Assessments
Schools have an affirmative obligation to identify, locate and evaluate students who have disabilities. Sometimes this is referred to as the school’s “child find” obligation.
(You can also request an assessment yourself – here’s a template you can use to do this)
Any referral for assessment initiated by your school must be done in writing and only with your written agreement.
Even if your school has not referred your child for an assessment, YOU MAY DECIDE there is a need to have your child assessed for special education by a school team. You can request an assessment at any time. This request must be made in writing, and has two major purposes:
- To determine if a student is eligible for special education services, and
- To assess the needs or gather all of the information in all suspected areas of disability in order to determine if the student requires special education and/or related services.
If you do not agree with the school’s assessment or the school’s assessment was incomplete, you can ask for an independent educational assessment, called an independent educational evaluation.
You may also choose to have an assessment done privately. If you have a private assessment, you can ask the school to meet with you and consider the results of the private assessment.
SELPA1 CAC Parent Handbook