Talked to school and I am stressed out.
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| Tue, 08-22-2006 - 2:30pm |
I talked to school when they called today to set up an appt for a 504 Plan for my son. I told her that is fine and I wanted to make sure that they were going to proceed with the evaluation I requested. She said that that were not going to evaluate him unless they think he needs it. They will determine that in this intervention thing in class over the next 45 days. I told her that under the IDEA law I thought they had to evaluate him on my request and she said that was not true.
I called the state chapter of Individuals with Disabilites and they agree that they ahve to evaluate him. Although she said the problem may be because he was diagnosed by a phychologist and not a medical dr? Have you heard of this? I am awaiting a second opinion from a Dev. Pediatrician but she is in no hurry.

what state? That makes a difference on the laws for referral for testing.
In california for instance, parents are referring parties and if we make a request for eval then they have to eval though many may try to get around this. I have often come across where teh district feels they have to do a SST meeting (student study team) and then decide as a team if the child needs to be referred. This is true if a teacher is the referring party but not really if the parents have initiated the request.
Also, there is part of IDEA when they have to show that modifications that can be provided by the school don't meet the childs needs. There is no reason however, why they can't have that as part of the evaluation process it would seem. Ya know, while testing make those modifications and do the testing and you will have that much more information regarding whether or not they qualify as a child with special needs.
As far as diagnosis, that makes no difference what so ever. In fact a child needs no diagnosis at all to be referred for special education services. A medical diagnosis is only needed if a child falls under the category of "Other Health Impaired" which sometimes our kids do. I have never heard in this case where it depends on who makes the diagnosis. A psychologist is certainly authorized to diagnose but they can't perscribe medication.
Call your state dept of special education and ask where you can obtain a copy of the states special education law. It may even be available online (CA laws are) and then you can research yourself what it says.
Renee
I'm am so sorry they are giving you a hard time about this. I would call your state dept of Ed like Renee suggested. I also see you are getting advice from Steph at the IEP board. She is great and won't steer you wrong. Hang in there!
Samantha