Standard for getting/keeping PT services

[dlp]

Hi:

My dd is entering kindergarten in California. She has been receiving services through our school district since the age of 3. One of those services is PT, once a week for 30 minutes at the district's therapy gym. It is clear to me they want to cease PT, likely at the triannual IEP which will happen in November. (one PT for the entire medium to large suburban district).

The PT keeps making statements to me like "all we have to get her to is safely navigating the school environment." Sometimes I ask about how dd is progressing on a particular age appropriate skill and she will remark that the particular skill is "developmental" not academic or relate to safely navigating the school environment. She has also made a similar remark in a full assessment I requested prior to our Kinder Transition IEP in May. Although my dd's "gross motor skills are at the 3 -3.5 year old level" dd "presents as safe, functional, and independent in her overall gross motor abilities."

Temporarily ignoring how a kid with a 2 year delay in gross motor is ready to stop PT, my gut is the standard is off. I am thinking it should be more along the lines of she can fully access/participate in the cirriculum and school activities. I can't find any regulation or case that speaks to this in the context of PT. If the district is wrong, I would like to come back with "no, the standard is XYZ.". Even better if I can cite a reg or give them a copy . I also know this same line is giving to several other parents (safely navigates campus) and I get the feeling if the district says it often enough with conviction, parents will back off thinking the school district is right.

Thanks for your time.

[Brice]

It comes in different forms.


Presents as?Look at it this way: If your daughter needs physical therapy services to help her participate in classroom work such as writing, sitting, standing, etc., then withholding those services will have a negative (adverse) effect on her academic achievement and progress.

It is also important for you to know that if the school district thinks it should cut the services, it must do two things:

1. Conduct an evaluation to decide whether your daughter continues to need the services for FAPE, and,

2. Give you a Prior Written Notice (PWN) that fully explains how and why the decision to cut the service was made.

34 CFR 300.503 requires prior written notice to be given to the parents of a child with a disability a reasonable time before the public agency proposes (or refuses) to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of FAPE to the child. You can read this requirement by going to http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.503.

And the last point in your questions to me is about finding a regulation or case that speaks directly to the context of physical therapy (PT).

Let me give you a huge tip: It is better have a half-pound of good facts than 100 pounds of case decisions. Why? Because any case decision that speaks to physical therapy (or any other similar related service) analyzes the controling law (statute of regulation) by applying the facts of the particular case to the controlling law.

I think the regulation you are looking for is in the definitions section at 34 CFR 300.34(b)

300.34
Related services.
(a) General.

Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also include school health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training. [Emphasis added]

You can find that regulation at http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.34The definitions might be the most important part of the regulations. Most of us overlook them as we dig through case law and other regulation parts looking for the secret mojo to put the school district straight.

So taking that definition, and the little formula about case decisions, we can ask this question: Do your facts prove that your daughter requires PT as a related service to benefit from her special education?

That is exactly the question a court or hearing officer might ask if you were to ask for a due process hearing on this issue.

The takeaway point:Another suggestionand her advocate you will take on a whole new perspective about how you work with with the school. You are just as smart as anyone in the IEP meeting and don't you ever let the school folks imply otherwise.

Final tip:

[Ann]

Consider also Adapted PE

Hi DLP,
You could also look into adapted physical education for your daughter. Once she is in kindergarten, PE is part of the regular state curriculum, even if your CA school doesn't schedule it very often. Adapted PE is thus not a related service to access the academic curriculum, but a subject by itself. You could request in writing an evaluation of your daughters abilities in this area. An Adapted Physical Education Specialist will do tests such as the Test of Gross Motor Development and the Hughes Basic Motor Assessment. These will give a numerical level for your daughter and the average for her age with plus/minus one standard deviation. Then you can see how many standard deviations she is below age level and if it is more than about two to three SDs, the school district must provide adapted PE with a specialist each week to work on improving the skills that are lagging. This will be very much like physical therapy, but on the school site. The specialist teachers travel from school to school and bring any equipment they need with them. Adapted PE was marvelous for my son when he had it.
Best wishes,
Ann

The CA standards for PE are described here. This shows what the state thinks your daughter ought to be able to know and do by the end of kindergarten, and which adapted PE would work towards if regular education in these subjects with her class of students will not enable her to reach these levels.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/docum...estandards.pdf