E124: Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE)
Have you ever disagreed with your school team's educational evaluation? Did you know there is something in your parent rights/procedural safeguards that you can choose to exercise in this case? They are called Independent Educational Evaluations, or IEE's. And they can help you get a second opinion for your child -- at the public expense.
Have you ever disagreed with your school team’s educational evaluation? Did you know there is something in your parent rights/procedural safeguards that you can choose to exercise in this case?
They are called Independent Educational Evaluations, or IEE’s. And they can help you get a second opinion for your child — at the public expense.
In this episode we discuss:
1) What is an IEE and where to find more state-specific information about them
2) What the steps would be to exercise that right
3) Some FAQ’s and funky things to be aware of
4) Why it is MUCH preferable for you and your child if you don’t have to get to the IEE stage!
(Copy and Paste the links into your browser if they aren’t hyperlinked 🙂 )
Grab your FREE IEP Process Step-By-Step guide at: www.TheIEPLab.com/IEP
Find the Shownotes with all the links at: www.TheIEPLab.com/episode124
Link to Colorado IEE guidelines mentioned in this podcast: https://disabilitylawco.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Q%26A%20-%20Independent%20Educational%20Evaluations%202021.pdf
E124: IEE’s
[00:00:00] Have you ever disagreed with an evaluation the school performed? Did you know that there’s something you can actually do about it? I have been learning a lot about
Independent.
Education evaluations or for short. And I’m going to share with you the guidelines, where to look for further information in your state and how they fit into that parent advocacy picture.
Stick with me because today we are talking about.
Welcome to the parent IUP lab. The podcast that helps you get an effective IEP for your child, so that you can get them supported and learning in school. I’m Beth Rosenfeld, occupational therapist, who started to notice trends in parents who got effective IEP for their kids without having to fight the school. My mission is to help you learn the pillars of knowledge I saw these effective parents sees in their advocacy and also to provide insight or knowledge from the school side, so that you have context to turn that into informed, intelligent questions that actually get you somewhere within the school IEP team.
So let’s dive into the topic of IES today and think about what we can change and tweak to get the right formula for success for your [00:01:00] child to learn and grow at school. Welcome to the lab.
Before we get into the topic for today, I owe you a huge apology. I was unaware until last week. Can you believe it? It’s episode 1 24 And I’m still learning things about podcasting. But I thought then if I put links in my podcast publisher, that that would translate into things like apple podcasts
and in Spotify so that you guys could just click the link and get the free download or connect with the guests, and guess what I found out last week that it doesn’t translate into apple podcasts or Spotify or anything else. So I owe you a huge apology because while sometimes I spell out the link, when I’m talking about it for a freebie or how to connect with somebody.
I have not always done that because I’ve assumed that the links were working. So if you need the freebie, which is the IEP process step-by-step guide, then all you have to do is go to the IEP lab.com/iep, and you can get your free copy there.[00:02:00]
And you can always get the actual links inside the show notes. And that formula is always the same. It’s always www.theieplab.com/episode, all spelled out and then the number of the episode. So, if you want to get all the links for today, I will start spelling them out in the podcast description so that you can see it. And hopefully you can click it and copy it and paste it into your browser. But also if you’re looking for anything, you can always go to the show notes. So the example for today is that you can find the show notes at www dot.
V IUP lab.com/episode 1, 2, 4. And again, my sincere apologies. I am always learning in this business. Way to keep me humble. Right? So check out the freebie.
And you can find all of the show notes for the episodes on www.theiuplab.com/podcast as well. Okay. Let’s get into for today.
Oh man. Have I had a ton of [00:03:00] conversations about IES? Or independent educational evaluations, which is something that you can evoke. If you don’t agree with the team’s evaluations or findings. Inside the evaluation process. It’s basically having an outside team conduct that evaluation again. And the IEP team has to consider it. And we’re going to talk a little bit about that leader. So I’m not going to get into that right now. Um, but first we’re going to talk about the importance of having an accurate evaluation to start with. And then we’re going to talk about the process of getting one and how it fits into that evaluation process. And then of course, some common questions that we’ve had discussions about lately that kind of make this very neat and nice process get a little bit murky and muddy so just as a reminder, you will have an initial evaluation, which I’m kind of assuming that you already either have had an evaluation. Or you’re going through that process right now, but many people in the beginning of the [00:04:00] process, don’t realize that every three years your child has to go through a Brie evaluation process to make sure that they still qualify for an IEP.
And it’s also a really big opportunity and a checkpoint to get accurate baselines of their skills and support needs. So you kind of get to start fresh every three years and sometimes it’ll happen even before the three years, if there’s new information or if something changes.
So, if you’re saying Um, Beth, I already had the evaluation. That’s behind me. Why are you even talking about it? You will have one at least every three years as leaned out by federal law. So that’s in every single state.
It kind of makes me cringe a little bit because I’ve seen poor quality reevaluations done for students all across the board. So it doesn’t matter if your child has significant support needs or, you know, they have one service or all five or six services. I have seen this happen where re-evaluation is done and they just do the bare minimum and that re-evaluation.
And instead of doing everything that they can to gather as much information as [00:05:00] possible. So. It really can happen at that initial evaluation phase, but it absolutely can happen that you need to exercise this right. At a reevaluation as well.
So, if you have been in any of my courses or any of my workshops, You will hear me talk about the IEP data funnel. And I’ll try to explain it as best that I can over a podcast, because usually I have this really cool visual that I show. When I’m talking about it. And so it makes a lot more sense, but I’ll do my best. So this is essentially the graphic of a funnel and how information moves through it so that at the end, at the bottom of the funnel, you get an effective IEP for your child. Okay. So at the very tippy top of the widest part of the funnel, that’s where this amazing information about your child’s strengths and support needs go.
It has all of this information, even stuff that doesn’t end up in the IEP at the very end, but it’s like everything, everything. Anything that needs to be noted. All the observations, all of the data and information goes into the top. And the thing is that if it [00:06:00] doesn’t go into the top of the funnel, there really isn’t another way to get information in the funnel later in the process. It’s kind of like when you dump the sand or the water in the top, you know, like you’re not going to have a hole in the side of the funnel where things get siphoned into it again, it’s like the top is it?
That’s where the information goes in the top. Right? And then as you go along the funnel, that’s when you have that information kind of flow down to the accommodations and the goals and the services further down the funnel. And then of course at the bottom, you have this effective IEP, right. Ideally right. And that might need changes and tweaks later, you know, depending on what’s happening and, and what other information is gathered through the process. But essentially that’s what an evaluation looks like
and that’s how the evaluation connects to the IEP product at the end. So all that, to say that evaluations are pretty darn important and things that are missing untrue, not interpreted correctly. You know, big chunks that you feel like are missing from your child and [00:07:00] painting that picture of who they really are really affects the rest of the IEP process and what’s implemented, so it’s worth your time and effort to learn about evaluations, to make sure that everything is in there.
And I have a bunch of strategies about that, that we’re not going to get into in this particular episode. But I did talk about some of those strategies in the eligibility category bonus series. So if you haven’t checked those out, scroll back in your podcast player, or you can go to the IEP lab.com/podcast and on the right hand side, all of those bonus eligibility category podcasts are tagged. So you’ll see a tag on the right hand side where you can click that and you can find the one that you’re looking for, like autism or OHI or whatever it is that you’re looking for.
So let’s get into the process of an evaluation or a re-evaluation and then where that I E actually fits into that process. So the first step is that an evaluation is initiated. Okay. So if it’s an initial evaluation, That can happen [00:08:00] either through the school side, they can say, Hey, can we test your kid for a disability or that can be a parent request.
So it doesn’t really matter who initiates it. But it’s initiated. Okay. So that’s the first step. The second one is that the team takes 60 days up to 60 days to test your child. We have standardized tests, observations, or a combo of the two to create an evaluation report. And this is again, The big picture of what their skills and support needs are, who they are as a person hopefully is in there too. And so this is like the big, huge, long report. That’s somewhat overwhelming to understand. Okay.
The third thing is that you guys schedule a meeting with the team and you to determine eligibility based off of that information in the evaluation report. Okay.
The next step is hopefully you get this set evaluation report before the eligibility meeting, at least a couple of days. Sometimes you’ll get it hours before, and it’s up to you on if you want to reschedule that meeting or not, [00:09:00] but hopefully you have time to look at that evaluation report to even just see are all my concerns addressed in that evaluation report or not. Then you will have that meeting. And in that meeting. Some teams will have you ask any questions. So if you have any questions about this big, long report about any things that are missing about, Hey, can you go over this section of the report? Cause I don’t really understand what that looks like in the classroom. Then you can ask those questions.
Some teams. Just ask you if you’ve had time to review it and if you have any questions and they will move on. So just know that that’s the thing. They don’t actually have to go through it line by line. But some teams do decide to go through it line by line. And I’m going to be honest that sometimes that’s really overwhelming and it’s way too much detail when all you really need. And you can tell what my favorite version of this eligibility meeting is. Some teams have a nice balance and they summarize their [00:10:00] part.
So that again, you can match their face to what they actually tested. Right. Which is so nice. And you can have their outcomes than their summary of what it actually means for your child in the school setting. And you can tell that that is my favorite way to do it is to sit down and have a little bit like maybe each provider has like a minute to kind of go over the general results from their evaluation, what they’re thinking, what the recommendations are, and then move on to the next section so that you can actually understand what they’re saying.
You can match that face to who tested what, and then you can have a really good picture of what they’re thinking as far as when you move on to the IEP, as long as they qualify. ] And so now we’re going to get to that qualification. So the next step is that you go through the eligibility checklist for your state, for the suspected disability category. And you decide as the team, if they are eligible for special education services. Now, again, I’m referring to that eligibility bonus [00:11:00] series that I did a couple of months ago.
Because we go through each of the eligibility categories for Colorado and some states have their eligibility checklists. Posted on their website as like Colorado does. And then sometimes they just have a definition, but either way your team will have that checklist of what they’re actually looking for, what evidence they’re looking for to determine if they’re eligible or not.
And so here is where the IAE comes in. So if you disagree with anything in that evaluation, if they’ve missed any big chunks, if you feel like they misinterpreted data, or if that’s not up to your satisfaction, it doesn’t really matter why you disagree with it, but if you disagree with it,
You typically have six months after the evaluation? To request an
independent educational evaluation. Here’s where I put in the disclaimer. That you need to check your state’s parent there’s two different names for them. So it just depends on your state.
As the rules for IAES differ from state to state. So I’m talking here in very general [00:12:00] terms about the IE and how they work, but you have to look inside your state’s parent rights to get the details down and even Google it for your state to find out more information. I found a really amazing resource that I’m going to post below this podcast in your podcast player from the state of Colorado, that explains IES,
but it’s from disability, law, Colorado. So it’s Colorado specific, but I’m pretty sure that you have a similar information and, you know, FAQ guide for your state. So make sure that you are looking for state specific information. And not just taking my word for it here. Okay. Deal. Okay. Let’s move on.
So let’s say that you don’t agree with something in the report. Like they just didn’t test for autism or the results of the OT evaluation were insufficient or whatever it is. The first step is that you request in writing an IE. You can do the whole darn thing, but most often you will exercise the IEE for specific parts of the evaluation. So let’s say it’s the speech evaluation that you disagree with. You would ask for an IEE for the speech [00:13:00] evaluation.
The second step is that they either approve your request and they provide you a list of providers that are pre-approved to do that. IE. Or if they’re going to deny your request and say, no, no, no. This one was sufficient.
They have to file a due process and request a hearing to state their case that this evaluation was sufficient. Now it’s safe to say
that most of them will approve your I E request because they do not want to do the hearing and they don’t want to file due process.
So it’s safe to say that many of them I’ve actually never heard of somebody getting denied. And I E although I know that it happens, so don’t take my word on it, but most of the time they’re going to avoid filing due process and going through the hearing process and all of those things. They’re just going to greet you the I E
the one thing that I have heard of is if you are requesting an IEE for an OT evaluation and they haven’t done the OT evaluation, then they’ll say, well, we didn’t, we didn’t get to do that yet. So let us do it through the school first, and then you [00:14:00] can reject it later. You know, so we’re going to talk about this later, but essentially yes. If they did the evaluation
and you’re exercising your right for an IE. Most of the time they will approve it. So then you have this list for a pre-approved provider list and you can either choose a provider from that list. Or also in that letter, when you get the approval, they will say, Hey, here are the credentials if you want to seek somebody outside of this list,
If you want to look for somebody that’s not on this list of pre-approved providers. These are the qualifications that they have to have in order for us to accept that. And that is because it is publicly funded. So you do not have to pay for this IAE. As long as that provider matches the qualifications that the school district provides you, you are taking a risk. If there is somebody that doesn’t have those credentials that you might have to pay out of pocket for it, and you won’t get reimbursed for it. So most of the time, the people that are listed on the pre-approved list, you won’t even [00:15:00] have to exchange money with them.
It’s at the public expense. And then sometimes if you choose somebody who’s not on that list, you might have to pay for it. And then the school we’ll reimburse you as long as they meet those credentials that they tell you in the letter. So hopefully that makes sense. And then the process essentially starts all over again. So your kid gets tested and the timeline starts all over again, and then you’ll have the review of results. And then hopefully the school will consider those results and they don’t have to follow those recommendations from the IE to a T, but they do have to consider them.
So just know that, you know, if you get somebody to like put in this specific recommendation for an accommodation, It doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to end up in the IEP. So just keep that in mind when you’re going through it. Okay. And then if the eligibility was questioned in this whole process, you may have to do that eligibility part again, with that new information. But if you already have an IEP, it just depends on when you’re requesting it in the process.
If you have an IEP, then maybe your [00:16:00] IEP gets amended or you have another IEP meeting to really consider that new information and change the IEP around. So hopefully that helps you a little bit with the process of an I E. A couple of things that I see a lot, and we’re going to review those. I already mentioned this, but you have to have had an evaluation in that area for you to say that it was insufficient. Does that make sense?
So if you’re requesting an IE for the OT portion of the evaluation, but there wasn’t an OT evaluation in the first place, then you might have to resend or take back your request for the IEE so that the school can actually do their evaluation for OT. You do want the school to be the ones that evaluate it’s always better to have the people who are actually going to do the intervention.
To do their own evaluations. I remember inheriting caseload’s from other OTs or, you know, getting an outside evaluation from an OT. And because I didn’t do the evaluation, I just felt like I didn’t have [00:17:00] enough information. And that’s also because OTs are very observation based. We pick up on things and we learned so much about a person by our observation and really in an outside evaluation,
you can put in a summary of your observations into that evaluation, but it’s nothing like having that experience of getting to know that child when you’re testing them. And looking at different parts of them as well. So really you do want to have those providers that are probably going to be working with your kid, have a chance to do an evaluation, and that kind of counts for any of this, but especially for OT speech therapy type people, we learn so much by just interacting and testing a kid.
That it’s really, really important that you give the school the opportunity to do it themselves.
But here’s the thing by requesting an I E for a portion that they didn’t test in the beginning, this is kind of like a backdoor way to have them evaluate in an area that you want evaluated that maybe they didn’t bring the OT in and you want them to. And so requesting [00:18:00] this I E what kind of force them to get the OT to evaluate or whatever it is. Does that make sense?
So the last thing to watch out for is some states have different roles. So here’s my disclaimer again. So one of the parents that I’ve worked with in the past, through the prep course requested an IE. And in that state, it can only be done by the staff of another district. So not an outpatient provider, not somebody independent of the schools, it has to be another district. So she had a couple of different options, you know, with neighboring districts, but she didn’t have the options that
say parents in Colorado, do you, where we can find an outpatient provider that meets those credentials and then have them do it. So that’s why, again, I remind you to look at your procedural safeguards, check out more state specific information online, and just make sure that you’re getting
the right information for your state and just don’t don’t trust my blanket. Education in this podcast. Okay. You might need to do some more digging. I’m also linking up that [00:19:00] guideline that I mentioned for the state of Colorado. That was really, really helpful for me. And sorting some of this IAE stuff out. So I’m guessing your state has a similar document.
But if not check out the link below this podcast or in the show notes from disability, law, Colorado about IES.
Especially if you’re wondering what that due process part looks like. If they don’t agree to your, I E. At least for Colorado, as an example, as I didn’t go into that in this podcast here. So as we wrap up today, remember to snag your accommodations, one-on-one guide at the link below this podcast, and I will see you same time, same place next week. If you need any support in between there, remember that the Facebook group is available for you as well.
And that link is below this podcast thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you. Same time, same place next week. Thanks so much.