| IDEA/IEP Evaluation Process
Before any child with a disability can receive special education
or an Individualized Education Program (IEP),
an initial evaluation of the child, also known as a pre-placement
evaluation, must be conducted. This evaluation must meet the requirements
of IDEA’s regulations. Written consent by the disabled child’s
parent must be obtained for the evaluation to be conducted.
 Pre-Evaluation
There are two ways in which your child can be selected
to receive an evaluation:
-
You may request your child’s evaluation by calling or
writing to the Director of Special Education or the Principal
of his/her school. If the school district suspects that your
child has a disability, your child must be evaluated. If they
refuse to evaluate your child because they don’t suspect
that your child has a disability, you must be given a written
notice of the refusal and a full explanation of why it was refused.
This notice must also give you a full explanation of the safeguards
available to parents under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), including your
right to challenge the school district’s refusal by requesting
an impartial due process hearing;
-
Or, the school may request to evaluate your child. Based on
a teacher’s recommendation, or observations from tests
given to all children in the same grade, a school may recommend
a child for further assessment to determine if he/she needs
special education and related services. If it looks like your
child needs further testing, the school must tell you. As a
parent, you must give written permission before the school can
evaluate your child.
Evaluation Process
The regulations involved with your child’s evaluation
are very specific.
- Evaluations must be conducted by a group of persons, called
a multidisciplinary team that may consist of:
- At least one teacher or other specialist who is knowledgeable
about the condition, which makes the child disabled;
- a school psychologist,
- a Speech and language pathologist,
- an Occupational or physical therapist,
- an adaptive physical education therapist,
- medical specialists,
- educational diagnosticians,
- or classroom teachers
- Regulations also require that no single procedure be used as
the sole measure for determining the proper program for the disabled
child. And, the child must be assessed in all areas related to
the suspected disability. This includes evaluating a child’s:
- health;
- vision;
- hearing;
- social and emotional status;
- general intelligence;
- academic performance;
- communicative status; and
- motor abilities.
School districts must be sure the tests they use are not racially
or culturally biased against the child. This provision of the law
helps prevent children of different backgrounds from misdiagnosis.
For example, children’s cultural backgrounds may affect their
behavior or test responses in ways the review personnel do not understand.
Similarly, if a child speaks another language with limited English
proficiency, he/she may not understand directions or words on tests
and may not be able to respond correctly. As a result, a child may
mistakenly appear to be a slow learner or to have a communication
problem. To prevent this, the law states that tests and other evaluation
materials given to the child during the evaluation process must
be provided and administered in the child’s native language
or through another mode of communication comfortable to that child’s
background.
In keeping with the requirements mentioned above, then, the multidisciplinary
team must collect information about your child from a variety of
sources, which could include you, the parent. In addition to testing,
the evaluation process may include:
- observations by professionals who have worked with your child;
- your child’s medical history, how it is relevant to his/her
performance in school; and
- information about your child’s school experience; abilities,
needs, and behavior outside of school, and his/her feelings about
school.
The Results
If the parents of the disabled child disagree with the
results of the performed evaluation by the school, they have the
right to obtain an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). This
means that you can request that a qualified examiner conduct another
evaluation of your child. The examiner may not be involved in any
way with the school. School districts generally maintain a list
of qualified examiners and clinics that meet the State’s standards.
They are required to tell parents, upon request, where an IEE is
obtained. If the public agency maintains such a list, parents are
not limited to the examiners on the list, if they can prove or justify
another examiner.
Who Pays?
Some of the IEEs are at public expense; others are paid for by the
parents. For example, if you are the parent of a disabled child
and you disagree with the school’s evaluation, you may request
an IEE at public expense. The school district may grant this request
and cover the charges. Or, it may initiate a hearing to show that
its own evaluation was appropriate. If the final decision of the
hearing is that the school’s evaluation was appropriate, then
you still have the right to an IEE, but not at public expense. But,
if the hearing officer request an IEE, it must be at public expense.
Of course, you always have the right for your child to be independently
evaluated at your own expense. However, if you pay for the independent
evaluation around the same time as the other evaluations, the validity
of the results tend to be weakened. Whenever an IEE is publicly
funded, that IEE must meet the same criteria that the school district
uses when it initiates an evaluation.
Whoever pays for the IEE, the school district should consider the
results when making any decisions about the special educational
program of the disabled child. Results of the IEE may also be presented
as evidence at a hearing regarding the child.
How are the Results Used?
The information gathered from the tests will be examined to determine
your child’s needs for his/her special education services.
The school system then holds a meeting to consider these. They are
not required to invite the parent to this eligibility meeting. However,
if you do attend, your child’s assessment will be explained.
The specialists who assessed your child will explain the tests,
why they used them, the results, and how your child’s scores
compare to other children in the same grade. Regardless of whether
you attend the meeting, you must be notified as to its outcome.
If the results show that your child meets the definitions of IDEA’s
disabilities, and needs special education services, this will form
the basis of your child’s Individualized Education Program
(IEP).
Future Evaluations
Evaluations are placed again if the need arises. The first evaluation
your child goes through is called a pre-placement evaluation. The
next series of evaluations must be conducted at least every three
years after placement in special education services. This is called
a triennial evaluation. Re-evaluations can be conducted if the circumstances
find it necessary, or if the special education teacher requests
it.
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