How likely is it for us to get a public school to help pay for outside tutoring at a Sylvan learning center? My son has severe ADHD, as well as a diagnosis of depression. After being turned down for an IEP at his public school, we decided to take him to Sylvan learning center. He was tested at Sylvan and their results indicated substantial deficiencies that are consistent with problems we have seen and reported to my son’s school for several years. It was the first time in years that I have seen anyone pinpoint his problems with such accuracy.
After years of trying to get his school to provide remedial services (which they denied after testing him), the best they can come up with is 504 accommodations, but no specialized instruction. Without any specially designed instruction, and cumulative lack of progress over the last few years, he is now at least two grade levels behind in reading comprehension, writing, and study skills. He is also about one grade level behind in Math.
His grades from last year were terrible, yet his school sees no reason to give him an IEP. If I show them the test results from Sylvan, are they required to consider them, and can I get any help to pay for the tutoring? It will be about $8,000 and a year’s time to get our son back on track. I do plan to consult an educational law attorney but my guess is that we could easily spend $8,000 just trying to recover the cost.
Christine
Dear Christine,
Your question raises concerns about your school district’s failure to identify in a timely fashion your son’s disabilities or to provide appropriate services to address those disabilities. You are interested in whether you can recoup the cost of tutoring that you paid for through the Sylvan Learning Center.
At the outset, it is important to understand the process by which students may be considered for eligibility. The school district is obligated under federal law to engage in Child Find activities. This means that they are obligated to seek out and identify any child suspected of having a disability in their district to determine whether they need an evaluation to determine eligibility for special education.
At the same time, parents have the right to request an evaluation for this purpose at any time. Whenever a parent requests that their child be evaluated for special education, they should do so in writing and keep a copy of the request. When a school receives a request for an evaluation from a parent, it may agree that an evaluation is appropriate and meet with the parent to identify the areas to be tested and obtain the parent’s written informed consent.
Alternatively, if the school decides that an evaluation is not necessary, it is required to advise the parent of that decision in writing, the reason for the decision, and inform the parent of their right to request a special education due process hearing to challenge the refusal.
You have indicated that you obtained testing as well as tutoring, from the Sylvan Learning Center indicating that your son was having learning problems. You should be aware that testing may indicate learning problems, without necessarily being sufficient to diagnose the presence of a learning disability. Specialized testing designed to diagnose learning disability is currently needed for this purpose.
It is unclear from your question whether the testing that was performed included those types of tests. While a school district is required to consider all private evaluations admitted by a parent, they are not obligated to accept the findings, conclusions, or recommendations of that evaluation. They are obligated to explain why they are not accepting the testing if they decide that it is insufficient or incorrect.
Complicating matters further, under some circumstances, private evaluators, using clinical criteria, may identify the presence of a learning disability based on their standards, while the school may conclude that the student does not meet their criteria for a learning disability. Further, under recent changes to the process for evaluating learning disability, great emphasis is being placed eliminating concerns about the inadequacy of instruction as an explanation for underachievement while using a Response to Intervention model prior to or as part of the evaluation.
If it is determined that your child does have a learning disability which was previously unidentified by the school district, you may have a basis for seeking compensatory services or reimbursement of the cost of the outside tutoring that you obtained on your own. However, schools are often reluctant to offer such remedies unless the parent has requested a due process hearing and the remedy was provided through mediation or in response to the hearing officers order.
Apart from the individual remedies relating to your sons suspected disability described above, you may want to check your schools standing in relation to adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Law. Under some circumstance, if a school has failed to make adequate progress for a number of years, parents may have the option of obtaining outside tutoring from approved tutoring programs, at school district expense. Given what you have described, consultation with a special education attorney is advisable.
Note from LD OnLine: For more information, read Understanding the Special Education Process.
Topic
Special Education