My 6 year old son has had an IEP since last year. Now the school wants to meet for an RTI. Is this correct – or should we be meeting to update the IEP?
NOT SO FAST!
The school cannot unilaterally discontinue your son’s special ed services unless you go along.
RTI is not special education, so it is not equivalent to nor a substitute for special education.
You need to educate yourself about legal requirements for eligibility – how these decisions are made – before you can be an effective advocate for your son.
Comprehensive Evaluation
Before the school determined that your child WAS eligible for special ed services, they were required to do a comprehensive evaluation and assess all areas of suspected disability.
Before the school can determine that your son is NOT eligible for special ed services, they are required to do a comprehensive evaluation and assess all areas of suspected disability.
- Has the school completed this comprehensive evaluation?
- Do you have a copy?
- Do you agree with the findings?
If you don’t agree, you may need to get an independent educational evaluation.
Please read this article about Terminating Eligibility.
You should also read Is RTI Equivalent to Special Education?
More Resources
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Video: Response to Intervention (RTI) for a child with a disability and whether RTI may be used to delay an evaluation of a child with special needs in order to determine if the child is eligible for an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
A school district wants to use RTI to meet SPED Minutes. I say no but can not find the law to support that decision. I am stating this because RTI is not special education services and the IEP schedule of services states inclusion services.
Every state has a Parent Training & Information project to help parents understand their rights and deal with situations like this. https://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/
Can the school give a student RTI for math when they already have an existing IEP for reading and writing?
I would say yes, if they believe RTI math services are appropriate for the child. If they are not effective, then the IEP team needs to provide specially designed (special ed) math services.
The school district in southern Ohio that my children attend is denying even starting an IEP evaluation of my daughter who is diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, ODD, and social anxiety which in turn affects her academics and offers no protection for her behavioral issues. Along with ADHD she has kleptomania. The school psychiatrist states the she cant even start the process because my daughter has missed 20 days of school in which she has doctors excuses for them. They claim that she has not had the appropriate classroom instruction. She keeps good grades but my wife and I have to work diligently to keep them up. It’s only getting harder for us to maintain her grades the further she gets in school. We have 3 other children, one of which is on an IEP for reading. We need help fighting the school.
I think school administration have some rules and regulations for every student but they must cooperate with you for your son’s betterment.