{"id":6375,"date":"2012-02-06T12:25:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2014-09-03T16:19:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T20:19:20","slug":"overcoming-roadblocks-to-esy-services-a-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/overcoming-roadblocks-to-esy-services-a-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming Roadblocks to ESY Services &#8211; A Success Story"},"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=\"Overcoming%20Roadblocks%20to%20ESY%20Services%20-%20A%20Success%20Story\";<\/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=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/bs\/boy.working.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" \/>Christine writes that her 5th grade son, Alex, has high-functioning autism and average cognitive abilities. He has not met his IEP reading goal in over 2 years.<\/p>\n<p>The school does not use standardized measures to track his progress and has been giving him average grades. He reads 2 years or more below grade level, yet the school gives him average grades.<\/p>\n<p><em>We were clueless and didn&#8217;t notice.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">We Pushed for Significant Change<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This year, we got a great comprehensive evaluation from an independent evaluator.<\/p>\n<p>For the next school year, we&#8217;ve pushed for a significant change and had it written into the IEP:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>increase in reading instruction<\/li>\n<li>DIBELS fluency measures<\/li>\n<li>a change of reading program (with unfortunately under-trained teachers, but we&#8217;ll save that for another letter).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Against our advice, the school has set the reading goal unrealistically high. Apparently, they are optimistic!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>We Requested ESY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>We wanted our son to get some reading help over the summer to try to reach this goal. The school district said summer school did not meet our son&#8217;s needs.<\/p>\n<p>I started researching <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/esy.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Extended School Year (ESY)<\/span><\/a> regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Before our third and final IEP meeting of the season, we wrote twice via email and requested the school add Extended School Year (ESY) services to the agenda.<\/p>\n<p>The emailed reply was: &#8220;Yes, I will add ESY. However, I believe we would all agree that ESY does not meet Alex&#8217;s needs. It is generally offered to the DD and DLP students, not resource students.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>We Did Our Research<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">www.wrightslaw.com<\/span><\/a> and many other fine websites and books. We know the school&#8217;s reasoning is contrary to the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) for two reasons.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Determination about <strong>ESY is a team decision<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ESY cannot be limited to particular categories<\/strong> of disability or types of service<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In spite of what the school said, they did not add ESY to the agenda before the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>When the meeting began, we asked the school again to add ESY to the agenda. The general feeling in the room was exasperation.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, they added ESY as the last item.<\/p>\n<p>When ESY came up, the school told us again that Alex didn&#8217;t qualify for these services. The school does not offer ESY to a resource student. The summer school reading program is the same program that is currently failing Alex.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>We Navigated Around the Roadblocks<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I then made my prepared and practiced statement:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Multiple unmet IEP yearly goals show that Alex is making little progress in reading.<\/li>\n<li>Last summer&#8217;s regression\/recoupment measured by the school was demonstrated in the WPM rates.<\/li>\n<li>Serious regression in reading over the summer and probable slow recoupment is again likely.<\/li>\n<li>Alex&#8217;s reading deficits affect his learning in other subjects.<\/li>\n<li>As he gets older, it is less likely that Alex will catch up to his peers in reading.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&#8220;Therefore, we propose that Alex see a reading tutor 2 or 3 times per week for 6 weeks over the summer at the district&#8217;s expense.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The room became very quiet. The coordinator and facilitator tried to argue with us.<\/p>\n<p>I told them, &#8220;It&#8217; says that you can&#8217;t deny ESY based on category of disability or type of service.&#8221; They responded, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what &#8220;It&#8221; is you are reading.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We handed them a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isbe.state.il.us\/spec-ed\/pdfs\/memo_esy_01.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">our state&#8217;s ESY memo<\/span><\/a>. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.isbe.state.il.us\/spec-ed\/pdfs\/memo_esy_01.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.isbe.state.il.us\/spec-ed\/pdfs\/memo_esy_01.pdf<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, that,&#8221; they replied.<\/p>\n<p>I told them I would like to hear what the rest of the team thought. We&#8217;ve found this is a very useful technique. Not everyone in the room is a roadblock; most of them just won&#8217;t speak up.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, our son&#8217;s regular ed teacher said she thought tutoring was a good idea. Then the assistive technology person agreed, and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>We were on our way!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The school has committed to and agreed to pay for tutoring for the summer as extended school year services.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/aaieps.html\"><em><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/aaiep\/cover.130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"117\" height=\"147\" \/><\/strong><\/em><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What ESY Looks Like<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Thank you for describing what ESY looks like &#8211; a critical chapter for families.<\/strong><\/em> &#8211; Patty Kishi, Vice-President, Autism Bridges Maui<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The school may not unilaterally limit ESY services to a set number of days or hours. ESY services cannot be limited because of financial resources of the school or for administrative convenience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about ESY from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/aaiep\/index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: All About IEPs<\/span><\/a>, Chapter 12: Extended School Year (ESY) Services.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/aaieps.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Get your copy today!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christine writes that her 5th grade son, Alex, has high-functioning autism and average cognitive abilities. He has not met his IEP reading goal in over 2 years. The school does <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/overcoming-roadblocks-to-esy-services-a-success-story\/\">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":[1271,1371,643],"tags":[1329,234,148],"class_list":["post-6375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism","category-extended-school-year-esy","category-success-stories","tag-esy","tag-extended-school-year","tag-success-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375","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=6375"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11910,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions\/11910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}