{"id":138,"date":"2009-06-12T06:17:21","date_gmt":"2009-06-12T11:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=138"},"modified":"2016-11-15T13:24:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T17:24:48","slug":"can-a-school-be-forced-to-evaluate-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/can-a-school-be-forced-to-evaluate-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the School be Forced to Evaluate a Child?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Can%20the%20School%20be%20Forced%20to%20Evaluate%20a%20Child%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: center;\" title=\"Girl student being evaluated\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/bs\/teach.girl.jpg\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What can you do if a school team refuses to evaluate a child?<\/p>\n<p>What can you do if the school team insists that an evaluation will not provide relevant information for educational planning?<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nWhen the school doesn&#8217;t want to test a child, can you force them to evaluate?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the question:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Is the school forced to do a psycho-educational evaluation when the child&#8217;s school team agrees that testing would not provide information relevant to the child&#8217;s educational planning?<\/p>\n<p>The foster parent and court advocate want the child tested anyway. Does the school have to provide information from testing?<\/p>\n<p>Testing is not needed when the classroom teachers are making accommodations and modifications.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is an interesting way to frame a question &#8211; Can a school be &#8220;<strong>forced<\/strong>&#8221; to something they don&#8217;t want to do?<\/p>\n<p>Does the <strong>law require<\/strong> the school to evaluate a child?\u00a0 <strong>Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>law <\/strong><strong>is clear and unambiguous <\/strong><strong>that the school shall conduct a full and individual evaluation if the parents or school staff request it.<\/strong> (See Evaluations, Parental Consent, and Reevaluations on page 93, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/selaw2\/selaw2.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd edition<\/span><\/a>) <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Advice: Get a Comprehensive Evaluation from an Expert in the Private Sector<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nFrom a practical perspective, if you force the school to evaluate, the evaluation may not be comprehensive, may simply confirm what the school team believes,\u00a0 and\/or may conclude that your child&#8217;s problems are due to family factors or issues within the child. For more about family and child blaming, read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sch.culture.alessi.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Blame Game!\u00a0 Are School Problems the Kids&#8217; Fault?<\/span><\/a> at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sch.culture.alessi.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sch.culture.alessi.htm<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sch.culture.alessi.htm\"><br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\nInstead, we encourage parents to get a comprehensive evaluation of their child from an expert in the private sector. Look for an evaluator who has expertise in your child&#8217;s disability. Ask if the evaluator is willing to meet with the school staff to explain your child&#8217;s unique needs and what the child needs in an educational program.<\/p>\n<p>If your child has ADD\/ADHD, look for a child psychologist or educational diagnostician who has expertise in learning disabilities and ADD\/ADHD. If your child has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, look for an evaluator who has expertise in evaluating and educating children with ASD.<\/p>\n<p>For the complete answer to this question and helpful resources, read <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.force.school.htm\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Can a School be Forced to Evaluate a Child?<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> at<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.force.school.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.force.school.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Tests &amp; Evaluations<\/span><\/a>, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/test.index.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can you do if a school team refuses to evaluate a child? What can you do if the school team insists that an evaluation will not provide relevant information <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/can-a-school-be-forced-to-evaluate-a-child\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,3,35,63,7,136],"tags":[53,1291,1301,31,1293,38,1311,121],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accommodations-modifications","category-advocacy","category-eligibility","category-independent-evaluations","category-legal-news","category-strategies","tag-accommodations","tag-advocacy","tag-eligibility","tag-evaluations","tag-idea-2004","tag-rights-responsibilities","tag-special-education-regulations","tag-unique-needs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19834,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/19834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}