Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Errors in IEP evaluation - point it out?

So, DD12 was approved for an IEP today. There is a statement in the evaluation report that says:
In fact, I went to some trouble to be certain that the school counselor had a copy of her autism evaluation and diagnosis right when school started in September, and then sent it again before her October 2015 triennial review. The counselor didn't realize at the time that the review was actually a triennial, and apparently lost the diagnosis so it never went in DD's file. She backfilled on the triennial review thing in November, but never updated the file with the correct diagnosis. It came to light in March when DD was having issues at school, and the team decided then that the school psychologist should do an evaluation.

Do you guys think I should point this out or leave it alone? She is getting the IEP anyway, but I don't like the implication that we hid the ball on them when we were actually doing everything we could to be sure they had all the information.

Yes, I definitely think you should point it out in an easy-going kind of way.

Yes, definitely document.

The team is generally great, and it is a record-keeping issue. No one thought she needed a full eval back in October (either us or the counselor or the principal), but she has been having increasing issues during the school year that prompted the spring evaluation. I just don't like that it includes language that makes it look like we were the ones who delayed it, because we weren't. I wasn't sure if that was me putting my own ego ahead of DD's welfare, though.

We got the evaluation in May of 2015, and shared it with her elementary school that year before school got out, but it didn't make it over to the middle school where she is now. So I sent another copy in September when school started and talked to the counselor about it then. I should have brought up that the 504 meeting in October was her triennial, but it was our first triennial and I didn't know that they needed to do any more than they did. (I suppose I still don't really know that.) The counselor sent an updated report for us to sign when she realized that she should have done an evaluation, I think in January in November? The school psychologist didn't get involved until March.

Yes. You want dates documented accurately. As well as things are working now, there is no guarantee that this will continue, nor that the members of the team you now have will remain.

The outside eval should have triggered a reconvene, with the option of re-writing the IEP, but at least with documentation that the team reviewed it.

Huh. We've had two outside evaluations. The first triggered the initial evaluation that gave her the 504 plan (it diagnosed her with dysgraphia, ADHD, and SPD, but missed the autism). The second happened 2.5 years later, right at the end of the school year, and diagnosed her with autism (with the SPD and ADHD rolled in). We gave it to the elementary school, but it was not part of the file on her that was sent to the middle school. Then I gave it to the middle school, but they probably thought that whatever was supposed to have been done was done by the elementary school. They did re-evaluate her when the psychologist became aware of it (and gave her an IEP), but it didn't sound like it was an automatic thing.

If the school is made aware she has a disability (or suspects one) they are mandated to do an evaluation (see "Child Find Mandate"). So if they put the actual correct dates in the IEP documentation, it would be obvious that they are out of compliance, if they are just dealing w/ it now.

You'll notice that the team must meet at least annually to review, among other things, the results of any evaluative data.

http://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html

States have various regulations on how quickly the team must reconvene to consider the results of independent evaluations, whether obtained at parent expense, or as a district-paid IEE after an evaluation deemed unsatisfactory by the parents. (10 school days is not uncommon.)

And the real dates of their awareness of suspected disability are quite important, in the event that she needs disability protections from that period of time.

Just to add, that I don't know what the deal is w/ these schools, but I assumed all along that they had DS's outside neuropsych eval, and that it was transferred w/ the rest of his sp.ed records almost 1.5 years ago. The psychologist told me "Oh, we don't have that, normally all that is sent is the IEP and maybe the latest school eval" (????). I asked if that is a common practice, because how are parents supposed to know what info the school has then? No reply. A few days later the nurse called me because she needed to review records for the AT eval that DS is having, and I mentioned the neuropsych eval and the fact that the old school never sent it, apparently. She said "What, it's sitting right here in his records." I am completely mystified as to how the case manager and school psychologist insisted that the eval was not in the school anywhere (psych even said she would look in another place), and then the nurse said "What, it's right here." The eval had very important info that the school should have had, such as his IQ (!!!!) and other testing info that led to the IEP in the first place. Also, when he transferred schools, no one asked me any questions about him whatsoever. They were doing everything based on what was in the IEP from the old school, and that's pretty much it. Sometimes I wonder why I am even messing w/ an IEP because almost everyone proves to be incompetent.