What if you disagree with your school districts evaluation of your child?
By Victoria Sanjuan, Special Education Advocate
Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE’s) are a very important resource for parents whose children have learning differences or social-emotional deficits. Unfortunately, most parents are not informed of their right to use them, and the regulations and laws for them are often mystified by the district. Districts have often set their own rules, which may or may not reflect Federal (IDEA) or State Regulations. Parents are routinely denied IEE’s due to districts’ and parents’ lack of knowledge of their rights. Not only are the laws very specific, but there is also substantial case law to clarify any questions that have arisen.
First, a parent is entitled to disagree and request an IEE for every formal special education evaluation that is given to their child. While it is wise to give the reasons a parent objects to the evaluation in the IEE letter, a parent does not have to state the reason or have a discussion with the district because of an IEE. Once given the IEE letter, a district may make one of two responses – grant the IEE or file due process defending their evaluation. It is rarely in the financial benefit for a district to deny an IEE as defending their evaluation costs much more than granting the evaluation.
There are certain criteria a district is allowed to impose on the IEE. These are very specific. First, they can set the geographical area of the evaluator. Secondly, they are allowed to set a cap on the cost of the evaluator. The financial cap that a district sets must match what they would have to pay in the area for an evaluation. It also must be the same as what the district has paid. Often a district sets a cap significantly lower than the rate of local evaluators. A parent has the right to know what the district has paid. This can be found either on school board website docs or by submitting a FOIL Request. Any request for a parent to pay for part of the evaluation through insurance is not legal and should be rejected by the parent. Thirdly, the district will expect that the credentials of the evaluator match the credentials of an evaluator that the district would use. This is rarely an issue which can cause problems in having an IEE granted. Both the financial cap and the restrictions of the geographical area can be waived, perhaps after a struggle, if a parent can prove that their case is complex and needs a special evaluator.
These are the only criteria a district may set. IDEA states that the district may not require any other criteria other than the 3 mentioned above. There are districts who request to have a CSE meeting to decide if they will grant an IEE. This is not in the regulations nor in the IDEA, and parents do not need to agree to a meeting where they must defend the IEE request against the CSE. There are also districts who wish to have discussions with the parents after an IEE request for further explanation. This also is not in the IDEA nor the NY State Regulations. This puts a parent in the uncomfortable place of defending their IEE request. A parent or advocate should redirect the district to the options they have been given – Grant or File.
Districts often argue that parents can only request an independent evaluation that is the same as the evaluation the district conducted. This is false. There are no NY State regulations or Federal laws that state that the IEE evaluation must be parallel to the district’s evaluations. Most norm-referenced tests can only be conducted a year apart; so, doing the same tests again would invalidate them. One of the requirements of a district evaluation is that they must test for all suspected disabilities. One reason for requesting an IEE is that the district failed to test a child for all disabilities, therefore the IEE’s scope would need to be bigger than the district’s evaluations. For example, a district can conduct a cognitive and academic assessment and find deficits but cannot diagnose Dyslexia, ADHD or Autism. In this case an IEE for a neuropsychological evaluation with a professional able to discover the underlying reasons for the deficits would be appropriate.
Once a parent receives the district’s evaluation and has had time to read it and consider it, a parent may request an IEE. Parents essentially have up until about a year or so after the evaluation to request an IEE. No other time set by a district is valid.
The IEE laws state that districts may, upon request, provide a list of evaluators in the area. Districts send this out as a list of approved evaluators, giving the impression that this is the list a parent must choose from. It is not. The evaluator for an IEE is chosen by the parent. Any evaluator meeting the three criteria set forth by the IDEA can be used. Once the parent notifies the district of their choice of evaluator, the district works with the evaluator, and a contract with the evaluator is approved. Then the evaluation takes place. Sometimes the districts ask the evaluator for their credentials and sometimes the evaluator has already worked in the district, in which case it is not needed.
There was a recent case that the districts are using to deny parents requests for neuropsychological evaluations as IEE’s. The interpretation of the districts is incorrect. The case decided whether a parent can request an IEE for an FBA as a stand-alone assessment. The case decided that an IEE cannot be requested for stand-alone assessments. Districts have stretched this decision way beyond its limit and are denying IEE’s that request a neuropsychological evaluation, stating that they are stand-alone assessments like FBA’s. This could not be further from the truth. A neuropsychological evaluation is a comprehensive group of assessments that are conducted and lead the evaluator to provide a diagnosis, a summary, and recommendations. It is much like an initial evaluation or a reevaluation, but it can delve deeper and find more answers for a child.
IEE’s are a very important tool for parents. Unfortunately, having one approved can be challenging. Part of the process is to be able to write an effective IEE request letter. The other part is (a.) to realize that the district only has two options and (b.) to have the strength to push the district to choose. Having an advocate support you in this process can be very beneficial.
