argument, well, we are having this meeting because it’s the annual meeting.

We need to make sure we have it. The parent is unresponsive, so we’re just gonna go ahead and have the meeting.

However, if the parent is unable to go to the meeting and they’re very responsive, then they would have to reschedule based on the parents’ needs.

So it’s a very specific, as opposed to a 504 plan. The district must also consider all areas of suspected disability. As mentioned, it’s not just the academics. It can be social emotional, it can be vocational, it can be behavioral, it can be a lot of areas.

The district has 13 categories to go off by. These 13 categories don’t have to necessarily be exact. It’s an umbrella term in order to determine if the student will qualify under that eligibility. And again, there are 13 categories.

So for example, if we have emotional disturbance as one of the categories, emotional disturbance can be many things. It can be depression, it can be anxiety, but how does that anxiety and depression under the category emotional disturbance, get in the way of the student accessing their education?

Again, if the student is having great grades, they’re moving on from year to year. It sounds like the academic portion does not affect the education piece.

But what if the student is, doesn’t have any friends, is unable to finish their homework on time and is unable to participate in the classroom because their confidence is very low?

Then we can say, yes, it is affecting them educationally, is affecting them vocationally, it’s affecting them social emotionally, and it’s also affecting them when it comes to their access to education overall.

So it just has to be in the 13 categories that are right here. This is the areas of eligibility. Again, I won’t go over them. This is just for you to know that these are the 13 categories, and they’re just umbrella terms. It doesn’t have to be very specific.

So for example, let’s say autism, the district does not diagnose because they’re not medical professionals. They are educational professionals.

So they will often say phrases such as we notice that the student presents itself as if a student has autism or we suspect.

So they use very specific words because they will never say we diagnose a student with autism or intellectual disability or other health impairment.

And in that umbrella term, other health impairment is downs syndrome, ADHD.

So again, these are just umbrella terms to realize, okay, the student fits under this eligibility. So they just have to meet one eligibility criteria. It can be multiple.

As a special education teacher, I would have the IEP document where it said primary suspected disability, let’s just say autism, and then secondary suspected disability, speech learning disability. Okay?

So in special education, they cannot assume disabilities. If there’s depression or anxiety, they cannot just make that assumption. They do have to evaluate.

There could be a suspected disability, again, but just because a student presents itself with symptoms of depression or anxiety or learning disability doesn’t necessarily mean that they might qualify under an IEP document.

And even if the parent has a diagnosis of let’s say, depression or anxiety disorder, that still does not mean that it’s automatically guaranteeing an IEP document.

The district still needs to evaluate to determine if their known disability is getting in the way of their education.

Again, so one example that I had is a student who was medically diagnosed with autism. He was evaluated for an IEP document, but his autism didn’t present itself in getting in the way of accessing the education.

Therefore, the student did not qualify.

So even if they do have this medical diagnosis, it does need to pertain to how does this disability, either known disability or suspected disability, get in the way of accessing their education?

This is how you request an initial evaluation. Always in writing, I would like you to remember everything in writing, hence forth.

If there’s a concern, let’s put it in writing. If there’s a call from the principal stating that there’s a concern, let’s have that in writing.

Even if you talk to them on the phone, if the teacher stopped the parent in the hallway, let’s go ahead and capture that in writing what the teacher stated their concerns are, because we just want to make sure we are keeping a record of the concerns.

Also, we have a saying here at the Parent Training Information Center of DREDF. If it was never written, it was never said, it was never done. So it never happened.

So let’s just make sure everything in writing hence forth, especially with evaluations, the parent has the right to request an evaluation even verbally.

So let’s say you are telling me, Ms. Andrea, I would like to have my student be evaluated for an IEP. I as a teacher can start documenting, okay, parent requested an IEP evaluation.

Then we need to give you what’s called the assessment plan that I will talk about in a little bit.

So as the school staff, I have that obligation to write it, but please don’t depend on the school staff to do so.

You do need to follow up in writing, and you can even say, I informed Ms. Andrea, you, that I wanted my student to be evaluated for an IEP evaluation. I’m just following up with writing, because now you have something in writing.

So it is always best practice to make sure everything in writing.

If you want a 504 plan, you do have to let them know specifically, I want a 504 plan evaluation as opposed to a, sorry, Individualized Education Program evaluation.

This can be sent to the principal.

I would say for parents, it’s very important to include the special education teacher. If the student, or actually if I’m hearing initial, I’m sorry, it would be the gen ed teacher.

Include the principal, and if you wish, you can include the special education director of the district just so you have other pair of eyes looking at your request, especially if there could be maybe somebody missed that email for whatever reason.

We all get busy, so let’s go ahead and just have several pair of eyes looking at my requests. Therefore, there isn’t any unnecessary delay.

One thing that can occur is the district may say, and by district, I mean school is the same. They’re providing the support.

They may say, well, we hear your concern and we hear your request, but let’s try a multi-tiered system of support because, let’s just see what happens. How does this support the student?

The multi-tiered system of support is a gen ed implementation. It can be a great resource for students if they are, let’s say, maybe they need a little bit more support. They’re a few levels behind, but not significantly.

So let’s go ahead and implement that.

However, a multi tiered system of support, MTSS, is not a halter, it is not halting the evaluations. It’s not something of, let’s try this, and then if it doesn’t work, now let’s go ahead and evaluate the student.

This district still needs to evaluate the student under IDEA for an IEP evaluation. Do remember that even students who have great grades may qualify for an IEP document, especially if there are other concerns there.

The other thing that I hear is student, oh my god, I feel like I can’t speak today for some reason, but students study team, there you go. And there’s so many acronyms. So student study team, again, it’s another way of implementing support in the gen ed curriculum, but it’s not a form of halting the IEP evaluation. They can do it by all means. Anything that support the students the better.

But I do just wanna caution you from, if there’s statements that said, well, let’s go ahead and try this first, and then we’ll go ahead and do an evaluation. Make sure that you can do it. But I still requested an IEP evaluation, so I do have the expectation for you to provide an assessment plan within 15 calendar days, different than business days. 15 calendar days is Saturday, Sunday as well.

And once you make that request, the district has those 15 calendar days to give you the assessment plan, and I will show you an example of the assessment plan in a few, but do keep in mind that the district might take all 15 calendar days to give you that assessment plan.

Once you sign the assessment plan, the district has 60 calendar days to finish the IEP evaluation. They can take less than those 60 days, or they can take all 60 days. The one thing to know is that if the district has a break in between, for example, we are now going to have Thanksgiving break. These timelines do stop. So the 15 days and then the 60 days, they do halt for a bit.

Also, if your student has a, the family, IFSP, Individualized Family Support Plan, I think it’s correct. Again, too many acronyms sometimes. But if the student has an IFSP, which again, it’s another program that supports students from zero to three, usually what occurs afterwards is that they will have another evaluation to determine, okay, well, what does a student need now in preschool, so this usually happens in the third birthday, and the evaluation will be composed of various data, including assessments, and then the 30 calendar days kicks in when you’re requesting an IEP meeting.

Again, when you request an IEP meeting because there are concerns or there are some issues that you’re noticing, do keep in mind there’s no such thing as an emergency IEP meeting. The district just has the obligation to have an IEP meeting within the 30 days that you requested. And again, these timelines just stop when there’s more than six days that are going to be out on holiday. So again, the breaks is when more than six school days when they’re out. So Thanksgiving break, winter break, et cetera.

Here’s the example of an assessment plan. As you can see here, we have the name of the student. What is going to be the assessments that they will be conducting. It will be an initial, because the parent requested the initial one. Sometimes they do also eligibility evaluation, which is done every three years for the student who has an IEP.

Transition is when they’re 16 years and older. Sometimes it would say eligibility check, I’m sorry, eligibility evaluation check, and then transition check because the student is now in the third year, and the transition also needs to be done.

The transition evaluation is part of the IEP. So it’s just observations instead of, again, data to inform the student and the parent and the rest of the team. What does the student need to access their education?

The other could be the parent just wants an assess, I’m sorry, they want an evaluation because there might be some concerns. And it can fall between the three year mark.

Here, do be aware that these are the checklist of the assessments that are part of the evaluation. So again, academic achievement. Who’s going to conduct that? Special education teacher, health, school district nurse, intellectual development, school psychologist. Sometimes the academic achievement is also school psychologist. That can be fine.

The language, speech, communication development, speech language pathologist, et cetera.

One thing I do want you to know is that, let’s say for motor development, right, which is the occupational therapist is usually the occupational therapist who conducts that assessment. Well, what if instead of occupational therapist assessed, school psychologist, I want you to really ponder on that because it’s usually an occupational therapist. And my experience as a teacher is, well, what if that person is not knowledgeable in that area?

They do need to be knowledgeable in the area that they’re assessing. So do look at this assessment carefully, whether you’re requesting an initial IEP evaluation or a triannual, to make sure that number one, all the areas of suspected disability are included. And two, if the correct assessors, or I don’t wanna say correct, but if the appropriate assessors are the ones doing the assessments, and then here you sign, you date, you give it back.

But another tip that I have for you is make sure you take a picture. Once you sign it and you date it, take a picture to make sure you have any type of receipt. If you’re going to turn it in and you want somebody to sign it, let’s say the school secretary, or you want the teacher to sign, hey, can you just sign that you received it somewhere, maybe here in the corner? That could be another way for as approved that this was received as well.

Because again, as soon as you turn this in, this takes 15 days. It can be up to 15 days that the district provides you with such a document. Once you turn this in, once you sign it, once you sign it, you’re saying, I am in agreement that the district will do these assessments. Then the 60 days start.

Okay, so before consenting, you want to make sure you look at, do I agree with the assessments that are going to be conducted? I also want to know what kind of standardized method are they using? I want to know, are they going to make observations? Are they just going to look at records? So you do wanna ask these questions.

You want to also maybe know if the professional is able to do such assessments. Do they have an experience with the assessments? Do they have experience with the age of the student that they’re assessing? Is this culturally aware? Is this ethically, I can’t say that word, racially aware. And is this made in the student’s language? So if the student speaks a language other than English, then maybe the data won’t be as accurate if it was done, if the assessment was conducted in the language that the student speaks.

So you do wanna think about all those things. Also, is the student nonverbal, how will they get that communication from the student? So you do wanna just kind of ask these questions. Okay?

Oh, one more. Okay. We did discuss about education eligibility and then medical diagnosis. And again, the district does not diagnose, they’re not doctors, but they can always consider the medical diagnosis from a medical professional. This is just another form of data that they can receive that can be very helpful for them to know what are the needs of the students.

Again, the parent does not have to provide a medical diagnosis in order for a student to have an IEP evaluation done. So the district does request that from you. The response may be, well, I’m hearing that you want a medical diagnosis. Which medical professional would you be directing me to? Because again, there’s no need for a medical diagnosis because this is based on education.

So the district has the obligation to look at what are the blocks or what’s getting in the way of the student accessing the education? Nothing to do with the medical because they’re not a hospital, but again, they can consider this information to support the rest of the team in how to support the student, because that’s what this is about. We want to know exactly how we as a team can collaborate and support the student in a very appropriate manner.

Now, if the student has outside support, maybe let’s say a psychologist that they’re seeing on a regular basis, the psychologist can be invited to the IEP meeting in order to observe and also to say their piece of what they realize is something that support the students. A social worker that is part also of the maybe supporting the student. They can also be there, the doctor, anybody who can support any other information necessary for the student can be in the IEP meeting.

Again, the district will consider that information, but it doesn’t have to be, it doesn’t have to be an obligation that the parent has to bring a medical diagnosis. Okay?

So we have some here of medical therapy versus educational services. We have physical therapy, which is long-term care, health and wellbeing, any type of pain. So the student can receive some type of physical therapy, usually outside the district because they will not provide that.

But then, let’s see, the speech therapy, if there’s a medical need to address developmental appropriate milestones that are speech after the illness, then if the student cannot pronounce a certain sound, then the district will have to do that assessment for speech to determine if the student qualifies, and then what kind of support will they need.

So again, one thing that I think about is education and need. How does the student going to access the school? If they are unable to access a playground, what is that going to look like?

So we do wanna just look at, we can look at both, the medical needs and the educational needs and how they’re going together in supporting the student in the school. But again, the district is the one who needs to still evaluate to make sure that they’re providing the appropriate support, even with the recommendations from a medical provider.

These are some of the components of the evaluations. The district must, they can implement all of these components, observations, parent interviews, which I think are very important because again, if you’re the parent of the student here in this training, you are the most important member of that IEP team.

Any private service provider, teacher interviews, great examples. And then they gather all this information to realize, well, what are the students’ needs? What are their present levels? Which you will find in the IEP documents that is divided in different sections such as the academic, social emotional, speech, et cetera.

Those are the present levels. And how do those present levels derive the needs? The needs derive the goals? The goals derive the services? Okay?

All areas of suspected disability can be executive functioning, self-advocacy and other areas of concern. And the reason why we have this list here is because again, we just want to state that academics is not the only thing that is getting in the way of accessing the education.

It can also be time management, it can be emotional regulation, it can be self-advocacy, such as how do we have some coping strategies and other areas like self-care and behavior. What is that going to look like?

If there’s a student who has a hard time self-regulating, then that sounds like a need, then let’s make a goal out of it. How is this goal going to support the student to be able to, you know, just go ahead and have these coping strategies in the moment to support them so they can self-regulate?

If there’s a goal with that, then there’s going to be a service, right? So who will provide that service? Is it going to be the special education teacher? Is it going to be a therapist in the school? Is it going to be, who? Who will be providing that support, right?

Is it going to be the one-on-one aid if that’s applicable for that student’s need? And what is that going to look like? Then that’s how we’re going to look at the goals, right?

So if we have a goal that says, Andrea will be able to self-regulate by using different strategies, A, B, C, and they list the strategies with the help of the one-on-one aid, and by December 2025, then that is very specific. Or let’s say even more specific, December 15th, 2025, then that gives you an exact look on what that’s going to look like and who will be the service provider. It sounds like the one-on-one aid.

So they will have a one-on-one aid. And then the question I would have who will train that one-on-one aid to be able to support the student with their coping strategies? And since they’re a service provider, how often will they be there? And then where will they be providing the service? Gen ed class, special day class? What is that going to look like?

Another thing that I just want to mention is do be aware that if there is a need, there has to be that goal, okay? If it’s not written in the IEP, it will not be implemented. If it’s not a goal, it will not be implemented.

I have an example of a parent that I talked to a few years back who said, the district stated my student will benefit from having circle time in the gen ed class. But they told me that, you know, they try many, many times and he’s just not staying in the gen ed class and circle time, not even five minutes.

So, you know, I mean that’s something that we discussed, but it sounds like it’s not working. Then my question is, okay, you’re telling me that they’re not doing it, right? And my next question would be, is this a goal?

Because if they’re saying we see that need, it needs to be a goal. Otherwise, again, we don’t want to go back to that we’re doing you a favor mindset. Oh, well look, we’re taking this child to the gen ed class but you know, they can’t do it, then let’s make a goal out of that.

The student will be able to stay in the gen ed class and circle time for no less than five minutes with implementing some strategies. So they’re able to retain attention, such as getting a squishy toy or a fidget spinner or maybe a bubble seat with the support of the one-on-one aid by December 15th, 2025.

So now I created a goal based on the need, and again, who’s the service provider, the one-on-one aid.

I do want you guys to just realize that it does have to be a goal in order for it to be a service. The district cannot say, hey, you know, we noticed that the student needs speech therapy, but we don’t have a speech therapist, so we’re just not going to provide that service because we don’t have it.

No, you’re going to have to find the speech therapist. Maybe you will have to contract elsewhere or you will have to figure out how to get the speech therapist. But if there’s a need, now we need to make a goal because now the goal derives the service. I feel that’s exactly the timeline.

And then let’s discuss placement. All right, so now let’s talk about some advocacy strategies that you can take with you tonight.

You want to get a copy of the list and organization chart that you’re working with. Again, I do just want you to know that here in the state of California, there is that direct timeline of 15 calendar days for the assessment plan. As soon as you sign it, now we have 60 days, but you do wanna know who is a chain of command.

I can tell you that it’s the principal of the school because they’re supervising, right? The whole school. But sometimes the principal might not have the knowledge in special education, not because they don’t want to, but it can be that they probably didn’t receive the training or they’re new.

As a previous teacher, I can tell you sometimes we have revolving principles, revolving administrators, and that can create that lack of consistency.

So if this principal, this administrator does not know that information, then we go up, it can be the special education program specialist. And if that person is not supporting us, let’s go up once more. Then let’s go ahead and talk to the special education director of the district.

If that person’s not supporting us, let’s go up even more. Let’s go to the SELPA, which is the special education local plan area, a director who can support us. So that is a chain of command, but it will be very beneficial for you to know that chain of command.

The other strategy that I would like you to know is to please follow that chain of command because you do want to work with the team that you have right in your school.

If you go to the upper chain of command, let’s say you go to the SELPA director, I have some parents who were taken back to the program specialist, but if the parent says, hey, you know, I already talked to the program specialist, I already talked to the special education director, now this is why I’m talking to you.

Then the SELPA director will realize, okay, something there was not being supportive, let’s go ahead and see how I can support you.

And if you want any other type of additional resources, we can always give you those resources. You can ask your district.

The next thing that I would say after the SELPA would be to consider ADR, which is alternative dispute resolution, which can be a meeting with the SELPA director and talk about how you can meet halfway. So to make sure that the student is receiving the appropriate support.

Maybe have a facilitated IEP meeting in which you are telling the SELPA, S-E-L-P-A, special education local plan area director, that you want someone from the SELPA to come and facilitate the IEP meetings. Because maybe at this point, we are not really understanding each other, we’re not collaborating, and let’s go back to that collaboration harmony.

So if that is something that can be very beneficial for you, definitely consider it. Because again, the fastest way to approach any issues is within the district itself.

You can always have the right to file a compliance complaint with the California Department of Education. Absolutely. And we can give you those resources. Just be aware that they may take up to 60 days to do an investigation and to see if the district is out of compliance.

You can also file a discrimination complaint with the Offices of Civil Rights, but they don’t have a timeline. So unfortunately we don’t really know when they will get back to you. Maybe they will get back to you less than a month, maybe even more.

Now, another strategy that I would like you to know is to please learn the policies of your district too. Especially when I hear things like, we don’t do that here in this district. I would like to see that policy in writing.

Oh, we don’t allow students to chew gum in our classroom. Can I please see that policy in writing?

If there’s a policy in writing, then you know that they’re not just saying no because they want to say no, there is that policy. But even if there is a policy, I would go back to say, well, we’re going to discuss my student.

The student has an Individualized Education Program for a reason. So how can we support this student individually? Right?

The other thing to know is that any federal law, which is the IDEA law, supersedes state and local code. So again, that’s the individualized piece, through the IDEA is how you have that IEP document.

And again, I really wish I can say this is the fastest track to resolve an issue. Unfortunately, we don’t have that. I would, you know, give you all your options and let you know all your rights, but this is definitely a marathon.

There is no magic wand to make things go as fast as I wish it would, and I’m pretty sure you definitely wish it would. But I will give you the support and the resources and the tools to navigate this because it can be something in the long haul.

Now, the other strategy that, again, I cannot stress this enough, always, always document it. That is your best friend, documentation really is your best friend. Make sure you have it in writing.

You can request the student records with the district. It should definitely be in writing. Here in California, the district has five business days to give you all educational records of the student if you’re requesting them. That also includes any incident reports.

And if the district does not have any incident reports for whatever reason, you can also document that incident report, excuse me, and put that in the student record.

You can always request and should request the IEP meeting in writing if there’s any concerns. ‘Cause again, no such thing as emergency IEP meetings. The district has 30 calendar days to have within the time they receive your written request, to have an IEP meeting.

They can take a few days, a few weeks, or all 30 days, as long as they’re within those 30 days, they’re in compliance. And these 30 days can be even longer if we have a holiday vacation time, like Thanksgiving that’s coming up, or the winter, we have the two weeks. Okay?

If you are planning to audio record the IEP meeting, let them know in writing within 24 hours in advance. If you want to use Otter AI as a form of audio recording, that also has writing as well. You can use that as well. But again, just let them know within 24 hours in advance.

What I like about Otter AI, even though AI is not perfect, is that it definitely does audio record it and it transcribes it. So again, maybe some things might not be super exact, but it does give you that written report that you get to have.

Always have copies of the IEP. The most recent IEP assessments and forms. The way I like to organize things is by the oldest to the newest. And that way just helps me see the trajectory of what’s working and how have things changed for the students.

And here are some questions that you can ask. So you can collaborate with the district and of course to maybe get some answers.

I like, my favorite one is, you’re proposing this service and accommodation goal. Why are you proposing it? Right? Or if you’re denying an accommodation and goal, why is there this denial?

And if you’re denying any accommodation, support, service, I would like to receive a prior written notice. A prior written notice is essentially a response to the denial in writing and why they’re denying it.

It can’t just be because we said so and we don’t want to provide the support. It has to be very specific data of what was being requested, why is it being denied, and what is the district doing essentially to come to that conclusion.

If they’re denying something, then I’m hearing that things are working out okay. So what is the data to make that determination that everything’s working and therefore this denial?

And then how does, you know, let’s say these specific, you know, service provider help my child meet their goals? How does X, Y, and Z address the need we identified in the present levels?

And again, one of my favorites, can you show me a copy of the policy in writing, please? And I would like to receive it without unnecessary delay.

All right, so with that, I’m going to do two things. I’m going to stop the recording.

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