Related Services and Supplementary Aids and Services

A free appropriate public education (FAPE) is comprised of special education and related services tailored to meet a child's unique needs and supportive services to permit the child to benefit from the school’s instruction, extracurricular programs, and nonacademic settings. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1401 (9), (26), (33).

“Related Services” refers to services that are connected to a child’s development. They include transportation, speech-language pathology and audiology services; interpreter services; psychological services; physical and occupational therapy; recreation, including therapeutic recreation; 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. See 281 I.A.C. 41.34,

“Supplementary Aids and Services” means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in classes,  other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.  refers to the additional supportive services that a child needs in order to benefit from the school’s programs in education, extracurricular, and nonacademic settings, and to enable the child to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate. See 34 C.F.R. § 300.320(a)(4); 281 I.A.C. 41.42. Examples of supplementary aids and services include adaptive technology, direct services and supports to the child, instruction modifications, instructional delivery, testing accommodations, and support and training for staff who work with the child.

Medicaid and Special Education Consent Form -- Should You Sign It?

Iowa parents frequently ask me if they should sign the consent form given to them by their child’s public school to give permission to the school district or AEA, to bill Medicaid for some of the services set out in the child’s IEP. 

I generally answer “No.”

Before school districts and AEAs request parental consent to bill Medicaid to pay for services set out in a child’s IEP, they are required by federal law to determine that all of the IDEA’s “no cost” requirements set out in 34 CFR §300.154(d)(2)(i)-(iii) are met. See 34 CFR §300.154(d)(2)(iii).  However, parents have told me that when they asked schools and AEAs, those agencies were unable or unwilling to respond in regard to whether school/AEA use of the child’s benefits might have any of the following effects :  

• Decrease the available lifetime coverage or any other insured benefit (e.g., decrease the plan’s allowable number of mental health or physical therapy sessions available to the child);
• Result in the parent being liable to pay for serices that would otherwise be covered by the  public benefits or insurance program because the child also requires those services outside of the time the child is in school;
• Increase the premium or lead to cancellation of the public benefits or insurance; or
• Cause the parent or child to risk the loss of their eligibility for home and community-based waivers based on total health-related expenditures.

The IDEA prohibits any use of a child's or parent's public benefits or insurance if it may have any of these effects. See 34 CFR §300.154(d)(2)(iii).

The IDEA regulations that govern school district and AEA use of a child' public benefits and insurance are addressed by the federal Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in "Letter to McKinney." In that letter, OSEP explains that BEFORE a school district may bill Medicaid for school services, it must make a determination that school use of those benefits won’t violate the IDEA’s requirement that special education services must be “free.” It further explains that a school district or AEA may not require parents to sign up for, or enroll in Medicaid or any other public benefits or insurance program as a condition of the school/AEA’s provision of services to the child that the IDEA.

The "Letter" also explains that a school district or AEA may not require the parent to pay an out-of-pocket expense, such as the payment of a deductible or co-pay amount for filing a claim for services that the district is otherwise required to provide the child without charge.  For example, if a child’s IEP includes mental health counseling, and the parent’s or child’s insurance requires a $25 co-pay or deductible payment for a session, the school/AEA must to pay the cost of the co-pay or deductible if it bills the parent’s or child’s public benefits or insurance program for the particular service.

Good things to know.

OSEP’s Letter to McKinney is available at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/13-013615rwa-mckinney-medicaid9-3-13.pdf

  

Special Education Time Frames Part 2

This is the second article about time frames under special education law.  While some federal and state special education regulations describe the timeframes in which a school district and area education agency must take certain actions.  While some of these regulations state a specific number of days, others indicate that actions should be taken in an unspecified but timely way.  In this post, I will begin setting out some of the time frames that apply to specific actions under the special education regulations contained in the Iowa Administrative Code.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)                      See 281—41.502

An IEE is an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner not employed by the AEA. After a school district/AEA have performed an evaluation, if the parents of a child with a disability disagree with the outcome of that evaluation, they have the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation (IEE) of the child at public expense, subject to the conditions set out in the Iowa Administrative Code. 

If a parent requests an IEE at public expense, the AEA must, without unnecessary delay, either:

(1) File a due process complaint to request a hearing to show that its evaluation is appropriate; or

(2) Ensure that an independent educational evaluation is provided at public expense, unless the AEA demonstrates in a hearing pursuant to these rules that the evaluation obtained by the parent did not meet agency criteria.

The school district and AEA may not unreasonably delay either providing the IEE at public expense or by delaying before filing a due process complaint to request a due process hearing to defend the public evaluation.

Determination of Eligibility for Special Education and/or Related Services  See 281– 41.306

Upon completion of the evaluation, a group of qualified professionals and the child’s parent shall determine whether the child is a child with a disability, as defined in accordance with subrule 41.306(3) and the educational needs of the child; and the school district/AEA shall provide a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility at no cost to the parent.

Initial Provision of Services          See 281--41.323(3)      See 281—41.103(3)

Within 30 days of the date the evaluation team determines that a child needs special education and related services, the school district and AEA must hold a meeting of the IEP team to develop an IEP for the child, and begin services.

There shall be no delay in implementing an eligible individual’s IEP, including any case in which the payment source for providing or paying for special education and related services to the child is being determined.