Asking for an evaluation, and what comes next
You don’t need the school’s permission to ask whether your child should be tested. Here is how to ask in a way that gets a written answer.
A child who struggles for months is not always a child who needs special education. But you do not have to guess, and neither does the school. You can ask for an evaluation, and the best way to ask is in writing.
What to put in the request
- Your child’s name, grade and school
- What you have noticed, with two or three examples and roughly when they began
- A sentence that says you are asking for an evaluation for special education services
- The date, and your phone number and email
Send it to the principal and to the school district’s special education office. Keep a copy, and keep a note of how you sent it. An email works as well as a letter, as long as you can show when it left.
What the school does next
The school either agrees to evaluate and asks for your consent, or it declines and tells you why in writing. Both answers are useful. A refusal tells you what the school thinks the problem is, and it can be challenged.
If it agrees, the testing may take more than one sitting. You can add what you know: a doctor’s note, a teacher’s email, a list of examples from home.
The eligibility meeting
When the testing is done, a team meets, with you, to decide whether your child qualifies for services. Ask for the report a few days before. Read it with a pen. Mark the scores you don’t understand and the sentences that don’t sound like your child.
The report is about your child. You are allowed to read it before the meeting, and to disagree with it afterward.
If you disagree with the results, you can ask the school to pay for an independent evaluation. That is one of the things we help with.