Guest Blog: How to stay in the FIGHT when the school tells you NO!
By Hilary Laxson
Have you ever heard “NO” to something you asked for in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting or as a response to a Parent Concern Letter for your child?
Were you given Prior Written Notice (PWN)?
Unfortunately, you are going to have to do your own research and push to get your child the services they deserve. Don’t accept what a school says as the final word without checking it. Trust but verify.
We were told NO when asking for reading intervention in middle school. (Most schools switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” in 3rd grade.) Many dyslexics are still receiving reading intervention in middle and high school depending on when the intervention was started AND how well it was done). We asked for reading support for my middle schooler and were told “We don’t support reading in middle school. We aren’t a Title One school. We don’t have time in the schedule.” This is not factually correct. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) cover any child from age birth through 21 years old. If there is a NEED, it can be added to an IEP as a service, support, or intervention regardless of the age or grade of the child. This is an IEP team decision. The “I” in Individual Education Plan IEP means individualized. There can’t be a standardized offer unilaterally made to anyone who has certain characteristics or eligibility. Meaning an IEP team can’t say well kids with ADHD only get XYZ. The IEP team has to meet to decide and the parent’s opinion is of equal weight to anyone else on the IEP team.
We asked for additional reading intervention because my child was four grades behind in reading as a middle schooler. Despite already having a private tutor it was not enough. There appeared to be something else going on. After the school initially denied our request, we asked for PWN and hired an advocate. Allegedly reading intervention had not been offered in the middle school before our request, but we had the data to show why it was needed. As a result of the PWN and having an advocate at the school, my child had one-to-one reading intervention added to her IEP. It was provided by someone from the district who was trained in Orton Gillingham. This reading intervention continued one-to-one for almost two years and included over the summer. Shortly after this, we moved to attend a Dyslexia Specific High School.
What Is Prior Written Notice?
If there is a disagreement about a child's identification, evaluation, or placement, the school must provide the parents with prior written notice(PWN).
Prior Written Notice describes what the school proposes or refuses to do about the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child to provide a free, appropriate public education (FAPE). PWN is simply a written explanation or notice.
The notice must include the following things under federal law:
Explain what the school proposes or refuses to do and their alternative proposal if any
Describe the school's rationale and each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report used as the basis of their proposal or refusal
Describe all other options the IEP team considered and the reasons why the team accepted or rejected these options
Describe any other factors that were relevant to the school's proposed action or refusal to act
Include a statement that the parents of a child with a disability have protection under procedural safeguards and how the parent can obtain a copy of the procedural safeguards
Include sources that parents can contact or help in understanding the provisions of prior written notice
SAMPLE FORM:
Here is a link to a sample form provided by the USDOE. School Districts can make their own form, subject to state law, and must contain all the points listed above.
Quoting IDEA, “Under 34 CFR §300.503(a), the school district must give you a written notice (information received in writing), whenever the school district: (1) Proposes to begin or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child or the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to your child; or (2) Refuses to begin or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child or the provision of FAPE to your child. The required content under 34 CFR §300.503(b) is listed below in this model form. The school district must provide the notice in understandable language (34 CFR § 300.503(c)). “
Schools often fail to provide prior written notice when parents request more services or different services. The IDEA reauthorization in 2004 strengthened prior written notice requirements and now requires schools to provide this notice in the event of a due process hearing.
A similar scenario can happen to any eligibility category where the parent is told “NO” without receiving PWN. The reason PWN was created was to make an IEP team think through and justify their reasons for saying something would or would not work. It is commonly seen in SLD cases with dyslexia because dyslexia must be remediated with specific types of reading programs according to guidance from the International Dyslexia Association, Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners, ISMLEC, and other professional groups. State laws vary on dyslexia. A good way to find your state’s dyslexia law is a website called Dyslegia.
How do you stay in the FIGHT after you are told NO?
Always send a parent concern letter in writing at least five days prior to every IEP meeting.
Get the data! Get classroom work samples, progress reports, progress monitoring, tests, and reports of anyone who’s presenting at the meeting. This can be as simple as sending an email to your IEP caseworker “ Please send me the date, work samples, progress monitoring, tests, and reports from Suzy's last semester through today. Please provide advance copies of any and all reports prepared by a district employee or third party vendor being used in the IEP meeting on xx/xx/xx date.”
If you are told NO, ask for Prior Written Notice
Document, Document, Document. Seriously depending on the complexity of your child’s IEP or needs you may have to write emails every week documenting the concerns you have. You may very well end up in court one day and those emails may help prove your fight.
Need more help?
If you have asked for Prior Written Notice and received it, but still don’t like the results, it might be time to find an advocate or an attorney. If you’re eligible, I would contact SEALKIDS HERE
As a result of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the DOD is required to provide Special Education-trained attorneys and advocates. Check-in with your local EFMP office, Regional Legal Services Office, or from your school district’s military liaison officer if you are active duty military DOD (Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy). Specifically, in San Diego, you can email: riso_sw_legal_assistance_outreach@navy.mil
ONE LAST NOTE: If your child is not enrolled in Special Education, here is a link to download a sample letter to use to Request an Evaluation for Special Education services from your local school district. You are allowed to ask for this once a year. This should be emailed and mailed to your principal and director of Special Education services. I strongly recommend you do so in writing to create a paper trail.
Helpful Forms
CLICK HERE for US Department of Education form on Prior Written Notice.
CLICK HERE for Request for Evaluation for Special Education
CLICK HERE for a sample Parent Concern letter
Hilary Laxson was a Coast Guard spouse for 12 years and has been in the military community since 2000. She graduated from the University of Denver in 1999 with a BSBA in Finance and obtained a graduate-level paralegal degree in 2000 from the University of San Diego.
She spent time in California, Georgia, and Hawaii as a Coast Guard Family member. She has a child with severe dyslexia and other learning disabilities in high school. She’s the parent volunteer for Decoding Dyslexia Military for Georgia and is actively involved in advocacy for active-duty families in the State of Georgia. Since 2019 Last she has attended “Say Dyslexia” Day to help bring more attention to dyslexia in the State of Georgia. Georgia passed SB48 “the Dyslexia Law” in 2019. She runs a parent support group on Facebook called The Dyslexia Life for parents all over the USA who need help navigating the world of dyslexia.