A Guide for Parents Who Are Concerned Their Child Might Need Special Education Services

The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) has put together a guide for parents who are concerned that their child might need special education services. In order to help answer questions parents may have, it is necessary for individuals to understand “special education” as defined by the NICHCY guide: “instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children who have disabilities.” Over 5 million children ages 6 through 21 receive special education and related services each year in the United States. Each of these children receives instruction that is specially designed:

• To meet the child’s unique needs (that result from having a disability)
• To help the child learn the information and skills that other children are learning

To better help concerned parents, this guide will assist in answering many important questions:

I think my child may need special help in school. What do I do?

Begin by finding out more about special services and programs for students in your school system. Also, find out more about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This law gives eligible children with disabilities the right to receive special services and assistance in school. These services are known as special education and related services. They can be important in helping your child at school. For more information regarding the central tenets of IDEA, read the companion story from this month’s e-bulletin.

Who is eligible for special education?

Certain children with disabilities are eligible for special education and related services. The IDEA provides a definition of a “child with a disability.” This law lists 13 different disability categories under which a child may be found eligible for special education and related services. According to the IDEA, the disability must affect the child’s educational performance. The question of eligibility, then, comes down to a question of whether the child has a disability that fits in one of IDEA’s 13 categories AND whether that disability affects how the child does in school. That is, the disability must cause the child to need special education and related services.

How do I find out if my child is eligible for special education?

The first step is to find out if your child has a disability. To do this, ask the school to evaluate your child. Call or write the Director of Special Education or the principal of your child’s school. Say that you think your child may have a disability and thus might need special education help, and ask the school to evaluate your child as soon as possible. Or, the public school may also think your child needs special help, because he or she may have a disability. If so, then the school must evaluate your child at no cost to you. However, the school does not have to evaluate your child just because you have asked; it may not think your child has a disability or the need for special education. In this case, the school may refuse to evaluate your child. However, it must let you know of this decision in writing, as well as why it has refused. If the school refuses to evaluate your child, there are two things you can do immediately:

• Ask the school system for information about its special education policies, as well as parent rights to disagree with decisions made by the school system. These materials should describe the steps parents can take to challenge a school system’s decision.
• Get in touch with your state’s Parent Training and Information (PTI) center. The PTI is an excellent resource for parents to learn more about special education, their rights and responsibilities, and the law. The PTI can tell you what steps to take next to find help for your child.

What happens during an evaluation?

Evaluating your child means more than the school simply giving your child a test or two. The school must evaluate your child in all the areas of which your child may be affected by the possible disability. This may include looking at your child’s health, vision, hearing, social and emotional well-being, general intelligence, performance in school, and how well your child communicates with others and uses his or her body. The evaluation must be complete enough (full and individual) to identify all of your child’s needs for special education and related services. Evaluating your child appropriately will give you and the school a lot of information about your child. This information will help both you and the school:

• Decide if your child has a disability.
• Design instruction for your child. The evaluation process involves several steps. These are listed below.

Reviewing existing information: A group of people, including you, begins by looking at the information the school already has about your child. You may have information about your child you wish to share as well. The group will look at information such as:

• Your child’s scores on tests given in the classroom or to all students in your child’s grade.
• The opinions and observations of your child’s teachers and other school staff who know your child.
• Your feelings, concerns, and ideas about how your child is doing in school.

Deciding if more information is still needed: The information collected above will help the group decide:

• If your son or daughter has a particular type of disability.
• How your child is currently doing in school.
• Whether your child needs special education and related services.
• What your child’s educational needs are.

Group members will look at the information they collected above and see if they have enough information to make these decisions. If the group needs more information to make these decisions, the school must collect it.

Collecting more information about your child: If more information about your child is needed, the school can either give your child tests, or they might collect the information in other ways. Your informed written permission is required before the school may collect this information. The evaluation group will then have the information it needs to make the types of decision listed above.

While the questions addressed by NICHCY’s guide are too numerous to list in their entirety in the confines of this space, interested readers should access the full Special Education Services guide to learn more about the steps that need to be taken in these scenarios, such as what happens after a child is diagnosed with a disability and what is involved in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process.

Story adapted from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities’ (NICHCY) guide: Questions Often Asked by Parents about Special Education Services

November 2006

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