An initial evaluation can be requested by the school district or the parents. If you suspect that your child has a disability that is impacting his/her ability to learn or access an appropriate education, you can request a psycho-educational evaluation. The request should be sent to the school psychologist and the principal of your child’s school. The district will then send you a consent form that you must sign and return to the district. The district has 60 days from receipt of the signed consent to complete the evaluation and make a determination of whether your child is eligible for special education services.
Once your child has an IEP, he or she is re-evaluated by the district every three years. However, the law states that a reevaluation cannot be done more frequently than once a year and must be done at least every three years. Therefore, you, as a parent, can request a re-evaluation one year after the prior psycho-educational evaluation.
An evaluation should test for all suspected disabilities. It is helpful when you request an evaluation to state the reasons that make you concerned about your child. Typically, a psycho-educational evaluation contains a social history, a psychological evaluation, an educational evaluation and often a speech , occupational and/or physical therapy evaluation. These must be administered by evaluators who are qualified and trained in giving the evaluations. The evaluators need to use a variety of assessments, strategies and tools to ensure that they can produce an evaluation with relevant information and recommendations which can be used by the CSE committee to make decisions about special education services.
Districts have gotten in the habit of requiring their evaluators to leave the recommendations up to the CSE committee. This is not in accordance with the IDEA law on evaluations. The recommendation section is a part of a complete evaluation and serves a purpose. Without recommendations, the CSE, including the parents, is unable to make informed decisions about a student’s eligibility for special education or appropriate placement, goals and services.
