One of the provisions of California’s SB 98 provides funding and instruction for how to mitigate learning loss caused by school closures during this pandemic. If you feel your child has regressed or is losing skills because of their inability to attend school in person, there is hope! You can ask your child’s IEP team for compensatory services.
But, if your child is still not attending school full time, it may be better to wait and ask after they have returned to traditional brick and mortar school. No one knows how much longer schools will remain fully closed, and, unfortunately, more regression may happen before your child can fully return to school.
What can you do now to prepare for your request? Now is the time to document! First and foremost, call an IEP meeting and share your concerns with your child’s IEP team. Make sure the team understands that you feel your child isn’t accessing their education appropriately and ask them for ideas on how to make that happen.
Second, keep a log of the services your child receives during the span of distance learning. They should be receiving a comparable level and amount of services even if schools aren’t open for on campus learning.
Third, if you have the time, it may also be helpful to keep a log of the activities your child does related to school and how they participate in those activities. How much support do you give your child during each activity? How do they engage in each activity? Does the activity seem to be related to any part of your child’s IEP?
Once schools fully reopen, you can take this information with you to an IEP meeting to ask for compensatory services. It may also be helpful at this point to ask for assessments to prove if learning loss/regression did occur for your child.
No one knows how these next few months will unfold, but we do know that our children are still protected under the IDEA and SB 98. Contact San Diego SEA today if you need help navigating this uncharted territory!
#iep #iepmeeting #relatedservices #iepteam #specialneeds #specialeducationteacher #specialeducation #specialneedsparent #specialneedsparenting #sandiegoparent #sandiegospecialneeds #sandiego #sandiegospecialeducationadvocates #advocate #advocacy #advocatelikeamother #specialneedsadvocacy #compliance #IEPcompliance #onlinelearning #distancelearning #problemsolving #assessment #iepgoals #autism #autismmom