How to request initial testing for an educational evaluation
Okay, I know I homeschool but I still engage in educational advocacy for others. Why? Because I feel like I have a lot to offer others in the way of service, and to be honest, I HATE seeing how public schools abuse/misuse special needs students! So my help for today is how to request educational testing. You must request the start of educational testing! Should you HAVE to? NO! See here, here, here, here, and here on the case law. BUT most schools will do nothing until you speak up and start advocating for your child! Here is a sample letter to request testing by the school district.
Please double check the law quoted in here since the regulations can move from time to time. I hope you find this helpful!
Dear (Principal, Guidance Counselor, or School Psychologist’s name), I would like to request comprehensive educational testing for my child <insert child’s name> who is in <insert grade level> grade at <insert school name>.
I would like a full psycho-educational evaluation together with appropriate testing for learning disabilities. I request my child be tested in all suspected areas of disability (34 CFR 300.304), including the areas of <in this area to add any specific disability such as of auditory processing, executive function, OT, speech, and language, reading disability, etc, You can come to join us in IEP/504 Assistance on FB if you need help filling out this section>. I understand I need to sign a consent form so the school can conduct the evaluation (34 CFR 300.300). If I do not hear from you in 10 school days I will call to set up a time to sign the consent form.
I understand the school system has 60 days to complete testing and hold a meeting to discuss eligibility [34 CFR 300.301(c)(1)(i)]. Please note, at the IEP meeting I will be recording the meeting and any subsequent IEP meetings. I want to make sure I do not miss anything and an audio recording will help me immensely. I look forward to meeting with you on that date.
Sincerely,
<your name>
It is important you keep up with ALL paperwork and have it stored in one place. I like to scan all paperwork and store it in the cloud. I like Dropbox for this purpose because it accepts all file types (so audio recordings along with paper docs) and it is easy to share files if I wish to do so. I am not associated with Dropbox in any way. I just like their product. 🙂
I hope this post has been helpful. Please take the time to click on the links in the post as it contains the reference material used to write this post along with affiliate links to products that may be of interest to you. As always, you are welcome to join us for more discussion on shoe tying, adaptive skills, and/or occupational therapy in the educational setting at our FB group, IEP/504 Assistance for parents of public school students from all over the United States.
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Thank you! I am glad you are finding the information helpful!
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At this time we do not have an RSS feed set up. We will work on this issue and see if we can get it up and running.