Understanding the Assessment Process in California
An accurate and complete assessment of a student's suspected and actual disabilities represents an essential foundation toward the preparation of an appropriate Individualized Education Program, or IEP. If you believe that your child has a disability, or that your child's special educational needs have not been appropriately assessed, contact the Law Office of Caroline A. Zuk in Long Beach to learn more about your rights under California and federal special education law.
Los Angeles special education attorney Caroline Zuk offers a unique set of professional perspectives for the benefit of special needs students and their parents. She began her career as a special education teacher, then acquired a pupil personnel services credential in school psychology and worked as a Diagnostic Educational Specialist with the California Department of Education's Diagnostic Center, Southern California. Her practical experience with special education assessments, effective interventions, IEPs, and Independent Educational Evaluations, or IEEs, can help parents understand the assessment process and their options for ensuring that a comprehensive assessment will lead to an appropriate IEP.
Many assessments are conducted after a pediatrician, teacher or parent notices developmental problems at an early age, often before First Grade. If the school district suspects that a child has a disability, then it will recommend an initial assessment to identify unique needs in one or more areas of suspected disability, including speech, language, cognition, academics, motor, adaptive, social, emotional or behavioral functioning, and autism or "autistic-like" behaviors.
Choosing the Right Assessment Tools for Particular Areas of Suspected Disability
An experienced Los Angeles lawyer for special education assessments, Caroline Zuk can assist parents and students in many ways:
- Ensuring that the assessment tools chosen are well suited to the child's areas of suspected or actual disability
- Proposing the use of different assessment tools to alter or refine the initial or subsequent determination of one or more eligibility categories
- Showing through experts that different assessment tools would have yielded different or more nuanced results that, in turn, would have led to a more appropriate IEP
Caroline Zuk's years of experience with assessing children and writing IEPs for California students has given her a great deal of insight into the assessment process, which in turn allows her to provide dependable counsel to parents who need help for their children. Our law firm can analyze the strategic decisions that go into the assessment process, and can also use expert review of your child's assessment to determine the need for an IEE.
Understanding Independent Educational Evaluation
California law recognizes that parents and schools will not always agree about the appropriateness of a particular assessment, including test selection, data interpretation, and eligibility determinations. One question that frequently arises concerns the right of a parent to obtain an IEE at the school district's expense. Our law firm can give you a good understanding of the legal, practical and financial considerations that will guide your decision to seek an IEE.
For additional information about the importance of proper assessment procedures when it comes to identifying your child's educational needs, contact the Law Office of Caroline A. Zuk in Long Beach.