{"id":4869,"date":"2011-04-04T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=4869"},"modified":"2011-04-01T10:43:47","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T14:43:47","slug":"the-rti-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/the-rti-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"The RTI Hurdle"},"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=\"The%20RTI%20Hurdle\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p>My daughter is 4 grade levels behind in reading. \u00a0According to her evaluation, she has dyslexia, low working memory, and a severe reading disability. The school said they would start her in tier 3 RTI. If she doesn&#8217;t make make progress, they will give her an IEP. Shouldn\u2019t she qualify for special ed now, without waiting for RTI?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The school team is clearly wrong.\u00a0 Response to Intervention (RTI) and an educational evaluation to determine eligibility for special education <strong>run concurrently<\/strong>. They are two different trains running on two different tracks <strong>at the same time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. RTI is part of that pavement!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Initially, the purpose of RTI was to screen students, provide more intensive help to struggling students, and identify other students in need of special education. When IDEA was reauthorized in 2004, Congress added a new provision for children who may have a specific learning disability &#8211; that a district &#8220;may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention <strong>as part of the evaluation procedures<\/strong> &#8230;&#8221; (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(b)(6) &#8211; Special Rule for Eligibility Determination; see page 97 in \u00a0<a title=\"Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2d edition\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/selaw2.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law<\/span>)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information, see:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/rti.parent.guide.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A Parent Guide to RTI<\/span><\/a> by Susan Bruce at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/rti.parent.guide.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/rti.parent.guide.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/idea\/art\/rti.hale.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Response to Intervention: Guidelines for Parents and Practitioners<\/span><\/a> by Dr. James Hale at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/idea\/art\/rti.hale.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/idea\/art\/rti.hale.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Parent attorneys and advocates have known for years that many schools are using RTI to delay providing special ed services. In a January 2011 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/policy\/speced\/guid\/idea\/memosdcltrs\/osep11-07rtimemo.pdf\">Memo<\/a> to all State Directors of Special Education, the U.S. Department of Education finally acknowledged that \u201clocal education agencies may be using Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies to delay or deny a timely initial evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The subject line says it all:\u00a0 \u201cA Response to Intervention (RTI) Process <strong>Cannot Be Used to Delay\/Deny an Evaluation<\/strong> for Eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Any questions?<\/p>\n<p>You will find this three page Memorandum at:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/policy\/speced\/guid\/idea\/memosdcltrs\/osep11-07rtimemo.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/policy\/speced\/guid\/idea\/memosdcltrs\/osep11-07rtimemo.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If your daughter is 4 grade levels behind in reading, the school should have implemented RTI years ago.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take an expert to figure this out.<\/p>\n<p>Your daughter should go into RTI immediately. She needs to receive more focused and intensive help for her reading without further delays.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What You Need to Do<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. Submit a written request for the school to evaluate your child to determine if she is eligible for special education. It&#8217;s a good idea to state that this letter is also your consent for the evaluation &#8211; the timeline clock will not begin ticking until the school receives your consent to evaluate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">2. Print the Memo from OSEP and attach it to your request.<\/p>\n<p>The school must determine what testing needs to be done in &#8220;all areas of suspected disability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Once you sign the Parental Written Consent that allows the school to test, <strong>the clock starts ticking!<\/strong> The school has 60 calendar days (unless your state regulations specify a different timeline) to determine if your daughter is eligible for special education services.<\/p>\n<p>You will have both educational trains running on separate tracks at the same time!<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Meet Jeff Martin<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeff Martin graduated with honors from <a href=\"http:\/\/law.wm.edu\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">William &amp; Mary School of Law<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 During his time at William &amp; Mary, Jeff received the <a href=\"http:\/\/law.wm.edu\/news\/stories\/2010\/2010-law-school-awards-ceremony.php\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Gambrell Professionalism Award<\/span><\/a> for written and oral advocacy and trial practice.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff was awarded the Perkins Trust Scholarship and received the CALI Award for his work with the PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic.\u00a0 He was trained in Special Education Law by Pete &amp; Pam Wright.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff represents parents throughout Virginia in all aspects of Special Education law from IEP meetings to Due Process Hearings, though his favorite \u201cclient\u201d is his own daughter, who receives special education under an IEP.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeffrey C. Martin, Esq.<br \/>\nThe Law Firm of Michael C. Tillotson<br \/>\n13195 Warwick Boulevard, Suite 2A<br \/>\nNewport News, Virginia 23602<br \/>\njcmartinlaw@gmail.com<br \/>\n(757) 969-5197 office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My daughter is 4 grade levels behind in reading. \u00a0According to her evaluation, she has dyslexia, low working memory, and a severe reading disability. The school said they would start <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/the-rti-hurdle\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"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":[35,352],"tags":[1301,746,62],"class_list":["post-4869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eligibility","category-response-to-intervention","tag-eligibility","tag-requesting-an-evaluation","tag-rti"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4869"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5003,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869\/revisions\/5003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}