MCPS IEP testing

[Anonymous]

We are in MCPS and new to the IEP process.

We would like to request testing for our 2nd grader.

He struggles with reading, speech/writing (expression of thoughts), and math. Below grade level for all.

What do I ask for? Are there specific tests?

Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

OP here - sorry about that typo at the end and the angry emoji!

[Anonymous]

Best way to go about this school saying that you: 1) suspect your kid has a disability that affects his reading, speech/writing (expression of thoughts) and math and that 2) this disability is impacting him because he is below grade level in all of these areas and 3) and that your child may need specialized instruction to achieve on grade level. Therefore, you are requesting an IEP eligibility meeting, and, furthermore, you understand that the school is required, under its child Find obligation, to assess all children with suspected disability, and could someone please get in touch with you to schedule this meeting and testing.

The school then has 30 days to schedule the first meeting which is often called a “IEP eligibility meeting“ but depending upon your state or school district, they may have a slightly different name for it. At this meeting the school reviews, whether there is “suspicion of disability“ and if they find that they should then discuss what kind of data collection and testing is necessary. In order to meet the “suspicion of disability,” you have to make a plausible argument that you may meet the three prongs of the IEP determination test: 1) disorder 2) adverse impact on education and 3) need for specialized instruction. (Which I’ve already put into the suggested letter language above.)

At the IP eligibility meeting, which you are invited to and should attend, a number of people are mandated by law to attend: a special teacher, a general, a teacher, a psychologist, etc. These people may already have collected some data about your child as to how he is performing in school. You should already have collected on your own information that you would like to present: whatever testing or grades indicate that he is below level, and any emails from the teacher, relaying problems, and he work samples that you think show that he is below grade level, etc. At this first IEP meeting, the team decide if there is a reasonable suspicion of disability and if so, a 60 day assessment period opens. A psychologist present should ask you to sign consent for testing. This is often done in a very general way by just asking you to check a box for educational testing, behavioral testing, etc. at this stage you should tell the psychologist that you would like your consent to be informed to consent and would she please email you the consent form and list each particular test that she would like to conduct. The psychologist is obliged to do this if you ask - your consent must be informed and you can’t be bullied into just putting a check for some kind of blanket wide open consent.

That way, you can see what test the psychologist would already conduct. You have time to look them up and see what skills they would show and consider whether the tests the psychologist proposes cover the breadth of issues that you’re seeing in your child.

As for specific tests, they’re definitely should be an IQ test with sub testing for verbal reasoning, perceptual, reasoning, processing speed, and working memory. Based on your brief description of your kid, you probably also want:
An auditory processing test which tests sound discrimination, segmenting, blending skills, memory for digits, words and sentences, etc.

A picture vocabulary test which tests, receptive vocabulary, and an expressive vocabulary test.

The clinical evaluation of language fundamentals which tasks respective and expressive language skills within a variety of different tasks.

Comprehensive test of phonological processing along with its rapid naming sub tests.

Phonological awareness test with appropriate sub tasks in grapheme and decoding.

Test of early reading ability.

Oral and written language scales, including the written expression scale

Testing of achievement, which is usually done by the Woodcock Johnson test, evaluating reading, oral comprehension and expression, math reasoning and math fluency, and written expression.

You may also want to test attention and executive functioning. These are often done through the school system with the BRIEF and the Connors or Vanderbilt checklists.

You can have a back-and-forth discussion with the psychologist about why she selected certain tests - what she thinks they may or may not show - issues that your son is having that don’t seem to be covered by any of the testing in which you ask her to recommend what tests can be considered.

If you have any of this conversation orally with the psychologist, you always wanna document in writing by a follow up email thanking her for her time and recapping what it is you and she discussed and agreed to.

[Anonymous]

Wrightslaw.com

[Anonymous]

Do it now. Request a screening meeting. Don't walk away from that meeting without testing. They may say that 2nd grade is too young to identify a learning disability, but that is not true.

There is a time crunch to get the ball rolling. MCPS doesn't like to have to test over the summer.

[Anonymous]

All you need to do is call the school and email your child's teacher and request an evaluation. You have the right to do so. Take an advocate with you to all meetings even this first one. I would consult an advocate immediately too. It's the end of the school year and time is of the essence. The school may ask you to wait until the beginning of the school year. Don't. Make the request right away so you can have things in place when school starts. Make the request in writing this week and contact an advocate. There are other services that may be helpful to your child too.

[Anonymous]

The tests given during the evaluation will be decided at an initial meeting. This is why you need an advocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tests given during the evaluation will be decided at an initial meeting. This is why you need an advocate.

this is a little reductive. The specific tests generally are not decided at the meeting. What is decided at the meeting is if the parent had made enough of an argument that the student passes the IEP eligibility screening decision. Then, the committee usually discusses what areas should be tested (reading, writing, etc.), but the specific tests are usually left up to the discretion of the psychologist (because that is the only person at the IEP table with adequate knowledge about specific tests.

The psychologist's discretion about what tests to use can be influenced by what the parent, on the record in writing (i.e. in materials submitted for the IEP meeting or via email wit the psychologist) requests or expresses is an problem area. If the parent requests specific testing for dyslexia, and the psychologist denies it, then the school is in a difficult position -- the parent can simply request an "Independent Educational Evaluation," and state that he/she thinks the testing is incomplete and therefore she disagrees with it. Most of the time the parent gets an IEE, which is a private evaluation paid for by the school system. So, a good psychologist will do the requested testing -- maybe not the exact test (because there are technicalities about what specific skills are tested, what age is appropriate, how a specific test can/cannot be compared with other tests, etc.

I support having an educational advocate, but it can be expensive. You do not necessarily need an advocate at the meeting if you know what you are doing. You can start off by yourself and consult an advocate by the hour, which is way less expensive than having them come to a meeting. That said, IME, there are some IEP teams or members that simply will not listen to parents or follow the law. Sometimes I have used an advocate to deal with this, sometimes an
attorney, and sometimes I have just written complaint letters to the Superintendent or appropriate assistant superintendent. TBH, the latter has always been the fastest and cheapest fix.

[Anonymous]

#1 lesson we learned, put your concerns and direct request in writing, with a date. Nothing gets the ball rolling like a written, dated request. See Wright's Law for details, format.

We played along with school meetings and verbal requests, only to hear, "no, too young...we don't do that...let's wait and see...etc." A full school year wasted.

This was years ago, prior to so many resources on the internet. After a year of BS and no progress, we hired an attorney. In 2025, I would have prepared things myself.

[Anonymous]

Not op. Curious if academic are below average for a kid, do some teachers recommend parents to consider IEP evaluation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not op. Curious if academic are below average for a kid, do some teachers recommend parents to consider IEP evaluation?

Not unless they suspect a disability. Normally they start with RTI tier 2 - response to intervention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not op. Curious if academic are below average for a kid, do some teachers recommend parents to consider IEP evaluation?

OP - for my kid teacher didn't prompt it. We raised concerns with teacher and she agreed.

[Anonymous]

OP here. THANK YOU ALL.

Such a wonderful, supportive community.

[Anonymous]

It is going to be hard to push the school to do it at this point in the year....so you would really need to be a very strong advocate and escalate the concern up the.chain if they don't agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is going to be hard to push the school to do it at this point in the year....so you would really need to be a very strong advocate and escalate the concern up the.chain if they don't agree.

This is wrong. The time in the school year is irrelevant. Schools are obligated under federal law to a certain timeline when it comes to IEPs.

By federal law (isn’t changing anytime soon even under Trump), once a school receives a written request for an IEP evaluation, they have 30 days to schedule the initial IEP screening meeting, then another 60 days to do gather any data and do an evaluation. Therefore, the final IEP eligibility determination must be held no longer than 90 days from your initial request. This timeline does not stop just because the school year ends in June. The only way it can be stopped is if you, the Parent, “wave timeline“, i.e. agree to extend the timeline (which you should only do if it is in your interest and if your waiver is time and purpose limited.”

All school systems have personnel on staff to conduct IEP meetings during the summer in order to comply with this federal timeline.

The one thing a parent should keep an eye on is to make sure that as the end of the school year is approaching, that each teacher fill out the appropriate teacher report form prior to the end of the year. These teacher report forms may have different names, but there’s a typical form that each school system uses to collect the teacher’s observations in preparation for an IEP meeting. You have a right under federal law, FERPA, to get copies of these teacher report forms in preparation for your IEP meeting. IME, school systems often collect the teacher report forms and cherry pick positive observations without disclosing to parents observations that would support the parents desire for an IEP or negative observations that would indicate problems with the student.

In fact, if you want to have an IEP in place for the beginning of the next school year, you should write your IEP request immediately. That way you would have your IEP screening meeting before the end of the year. You could invite any of your child’s current teachers that you think would be supportive in this process and you would have to have your IEP eligibility determination meeting before the end of July (if your letter was dated May 1, for example).

It often happens, no matter what the time of year, that schools are non-cooperative in contravention of their legal obligation. So, you may ultimately need an advocate, but that has nothing to do with the time of year when you request the IEP.