Under federal and Indiana law, if school staff suspects a student may have a learning disability because they’re not making adequate progress, the school is supposed to initiate a request for an evaluation and obtain parental consent.
Parents can also request an IEP evaluation. They must make it verbally or in writing to teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, building principals and other school administrators.
Once the parent makes their request, the school has 10 instructional days to provide the parent with written notice that says whether they will conduct the evaluation.
In its notice to parents, the school also must:
If the school agrees to conduct the evaluation, it must notify parents of:
If the school refuses to conduct the evaluation, it must notify parents of:
If a student is deemed eligible for an IEP, the case conference committee must meet at least once every year to discuss the child’s IEP. And the student’s case conference committee must reevaluate them for special education services at least once every three years — unless the parent and the school agree that reevaluation isn’t necessary. The school is supposed to notify parents of a reevaluation and obtain their consent. A parent can also request (verbally or in writing) that their child be reevaluated sooner.
Click on the below image to learn about a family's experience on this issue
“I knew nothing about IEPs at the time,” Brandi said.
A nurse Brandi met at church recommended she take Caiden to a developmental pediatrician.
“And when [the doctor] told me [Caiden had] autism, I didn't believe it at first, because what I knew about autism was very different from what I was experiencing. And that just comes from ignorance, because we don't know what we don't know,” Brandi said.
Caiden’s physician instructed Brandi to take his diagnosis to his school corporation and request an IEP meeting. She said she met with staff at Caiden’s school during the summer between kindergarten and first grade. She said they disagreed with the autism diagnosis.
“I was just devastated,” Brandi said. “What I later found out was that a medical diagnosis is very different than an evaluation within the school system.”
Brandi left that school system when Caiden was in third grade.
“I just needed to start over. I couldn't get what I needed,” Brandi said. “He wasn't doing the greatest. I was tired of picking him up. I was tired of peeling his hands off of my dashboard to get him out of the car in the morning and take him into the principal's office. I was losing jobs because I had to go pick him up. He was extremely unhappy; he never wanted to go to school. So I thought I'm just gonna start over. I didn't know what else to do.”
Brandi enrolled Caiden in a different public school system nearby.
Gaelle said Kymbrie still struggled when she entered first grade.
“And the first grade teacher is like ‘Did the teacher in kindergarten say anything to you about her progress?’ I was like, ‘No, she didn't say anything.’ She was like, ‘Yeah, I kind of noticed that she's struggling a little bit.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I noticed that too,’” Gaelle said.
Kymbrie’s first grade teacher suggested she be evaluated for an IEP.
Gaelle said they conducted an evaluation and someone involved in the evaluation process told her the IEP evaluation process can be draining for children due to the tests involved.
“And I appreciated her giving me all the information, but in a way it was discouraging,” Gaelle asid. “And in my head, I'm like, I don't care. Because I need to know if she needs extra help or not. Because in my head, I think she needs extra help.”
After the test was conducted, Gaelle said she met with her daughter’s teacher, the principal, an assistant principal and the person who evaluated Kymbrie for an IEP. Gaelle said she attended this meeting alone because family members either weren’t available or they didn’t speak English well enough.
“And pretty much every single test that they did, she fell below the percentile that she was supposed to be in,” Gaelle said.
So, Gaelle said she was confused when school staff then told her that her daughter didn’t qualify for an IEP.
“I walked out of that meeting feeling defeated. By the time I walked out, I didn't even make it to my car yet and I was crying,” she said.
Gaelle said instead of focusing on what the school could provide Kymbrie, staff explained what she could do for her daughter to help her learn. She said a lot of what was suggested she had already tried with her daughter at home.
“On top of that, I've had five to six jobs for the past three years straight and not on a full-time basis… so that I can make my own schedule to take care of my daughter and go to school, because I've been in school for the past couple years, as well. So I'm in school, always have homework of my own. She always has homework on her own that she can't do on her own that I have to assist with,” Gaelle said. “I'm already overwhelmed. And here you guys are telling me to find my own resources, find my own ways to help my daughter learn.”