June 21, 2005
Family Declines Special Education Services
A Home School Legal Defense Association member in Jackson County contacted us after receiving a request from the local school district for an evaluation of their child. The Brown family (not their real name) had been working with their pediatrician to address their child's speech needs and had been referred to the Child Development Services at Asante Health System.
After learning that the early childhood special education services through Asante would be coordinated with the local public school district the family decided to meet their child's needs privately and contacted HSLDA attorney Thomas Schmidt for help.
Schmidt contacted Asante and notified them of the Brown's decision to decline the evaluation of their child and meet any needs through private service providers. Schmidt also informed Asante that under Oregon law a parent may convene a privately developed plan (PDP) comprised of the parents and one or more private service providers to address the educational development of a child with special needs. One of the benefits for homeschool parents is that the PDP team can determine an alternative evaluation to demonstrate satisfactory educational progress when testing is required in grades 3, 5, 8 or 10.
Once Asante was notified of the Brown's decision to decline services and take an alternative approach with a PDP team they dropped the evaluation request.
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