How Does a Student Get Referred For Special Education?

The legislators who passed IDEA were very aware that special education would be a lot easier if no students were ever identified for services. As a result, they build child find into IDEA. Districts have a legal responsibility to ensure that students with disabilities are “identified, located, and evaluated.” That means that districts have to actively look for students with disabilities in their schools and in their communities. That provision of IDEA is why schools have Student Study Team/ MTSS/ Intervention team meetings. They aren’t just schools being nice. They are how districts follow the law.

What IDEA says in 34 C.F.R. § 300.111(a):

General.

The formal referral for special education assessment, per IDEA, needs to come from the parent, educational agency, or other state agency. What that means is that a wide variety of people can reach out and say that they are concerned about a student and that they feel the student needs to be evaluated. Note that districts can say no to assessment if they feel it is not warranted– it can get complicated– but they can.

I have been given a doctor’s prescription for special education. Per the 7th circuit, “[a] physician cannot simply prescribe special education; rather the [IDEA] dictates a full review by an IEP team.” A doctor can, however, raise concerns about a student. The parent brought us the doctor’s concern and that triggered a site meeting to discuss what the teacher and parent was seeing and to see if evaluation was warranted.

What IDEA says in 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(a):

Consistent with subparagraph (D), either a parent of a child, or a State educational agency, other State agency, or local educational agency may initiate a request for an initial evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability.

This site mostly focuses on IDEA part B, which covers students from age 3 to 22. IDEA, however, covers students starting at birth. A lot of identification is done at the really early ages. IDEA part C covers students from birth to age 2. Just like part B, it specifies that districts have a responsibility to find the little ones with disabilities. Finding kids is harder at this age though– the kids are too little to be in school so there aren’t the sharp eyes of teachers on them. As a result, IDEA states that districts need to engage in “A public awareness program” to make sure that all “referral sources,” including “hospitals and physicians,” are given information to pass onto parents about early identification services offered by the district. At the birth to age two ages, doctors are the biggest source of referrals, which is why IDEA specifically calls them out.  And districts/states (a lot of times, the early referral supports are organized state wide to make identification of kids in need easier) need to make sure that there is a clear “system for making referrals to service providers”– aka districts/states need to make it clear what doctors and families need to do to get the kids screened or assessed for services.

What IDEA says in 34 C.F.R. § 303.320(b):

• (5) A comprehensive child find system, consistent with subchapter II, including a system for making referrals to service providers that includes timelines and provides for participation by primary referral sources and that ensures rigorous standards for appropriately identifying infants and toddlers with disabilities for services under this subchapter that will reduce the need for future services.
• (6) A public awareness program focusing on early identification of infants and toddlers with disabilities, including the preparation and dissemination by the lead agency designated or established under paragraph (10) to all primary referral sources, especially hospitals and physicians, of information to be given to parents, especially to inform parents with premature infants, or infants with other physical risk factors associated with learning or developmental complications, on the availability of early intervention services under this subchapter and of services under section 1419 of this title, and procedures for assisting such sources in disseminating such information to parents of infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Basically, a general education teacher should be looking out for students who are having difficulty mastering content even when provided with high-quality instruction and classroom interventions. Maybe it is a girl who is having trouble with multiplication facts and cheating off a classmate on tests. Maybe it is a boy who gets belligerent whenever you ask him to read and doesn’t seem to be getting better at sounding out words. Those can be warning signs of learning disabilities. You also might notice that a kiddo has noticeable ADHD that is impacting their ability to do work or manage in the classroom. Schools cannot tell families to medicate children, but they can talk to parents about what types of supports those students need in school, including IEPs. You also might notice that a student seems really sad, really shy, or really struggles in classroom situations and these behaviors aren’t going away even with your support. This might be a sign of something going on at home or a sign of a disability. Whatever you are seeing that triggers your spidey senses, you should speak up about. Talk to the parents. Talk to your guidance counselor. Bring the child to team. You lose nothing by bringing up your concerns—and you can be the person who helps a child get the support they need without having to wade through years of failure and frustration.

The law says that districts need to engage in child find. It is up to districts and schools to structure their own referral processes. Almost all have regular meetings to discuss students of concern. Those students might be identified by the general education teacher, a parent, or someone else at the school. Regardless of what the meeting is called (MTSS, SST, child find meetings, referral meetings),  the expectation is that the general education teacher comes with information about what they are observing and what they have tried in class.

If a general education teacher wants a student evaluated, it is incredibly important that they come with evidence of the interventions that they have tried and the results of each. Documentation is incredibly important for referrals.

Once the general education teacher has their documentation, they let someone at the site know– maybe their principal, maybe the counselor, or maybe the special educator– know that they want to discuss the student’s progress.

These meetings vary enormously by school and grade level. At elementary schools, these are often formal meetings with counselors, special educators, school psychologists, nurse, parents, general educators, and administrators. The team reviews the student’s progress, the interventions that have been tried, any health information, the observations of the parent, and any other relevant information. Based on that, the team decides if the student needs more interventions or should be evaluated. At high schools, the process is often slightly more informal. Most students are referred and evaluated at younger ages so many elementary schools have these meetings down to a science. 

There are two answers to this question. The first is that from the day a parent signs a permission to evaluate form for special education, the district has 60 days to do the assessments, hold the IEP, and make the eligibility determination. So one answer to the question is 60 days. The other is, it depends. There are typically a lot of steps that come before the evaluation form gets sent home. For a child with a learning disability, there might be time in class for a general education teacher to get to know and worry about the kid, time for a team meeting to be scheduled, time after that to try interventions, time after that to meet again, time after that for interventions, and maybe then assessment. That is if a teacher is proactive and bringing the kid to team—which not all do. For some kids, it can take multiple years for them to get an IEP. Typically, learning disabilities are the slowest to identify because of how the assessment works and how hard it can be to recognize when a student has one. More significant disabilities are often identified more quickly, but there is huge variability in how long it takes from first concern to permission to evaluation forms going home. If you are concerned about a child, speak up right away and start documenting your concerns and the interventions you have tried. Interventions need to be systematic and sustained so the sooner you can start them, the faster the process from worry to IEP will be.