Special education is a set of services -- including specially designed instruction, related services, supplemental aids and supports, and transition services -- that children with disabilities have a right to receive to meet their individualized needs.

The delivery of special education services is governed by the federal law called IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). If your child has a disability, she may have many rights under the IDEA. He may also be entitled to accommodations or services under another disability law known as Section 504.

In New York City, the system to get those services can be complicated and frustrating. Below is a brief overview of special education, including the process to get services and a basic understanding of your child's rights. There are also some practical tips for parents to help them navigate the special education system. For additional information, you can download Advocates for Children's 38-page guide to special education in New York City.

Please note: This guide is not intended as legal advice and is not a full explanation of the rights of children with disabilities and their parents. Although the information below is intended as an introduction for parents, each individual child's case is unique. The information below should NOT be used as the final word for any individual child's case.

Also, many students with disabilities do not receive appropriate services in New York City public schools. If you think your child may not be getting the services he needs, you should consider consulting with an advocacy organization or attorney to discuss your child's specific needs.

On this page: Services | Who's eligible | Referral and evaluation | Your rights | Important concepts

What kinds of services are available?

According to federal law, a child must receive the type of special education and related services that meet his needs. In theory, each child's program could be unique. However, in New York City most students receive services from the city's list - known as the "Continuum." The Continuum services include but are not limited to:

• Special Education Teacher Support Services - a teacher works with students for short periods during the day either in their classrooms or in "pull-out" sessions in another room. Children generally receive these services to augment their general education classes.
• Collaborative team-teaching (CTT)- a class with a general education teacher and a special education teacher and a mix of general and special education students.
• Special classroom settings, in a community school or special school. These are classes or schools enrolling only children with disabilities.
• Placement in a private school or residential school.
• Related services, including physical, occupational, speech and language therapy, and counseling.
• Transition services - these are services designed to help a student over the age of 14 move toward post-secondary outcomes, like college, employment and independent living.

Practical tip: Remember, the Department's list of services is not all inclusive; if a child needs a service that is not on that list, she may be entitled to it, although a parent may have to use her "due process" rights to get them.

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Who is entitled to special education services?

Special education services are for students who are classified as having one of 13 different disabling conditions: autism, deaf-blindness, emotionally disturbed, hard of hearing, learning disabled, mentally retarded, multiply disabled, orthopedically impaired, speech-impaired, traumatic brain injury, visually impaired, and other health impairment.

Practical tip: Not all children with disabilities are necessarily entitled to special education services, but they may need accommodations or services in order to participate in school or after-school activities. Students with severe asthma, cerebral palsy, physical impairment, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), or even depression, for example, may need special modifications in their general education classroom or access to medication for them to be able to attend and fully participate in school. These students may be entitled to those accommodations under a law called Section 504, which has a different process from special education.

How do you get special education services?

The basic steps to get special education services are:

• Referral: referring a child for evaluation.
• Consent: parental consent for evaluation and to initiate services.
• Evaluation: evaluating the child.
• IEP review meeting: meeting with the parent and professionals to make decisions about eligibility and create an Individualized Education Plan for the child.
• Recommendation: recommending and offering services, which could include a classroom setting, for the child.

Timeline: Generally New York State regulations mandate that the Department of Education complete the special education process within 60 days from the time a parent consents to an evaluation or referral for re-evaluation.

If there are problems along the way: Parents with concerns or problems with any of the steps listed above have “due process” rights that they can use to make sure their child is receiving appropriate evaluations and services. See Your Rights below.

Referral
A child may be referred for evaluations by the child’s parent, by the school or by an outside agency that works with the child. If a person other than the parent refers the student to special education, they must include information as to why a referral is appropriate.

Practical tip: If you are referring your child for an evaluation, be sure to do it in writing and mail your referral “certified mail, return receipt requested.” That way you will have an official record of when you made the referral and can hold the school to the required timeline to offer appropriate services. To cover your bases, it is a good idea to write directly to both the principal and the manager of your committee on special education.

"Child find" and non-special education extra-help services
Schools have a responsibility to identify students, who based on their behavior and/or school work, they reasonably suspect have a disability. They are obligated to refer these students for an evaluation – rather than let them struggle for years without help. This idea is called “child find.” At the same time, your child doesn’t have to have a disability to get extra-help services in school. If your child is struggling to keep up in class or he needs other support services, you can request and receive help - such as tutoring, counseling or a behavior intervention plan. See our informational page on tutoring for more information on the type of academic services your child may receive.

Consent
If you want your child to be evaluated, you must first give your consent. However, you are not required to consent to an evaluation. If you don't agree, a school district may to file an impartial hearing to override your objection.

Practical tip: Some parents are wary of letting the school evaluate their child, either because they believe special education will not help their child or because they fear the school will not give a fair assessment. If a parent is being pressured to consent to an evaluation that he does not want, he may want either to write to the principal requesting that the school’s Pupil Personnel Team meet to create a support plan for his child, request 504 accommodations or services (see also above) or to find an evaluator from outside the school system to get an independent opinion on whether special education services are needed. If parents are receiving a lot of pressure, it is advisable that they speak with an advocate or attorney, because schools sometimes inappropriately refer parents to the Administration for Children’s Services. For a list of independent evaluators, call Advocates for Children (the parent organization of Insideschools.org), 866-427-6033, during help line hours, Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Evaluation
All evaluations start out with some basics – a look at the child’s social history, and an educational and psychological evaluation. They should also include all other areas where there is a suspected disability, such as speech and language, physical therapy, occupational therapy, auditory processing, a psychiatric, neurological, assistive technology, or any other evaluation that is needed to determine a child’s learning needs. You have the right to give input into what evaluations and other information should be gathered for this purpose.

Practical tip: If you believe the evaluation your child received is not adequate or if it has not been provided to you within 60 days of the consent, you may write and request a private evaluation at the Department of Education’s expense. To cover your bases, it is a good idea to write your request to the principal, the "School-based Support Team" and the Committee on Special Education (CSE). The Department of Education either must agree to pay for a private evaluation or, if not, file a hearing and prove to a hearing officer that the school’s evaluation is adequate. (School officials often choose just to pay for the private evaluation.) Independent evaluations can be expensive but there are evaluators that accept insurance or have sliding scale fees. However, they may have long waiting lists. Nevertheless, many parents find they are worth the wait. For a list of evaluation sites, please call Advocates for Children during its help line hours from Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 866-427-6033.

IEP review meeting
Once all evaluations are complete, a parent is invited to meet with a team that reviews his or her child’s evaluations and any other information - from the parent, the child, the child’s teacher and any other person with knowledge of the child. The team determines whether the child is eligible for special education. If your child is eligible, the team will create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for the child. Under the IDEA, the IEP team must include, at a minimum, the parent, a general education teacher if the student is or may participate in general education, a special education teacher, a representative of the district and a person who can interpret the evaluation results in order to design appropriate interventions and instruction. The team can also include the child and any other person with knowledge of the child and an interpreter, if needed. New York State law also requires a parent member, a psychologist and a physician for certain meetings. There may be other team members required under certain circumstances. (Judicial decrees may require additional team members.)

What goes in the IEP: The IEP is a large document that must include – according to federal law - the child's present levels of educational performance; a list of measurable annual goals for the child; the special education, related services, modifications and supplementary aids and services to be provided to the child; an explanation of how much the child will participate with non-disabled children in the regular class; when the services and modifications will begin; the frequency, location, and duration of those services and modifications; the testing modifications the child needs to participate in city and state-wide tests; or if the child will not participate in those standardized tests, an explanation of why that assessment is not appropriate for the child and how the child will be assessed; and beginning at age 14, and updated annually, the transition service needs of the child.

Practical tips: Parents are supposed to be equal members of the IEP team. It’s a good idea to consult with an advocacy agency or an attorney about how to prepare for the IEP meeting to get what you want for your child. If you have the meeting and are not happy with the IEP recommendations, you can challenge the recommendations by using your “due process” rights (see below).

IEP implementation and placement
Under the IDEA, the parent must be a member of the group of people who make a determination about the child’s educational placement unless the district has undertaken outreach to try to obtain the parents’ participation and has not been able to do so.

According to state regulation, by the 60th day from the time a parent consents to evaluations or 30 days from the IEP meeting, the Department of Education must arrange for the child’s IEP to be implemented. If a child has been referred to special education for the first time, the parent must first consent to the initial provision of special education and related services before they begin. If the IEP is not implemented within the required time, a parent may have the right to seek funding to place the child in a private school or private services at the school district’s expense. Note: You must locate an approved vendor.

Practical tip: It is strongly suggested a parent consult an advocacy agency or an attorney if his or her child does not begin receiving appropriate services by the 60th day. Click here for a list of advocacy organizations.

Note: In addtion to the formal procedure, if your child with special needs is having difficulty, there are people at your school and district who you can go to for informal help. In addition to the parent coordinator at your child’s school, the principal should provide informal help. If she is not responsive, contact either your Committee on Special Education (CSE), which oversees all the special education programs in your district, or the Administrator for Special Education that oversees your child’s school.

District 75 schools also have parent coordinators, who will provide informal help. If they are unresponsive, you can contact your principal or the citywide offices of District 75 at 400 First Avenue or call 212-802-1503 for the district family advocate. To look up schools in District 75, visit our Find a school section.

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Some important parents' rights include:

• Right to review your child’s records including evaluations, IEP and other educational records.
• Right to informed consent prior to an evaluation or re-evaluation of your child.
• Right to written prior notice a reasonable time before the school district proposes to or refuses to start or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement or the provision of a free appropriate education to your child. It must be provided to you in the language you speak or other kind of communication that you understand unless it is clearly not possible to do so.
• Notice of prior meetings.
• Right to notice of procedural due process rights upon initial referral for evaluation of your child, with each notice of a CSE or Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) meeting, upon reevaluation of your child, when the district receives a letter from you requesting an impartial hearing, when a decision is made to suspend or remove your child for discipline reasons that would result in a disciplinary change in placement.

Mediation: The parent can request a mediation meeting with a representative from the Department of Education and an independent mediator. The mediator will try to facilitate an agreement between the department and the parent. If either the parent or the department are not satisfied with any agreement, however, no result happens from the meeting. The department is not required to go to mediation.

Impartial hearing: An impartial hearing can also be requested by writing to the Office of Impartial Hearings, 131 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Requests should include, among other things, the name and address of the student, the school the student attends, the nature of the problem and a proposed resolution. Hearing decisions can also be appealed to the state. For additional information, you can download Advocates for Children's guide to impartial hearings.

Your child's right to "stay put": While a parent is asserting his "due process" rights, the student has the right to stay put in his or her current educational placement. This is a concept called "pendency." Under these circumstances, a child's placement can be changed only by the mutual agreement of the parents and the district.

Attorneys and advocates: Although a parent does not have to have an attorney or advocate for any of the due process steps above, it is advisable that a parent consult with one, particularly if a parent is going to an impartial hearing. Click here for a list of advocacy organizations.

Right to file a complaint with the State Education Department
Parents or other organizations can also file a written complaint to the State Education Department if they believe a school district has violated procedures under state or federal special education laws and regulations.

Annual reviews, re-evaluations and triennial evaluations
After a child starts receiving special education services, each year, by the beginning of the school year, the IEP team has to have met and reviewed the child's IEP to determine, among other things, whether the child is making progress and whether changes need to be made. A parent may request a re-evaluation, but the school district must re-evaluate a child at least once every three years.
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Some important concepts in special education

The "Least Restrictive Environment"
A key concept in special education is that children with disabilities should, to the maximum extent appropriate, be educated with their non-disabled peers, or – as the law puts it – in the least restrictive environment. The only time a child should be placed in a setting away from the general education population is when he or she cannot be educated in a regular class even with supplementary aids and services. In other words, if your child can learn in general education with extra services, the IEP team should recommend that he be placed in a regular education setting with services rather than in a special education classroom.

Inclusion classes integrate children with disabilities with children who do not have special needs. In some, two-thirds of the pupils are in general education and one-third receive special education services. In these, two teachers – at least one of whom is certified in special education -- team-teach. (These classes are also called CTT for "collaborative team-teaching.") In other inclusion classes, one or two disabled children are integrated with a class of children in general education. The disabled students receive special services from a full-time teacher's aide, called a para-professional, or from a teacher certified in special education who spends an hour or two a day in the class. Inclusion classes are popular with parents of students in general education because the ratio of students to teachers is lower than in a regular class.

Functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans
A Functional Behavioral Assessment—or FBA—is a behavioral evaluation for children that must be done if a child’s behavior interferes with his/her education or that of other students. Such a plan should include intervention strategies to address the child’s behavior.

For another informative guide to the process and your rights, see New York State’s parent guide,
or New York City Department of Education publications.

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