During the COVID school closures, did your child’s school continue to provide the special education and related services in your child’s IEP?
Did the school find ways to provide your child with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)?
Understand Your Child’s Right to Compensatory Education
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Education published Questions and Answers on Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During a COVID-19 Outbreak.
The USDOE advised that if a school could not provide the services in a child’s IEP and the child regressed (lost knowledge and skills), the school will need to provide compensatory education services to reverse the losses.[references below]
Prepare for Comp Ed Meetings
As schools prepare to reopen, expect the IEP team (including you) to schedule a meeting or meetings to discuss your child’s eligibility for compensatory education. Assuming your child is eligible, the IEP team needs to decide what compensatory services your child needs.
Before the IEP team can determine the comp ed services your child needs, the team needs data on your child’s skills and needs. An evaluator needs to assess:
- present levels of academic achievement and functional performance
- the child’s needs for special education and related services
After reviewing data from the assessments, the IEP team will need to develop a written plan that describes your child’s compensatory education services and how the school will provide these services. This plan should become part of your child’s IEP.
As your child’s advocate, you need to learn all you can about compensatory education now. Your child has no more time to waste.
8 Frequently Asked Questions about Compensatory Education will help you identify the obstacles and pitfalls you may encounter. Study these questions and answers carefully.
- What is compensatory education?
- How is the amount of compensatory education awarded?
- How do we manage claims that the remedial education planned for all students will suffice for students in special education?
- What if the school district argues that all students suffered from a reduction in resources generally because of school closings?
- Will all children with IEPs be entitled to compensatory education because they lost the in-person teaching expected in their IEPs?
- How will school districts determine which children get compensatory education?
- What if the school argues that they have a reduced funding environment that makes it hard to provide FAPE?
- What are the options for special education dispute resolution in COVID-19 compensatory education from your state or at a statewide level?
Make copies of this document to share with the members of your child’s IEP team.
 Questions and Answers on Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During a COVID-19 Outbreak (March 2020)
“If a child does not receive services after an extended period, a school must make an individualized determination whether and to what extent compensatory services may be needed . . . to make for any skills that may have been lost.” (Answer to Question A-2),
“If a child does not receive services during a closure, a child’s IEP team (or appropriate personnel under Section 504) must make an individualized determination whether and to what extent compensatory education may be needed . . . including to make up for any skills that may have been lost.” (Answer to Question A-3)