Nicole: My 4 year old son was receiving “push in” itinerant speech services at his private preschool in our old school district (which was located in a different district).
We recently moved into a new school district half way through the year. The new district will not offer the same services. They tell me they do not provide transportation for itinerant services either. Their offer of services would require that we leave during the work day to transport my child to their school for 45 minutes speech session. We are unable to do this as our jobs do not allow that flexibility to leave during the day/come back. The school day is until 3 pm. Are there any other alternatives I have? Or do I just have to accept my son will not be able to access any speech services until Kindergarten?
Nicole –
Was the transportation provided by the previous district listed in your child’s IEP? If so, the new district has to honor that until a new IEP is developed. And if it is removed from the new IEP, you can disagree and assert your child’s “stay put” rights.
If the transportation was not in the previous IEP, you can “formally” ask the new district to consider transportation for your child as a related service. You can do this by putting the request in writing, and even request that your child be evaluated for the need. If they deny the request, you do have several dispute resolution options you can utilize.
As you’re presumably new to the special education process, I encourage you to connect with your local parent center (http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/). They can help you understand stay put, dispute resolution options, and other parts of the process, as well as offer support!