| Are you the parent of a child receiving special | | | | with. Gwen has now been without her needed special |
| education services that is considering placing your child | | | | education services for over 6 months and we see |
| in a private program, for denial of a free appropriate | | | | regression in what she is able to do and communicate! |
| public education (FAPE)? Would you like to have a | | | | Gwen has had several Early Intervention and private |
| sample letter that will help you in your advocacy? This | | | | evaluations where she was diagnosed with: |
| article will include a sample of a letter that will help you | | | | Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder, Severe |
| in your fight for an appropriate education for your child. | | | | developmental delays in several areas, Sensory |
| Mr. Stone | | | | Integration Dysfunction, and fine motor difficulty. All of |
| Special Education Coordinator | | | | the evaluators agree that Gwen has several disabilities |
| Seagull School District | | | | and that she requires special education services to |
| 1200 Rock Rd. | | | | benefit from her education! Also, a long list of |
| Seagreen Il. 60902 | | | | recommendations was totally ignored by the school |
| Date: June 25, 20___ | | | | district. |
| Dear Mr. Stone: | | | | In a recent US Supreme Court ruling the justices found |
| This letter is to notify you that we are placing our | | | | that: A reading of the Act that left parents without an |
| daughter Gwen (Date of Birth 06-02-20__) in a | | | | adequate remedy when a school district unreasonably |
| private school (called Hope Academy), and will be | | | | failed to identify a child with disabilities, would not |
| seeking reimbursement for the placement, due to the | | | | comport with Congress's acknowledgment of the |
| fact that the school district is denying my child's | | | | paramount importance of properly identifying each child |
| disability, and found her ineligible for special education | | | | eligible for services. |
| services. This ineligibility is denying our daughter a free | | | | Because of this ruling my husband and I are eligible for |
| appropriate public education! | | | | reimbursement of private school expenses because |
| When Gwen was in Early Intervention we participated | | | | our daughter is being denied FAPE, and because we |
| in all of the transition meetings. We made sure that the | | | | believe that Hope Academy is an appropriate |
| schools representative had copies of all of Gwen's | | | | placement for her. We are enclosing information on the |
| evaluations, that had been done up to that point. A | | | | Hope Academy with this letter. |
| domain meeting to discuss testing was held, which my | | | | Please let us know if you would like to evaluate Gwen |
| husband and I participated in. We totally disagreed with | | | | because we would be happy to make her available to |
| the IEP team that Gwen did not need further testing to | | | | you. |
| see if she was eligible for special education services. | | | | Bob and Sara Michaels |
| The IEP team then stated that Gwen was ineligible for | | | | 123 Cullins St. |
| special education services; which we also disagreed | | | | |