02/16/2012
YOUR CHILD’S RIGHT TO SPECIAL EDUCATION
How to get Around Your District’s “Confuse, Delay, and Deny” Strategy to
Keep Your Child from Getting Special Education and Related Services
As if understanding your rights as a parent of a child with learning problems were not difficult enough, school districts throughout the country are denying children their federal rights under both Child Find (www.childfindidea.org/) and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (http://idea.ed.gov) in order to save money. The vehicle for denial, the school administrator’s friend, is called Response to Intervention (Rti). And it’s legal!
According to Wikipedia,“response to intervention (commonly abbreviated RTI or Rti) is a method of academic intervention used in the United States to provide early, systematic assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. RTI seeks to prevent academic failure through early intervention, frequent progress measurement, and increasingly intensive research-based instructional interventions for children who continue to have difficulty. It is believed that students who do not show a response to effective interventions are likely (or, more likely than students who respond) to have biologically-based learning disabilities and to be in need of special education.”
A recent article entitled, “New Strategy to Keep Kids Out of Special Ed” (http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2008/07/25/new-strategy-to-keep-kids-out-of-special-ed?page=2 ) describes many of the difficulties with the Rti approach to identifying children. For instance, implementing Rti strategies is very difficult in schools with limited resources. There are three levels of intervention. In order for an intervention to be evaluated, it must be implemented with “fidelity” (faithfulness). Outcomes of interventions must be the result of copious data collection and progress monitoring. There is no flexibility. Some worry that RTI techniques overwhelm individual teachers who have to implement all aspects of the program by themselves for each of their students—data collection, interventions, and data analysis—on top of everyday instruction. And many staff members are not sufficiently trained in Rti in order to administer and evaluate outcomes of interventions.
Instead of spending limited resources on special education, IDEA allows districts to spend up to 15% of their special education funds on Rti – that’s 15% taken away from those who are truly in need of specially designed instruction. Those who are believers in the Rti model do not believe that any standardized testing is necessary. So children do not get IQ tests or Standardized Achievement Testing until Tier 3 if at all! Rti is not diagnostic. It is trial and error. It can take months or even years of experimentation with interventions in reading, doing math, or written expression to address delays before they become “significant” enough for further evaluation.
I have had cases as an educational advocate where parents have tried to exercise their rights to have a comprehensive evaluation performed on their child because of concerns about learning or school behaviors. In one case a child with documented medical conditions indicating the need for special education, speech and language support, physical therapy, and occupational therapy was given a “wait and see” approach to intervention even though the child had an IEP from another district. The parent had to retain an attorney to remind the district of their legal responsibilities under special education law. I had another couple who were given the run around by the building principal – schmoozed, confused, and assured that the child was doing as well as her peers (which isn’t saying much in many failing public schools) and so there was nothing to worry about. She was being monitored under Rti. Two years later, the child was identified for special education with a specific learning disability in Reading Comprehension and she was 2 years behind her grade level.
Bottom line? You have a LEGAL RIGHT to have a Comprehensive Evaluation performed on your child within 60 calendar days of the district’s receipt of a signed permission to evaluate. If you think your child has a learning disability or any other condition that impacts on her education, go to the building principal, insist on having an evaluation in writing and don’t leave without signing a Permission to Evaluate Form. Make sure you take a copy with you before you leave.
And IF you get the run around, call me. I’ll get it done.
Welcome to the Child Find web site! This site offers information and resources related to the earliest possible identification of young children and their families who may benefit from early intervention or education services.
