What Can I Expect If My Child Is Referred to the Committee on Special Education?
If it is determined that your child continues to make progress below expectations despite Academic Intervention Services (AIS) and utilizing the Instructional Support/Response to Intervention process, you may decide to request that your child be referred to the Committee on Special Education, or your child's teacher may decide to make a recommendation to refer your child to the Committee on Special Education.
Several things happen next. First, your child's teacher completes paperwork describing the nature of the difficulty. Once the Special Education Office receives this information, you, the parent/guardian is mailed a packet of information to complete that includes a social history, physical history, and consent documents to sign. The consent documents provide information concerning the cognitive and educational evaluations the school evaluators will administer to determine your child's learning strengths and needs. An initial eligibility meeting will be held within 60 calendar days from receipt of your consent to evaluate. The evaluations, in conjunction with the AIS assessments, Response to Interventions data, teacher reports, parent /guardian input, parent advocate input, and work samples will help the committee determine if your child presents with a learning disability.
If your child is determined to not have a learning disability, the CSE will notify the building principal so that appropriate supports and additional interventions can be implemented. If your child is determined to have a learning disability, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) will be developed and implemented within 60 days from receipt of consent.
Once your child is under the Committee on Special Education, a program review will be held annually to determine student progress towards meeting goals, and to make appropriate program plans and goals for the upcoming year. However, you may request a meeting at any time to discuss your child's program. In addition, while a variety of assessments that are a natural part of the school curriculum will be administered throughout the year to determine progress and growth, all students under the Committee on Special Education are re-evaluated every three years using a standardized, norm-referenced instrument to measure cognitive and educational development.