Does your child struggle in school due to a diagnosed disability? Does your child struggle with age-appropriate tasks? Perhaps your child struggles with speech or other aspects of development, and you believe your child may qualify for special education. Find below an example of an email you can send to your child’s school (copy the teacher and the assistant principal) to request testing to determine if your child is eligible to receive special education services through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Testing compliance windows can vary by state, so check your state’s compliance information before using this template. Remember, some of the information below may not apply to your child, but I included as much detail as possible for those who need it. I hope you find it helpful!
Example letter for requesting IEP eligibility testing:
Date (this is crucial!)
Your name and address
Assistant Principal’s name, et al.
Example Elementary
Address
Dear Assistant Principal Name,
Thank you for speaking with me recently about my son, name, and his educational development. He was diagnosed with [insert diagnosis] by Dr. [Name] on [date}. “Name” is currently struggling with x, y, and Z. (Here, say things like reading comprehension, phonics recognition, age appropriate social skills/behavior, reciprocal communication, eye contact, attention to tasks, simple math computation, etc.) and is not developing in these skills at a typical rate. (Be specific if you can.) Name’s consistent struggles with these issues indicate that he may have a learning disability that prevents him from accessing the curriculum. We believe he may benefit from specialized instruction.
We, his parents, are formally requesting that he be tested for IEP eligibility including a psycho-educational evaluation by the school psychologist, a speech evaluation by the speech language pathologist including pragmatics and communication skills, and a motor skills evaluation by the occupational therapist. While testing is being scheduled and completed, RTI should begin immediately if it is not already in progress so that we have adequate data to review. The school should be able to provide RTI data from the date of Tier 3 intervention implementation, which was XXX. We are eager to sign the permission slip for IEP evaluation within the 15 day compliance window so that testing may begin as soon as possible. Please also let us know if he needs an updated hearing and vision screening by the school nurse, which we understand must be on file prior to testing.
Please provide a copy of all assessment results once complete so that we may review them before the IEP eligibility meeting. We look forward to reviewing assessment data with you and the IEP team at an agreed upon time within the 60 day compliance window to determine IEP eligibility. Please confirm receipt of this request within 24 hours.
Sincerely,
Name