Julie: When a child is made eligible for special education services, there is a place on our
documentation which allows participants to agree or disagree. We have been told that a parent does not need to check agree/disagree if the eligibility category is anything other than SLD. Is this the case?
Julie: I may not understand your question.
Per federal special ed law, there are two occasions when parents must give their informed written consent:
#1. before the initial evaluation to determine if their child is eligible for special ed, and
#2. before the initial IEP is implemented
It sounds like your question is about the second scenario – after the evaluation but before the initial IEP is implemented – but I may not understand.
Parents must provide their informed consent before the school can implement the initial IEP. The child’s disability category is irrelevant to this requirement.
I can only speak for my state (Wisconsin). What you have been told is correct–there is no “agree/disagree” signature page for team members to sign if the eligibility category is anything other than SLD.
Our son is 3, has DS and just starting preschool. In a similar question, in our initial IEP the school psych qualified our son for services with a primary eligibility of Intellectual Disability and a secondary of Speech and Language. We disagreed with his primary eligibility requesting they choose Established Medical Disability instead. After several IEP conversations, she indicated she’s not sure if she can change his eligibility qualification without reassessment. She said she’d ask. Now I’m trying to do my homework too. Can eligibilty category change without reassessing? Thank you for your time.
Doubtful because you would need to prove why the Intellectual Disability is no longer appropriate.
Lourdes, even if we never agreed to the eligibility in the first place? We agreed with placement and services, but not eligibility qualification.
There may be a timeline for challenging decisions or proposed decisions You can request an IEP meeting and request additional testing. You can request that the district pay for an independent educational evaluation, if they say that diagnosis still fits.