Does My Child Qualify for an IEP?
A Step by Step Guide to the Special Education Eligibility Process
As students head back to school, we have heard from parents and caregivers who are wondering what to do if they think their child might need an IEP. Some of these parents noticed things about their child’s progress last school year and want to get ahead of the new year. Some visited pediatricians or other service providers over the summer that recommended they reach out to the school. And the big question has been: Where do we even begin?
There is a clear process and timeline for determining whether or not a child is eligible for Special Education and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). That said, this can often be one of the hidden secrets of special education and a tricky process to navigate for parents and caregivers who have never done it before. We just hosted a 45 minute webinar on the topic last week and the recording can be found below!
45 minute webinar: Navigating the Special Education Eligibility Process: Referral to Initial Meeting.
That will give you a more in depth overview of the process from beginning to end. In the meantime, here are the things you absolutely need to know and the steps you need to take to get the ball rolling!
Referral Letter: You can initiate the process of finding out if your child is eligible through a referral letter that you send to the school principal, special education administrator, or identified team lead (Team Chairperson, LEA, etc.). Make sure to include if your child already has a diagnosis (like ASD or ADHD) or if you suspect a disability (and which one). Briefly talk about what in school and in the community seem challenging to them. And make sure you date the letter (or use email for the automatic time stamp).
Once the school receives your referral letter they should respond with a Consent Form within five days. This consent form outlines the evaluations they are proposing to conduct. The school cannot begin any of these evaluations without your signature! If there are any on there you do not want them to complete, just write that you reject that one and accept all others!
Once the school receives your signature on the consent form, they are required to complete the evaluations within thirty days. If you have questions throughout this part of the process or information to share with the team, do not hesitate to reach out to the school while you are waiting!
Within 45 days, the school is required to hold the eligibility meeting with you present. They should give you at least ten days' notice of the meeting. It is crucial that parents and caregivers be present at this meeting so if the day and time do not work for you, let the school know so that you can find a mutually agreeable time.
Ahead of the meeting, you should have time to review the reports of any of the evaluations completed. You can request them for up to 48 hours in advance. We recommend you go through them and bring any questions or comments you have to the meeting. You will have a chance to discuss your concerns at the meeting so that is a great time to bring up anything in the reports that did not make sense or that you are wondering about.
At the meeting, the team will go through all of the evaluations and then determine if your child is eligible for special education by the following criteria: If they have a disability, if they are making effective progress in school, and if they are not making progress if it is a result of their disability. If the team determines that YES your child is eligible for special education and requires an Individualized Education Plan, one will be discussed and drafted right after the meeting and sent to you for review (within ten days).
If the team, including you, determine that your child is not eligible for special education, there are other steps that you and the school can take to ensure that your child is getting what they need. This will be covered more in depth in a later post!
So what happens next? The school team should keep you updated at least quarterly with progress reports on your child’s individual goals. Your child’s IEP will be reviewed annually. Take a look at our blog on what to expect at these meetings here: What to Expect. And then, every three years a Reevaluation will take place with new data and an opportunity to determine if your child remains eligible.
There are so many aspects of Special Education and of your child’s IEP that we could not possibly cover in one blog post! Still have questions or want to chat further about going through the eligibility process?
We offer a FREE 20 minute consultation to see if working with us would be a good fit. You can sign up here and pick a day and time that works for you: Schedule Here
Good luck and welcome back to school!
