Obtaining Special Services in Schools

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Obtaining Special Services

by ann B. Hunsberger

One would expect that school districts would have identified any students

with disabilities by the teen years, but that isn't always the case.

Furthermore, districts don't always provide special services even after

identifying a student with disabilities.

Keep Documentation

If a parent is concerned that their teen might have a learning disability

and need assistance in school, they should keep a " paper trail " and document

everything. Parents can purchase a small filing cabinet or plastic crate and

folders in a business supply store.

Parents can write to the director of special services in their district and

request a complete copy of their child's pupil record, including results of

all child study team records, medical reports and related therapist reports.

Once the parent receives these reports, they can begin building their case.

Abilities vs. Performance

Many parents are told that their child is " too smart to be classified, " so

he or she cannot access special services. However, a child's intelligence

factors very little into whether he or she needs special services. What does

factor into it is the difference between the child's abilities and his or

her performance.

The school psychologist, the child team member responsible for assessing the

student's IQ, may tell the parent that the child has a high verbal IQ. That

sounds great on the surface, but the IQ test has two parts-verbal and

performance. Parents should look at the performance IQ score, since any

discrepancy of more than 12 points suggests a learning disability.

Parents also need to look at the report from the Learning Disability

Teacher-Consultant (LTD-C), the member of the child study team who

identifies which grade level the student is capable of working at. Again,

the test may yield results indicating that a student is at or above grade

level-on paper. A child whose test results show above-level capability, yet

who is failing or getting D's, has a performance-based discrepancy. It doesn

't matter how good a student looks on paper. What matters is whether he or

she can perform adequately.

The parent's paper trail should include test papers, notes from teachers,

graded homework assignments, progress reports and report cards to prove that

his or her child's performance is not adequate.

Parents should also get reports from the doctors or therapists their child

has seen for disabilities that affect learning. Their reports can outline

the services the child needs.

Determine Coverage

Finally, the parent should call the State Department of Education and speak

to someone in the Office of Special Education's Division of Policy and

Planning. The parent should go over each of the child's needs with this

individual, and ask if state law covers the needed services.

The state special education law might not cover every needed accommodation.

In this case, parents should check to see if the federal civil rights law,

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, covers the need. For instance, if

your child needs extra time to hand in assignments, Section 504 covers that.

Ask the State Department of Education for the phone number of their Regional

Office for Civil Rights. Again, the parent can go over their child's needs,

ask if the law covers the needs, and then ask for the exact section of the

law that offers this protection. Parents should ask for the page from the

law with the exact section highlighted.

At this point, the parent is ready to go into the school and ask for the

services guaranteed by law.