As the parent of a child who is experiencing developmental delays that affect their ability to learn and progress in school, you are probably extremely interested in making sure that your child is receiving the best education possible. Depending on the type of developmental delay or disability that your child is experiencing, and how significantly it affects their progress in school, your child may be eligible for special education benefits under federal and state law. Whether they are currently receiving these benefits or not, it's important to understand their rights and to make sure that their school is providing them with the benefits they're entitled to. This is where the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can help. Our experienced education law attorneys can review your child's situation and are ready to be your child's advocate when issues arise that stand in the way of your child's future.
Call the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team today at 888.535.3686 or schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys to learn more about how we can help.
What Are Developmental Delays?
The term “developmental delay” can refer to a wide range of disorders or conditions that can hinder a child's learning progress. It can refer to a child's physical, cognitive, communication, social, emotional, or adaptive development, and doesn't specifically identify any particular diagnosis. Typically, a child will receive a diagnosis – such as ADHD, for example – that causes the child to develop more slowly in a number of ways. When a child is experiencing developmental delays for any reason, they may be entitled under federal and state law to receive special education services from their local public school.
Because it is such a broad term, there are many different conditions that can fall under the developmental delay category. Some of these include:
- Cognitive Delays. These are delays that interfere with a child's intellectual capabilities. Sometimes they are the result of a brain injury; in other cases they are caused by a genetic condition such as Down syndrome; and many times it's not possible to come to a full understanding of the specific cause of the child's cognitive delay.
- Motor Delays. These affect the child's ability to control their physical actions and can interfere with their ability to do things like tie their shoes and brush their teeth. When they are primarily physical in nature, they may have less of an effect on the child's ability to learn, though in more severe cases such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, the disability may be significant enough so that special education services are needed.
- Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Delays. These include autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and other types of disorders that cause children to process information or react to their surroundings differently than other children their age do. When these delays interfere with the child's ability to learn at a pace that is consistent with their peers, they may be entitled to special education benefits at school.
- Speech Delays. These types of developmental delays can occur when a child has difficulty understanding and processing what is said to them or has problems with expressing themselves. Sometimes, the issue is physical, such as when the child has a problem with the muscles of the mouth, jaw, or tongue. Other times, the cause is physiological, such as a genetic syndrome, hearing loss, or a brain injury. Sometimes the speech delay may relate to the child's environment. Here, too, when the speech delay interferes with the child's ability to learn, special education services may be available to help the child.
Again, there can be a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional issues that can cause a child to experience a developmental delay. Many of these may entitle the child to receive special education benefits from their public school. While the various laws and regulations that provide the basis for these benefits do discuss particular types of conditions, they generally apply in situations where a child is experiencing significant learning disabilities for any reason. This is why it's important to be your child's advocate if they appear to be falling behind in school and may be able to benefit from special education benefits.
A Developmental Delay Can Have a Serious Impact on a Child's Education
One of the most difficult things to experience as a parent is to see your child try their best at school only to fall behind the rest of their class. Maybe this happens in one type of course, such as math or reading; perhaps it's across the board. You might be concerned that if you raise the possibility that your child's lack of progress is rooted in some type of specific developmental delay, school personnel may react negatively to your concerns.
It's important to understand that many developmental delays are difficult to identify and diagnose. Some lie hidden, and only reveal themselves when the child is faced with specific types of learning challenges. The law accounts for these kinds of issues and gives you the right to have your child evaluated for a learning issue that may entitle them to special education benefits that, when applied properly, can help them overcome their developmental delay and thrive as a student and as a person.
If you have concerns about how your child's school is reacting to your request that they be evaluated for special education benefits, or if the school isn't properly addressing your child's developmental disability, contact the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team to discuss the situation with one of our experienced attorneys. We can help you understand your rights and the school's obligations under federal and state law, as well as how to get the school – and your child – on the right learning track.
Students With Developmental Delays May Have Disability Rights and May be Entitled to Disability Accommodations
Where a student's developmental delay is significant enough, the child may be entitled to disability benefits under state and federal law. The three main laws that work together to provide these special education benefits to children in grades K through 12 are:
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In some cases these laws have specific definitions about what types of disabilities are covered; in general, however, they use the term to describe a “physical or mental impairment” that can limit a person's “major life activities.” The IDEA, for example, notes that a “child with a disability” is one who has “specific learning disabilities” or “health impairments” that require the child to have “special education and related services.”
Because developmental disabilities affect children during the developmental phases of their lives, they tend to impact them most during their grade-school and high-school years. The rights provided under IDEA and Section 504 apply during the K-12 grade years, while the ADA can cover students at any stage of their education – including college. Whether a school needs to provide a K-12 student with specific accommodations or must also provide special education services will depend on the student's needs, determined after a comprehensive evaluation.
In some cases, your child's teacher or a school counselor or administrator may contact you to suggest that your child be evaluated for a developmental disability. In other cases, you may need to be the one reaching out to the school to ask that your child be evaluated. The school should have policies and procedures in place to manage these types of requests, but in general, the school may make an initial evaluation of your child to determine whether there appears to be a need for a more comprehensive one. The focus of the comprehensive evaluation is to determine whether your child have has a developmental delay disability that creates a need for your child to receive special education services from the school.
If you have questions about what rights you have as a parent, or how your child's school is responding to your evaluation request, the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can help. We will advise you based on your particular situation of what your rights are, and can communicate with your child's school when the school isn't living up to its legal obligations.
After a child is evaluated for a learning disability, including a developmental delay disability, there are certain benefits the child may be eligible to receive.
Students With Developmental Delay Disabilities May be Entitled to an IEP
An Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, is a detailed document that is personalized for your child. It will be based on the results of their evaluation and will identify the ways in which the school will accommodate your child's disability and what special educational services your child will receive from the school. The IEP is created by a team that generally includes someone trained in special education, regular education, special education teachers, and the child's parents. It's a document that is meant to be updated, at least once a year and possibly more often, to reflect the child's progress or challenges that occur throughout their time at school.
Public schools are required to provide IEPs for students with learning disabilities that can't be addressed with simple accommodations (such as placing a hard-of-hearing student close to the front of the classroom). Private schools may or may not create IEPs for students with disabilities, but they are not required by federal or state law to do so. Once a student leaves high school, colleges and universities are not required to create or use IEPs, though some schools may use the student's most recent IEP to help provide the student with required accommodations under the ADA.
Students With Developmental Delay Disabilities May be Entitled to a FAPE
When a student with a developmental delay disability is evaluated and is found to have a learning disability, that student is generally entitled to receive a “free appropriate public education,” commonly referred to as FAPE, under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. There are a number of aspects to a FAPE, but generally, it means that the student should receive special education services together with regular education services in the “least restrictive environment,” meaning that the school should attempt to educate the special needs student together with the general student population wherever possible. This is often referred to as “mainstreaming.” And while not every special needs student will be “mainstreamed” for all of their classes, the school is expected to make an effort to do so.
It can be hard to balance the special education needs of a student, as expressed in the student's IEP, with the obligation of the school to educate the child in the least restrictive environment. Schools don't always get this right, and if you believe that your child's educational needs are not being properly met by the way they are being taught or by their placement in a general education class (or a special education environment), you have a right to speak out on behalf of your child and ask the school to make changes. The Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can help you when these kinds of difficult situations arise. We'll work with you to understand the situation, to review what the school is doing for your child, and whether changes can or should be made that will benefit your child's progress.
College Students with Developmental Delay Disabilities May be Entitled to Reasonable Accommodations
As discussed above, in many cases, developmental delay disabilities are most apparent at an early age. When those disabilities persist through the college years, the student may be entitled to “reasonable accommodations” from their college or university to help them with their learning. These don't need to rise to the level of the special education services provided by their IEP but may include things like providing extra time to complete exams or using a different format for projects or testing. If you have questions about whether your student's college or university is meeting its obligations to your child under the ADA, the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can help.
What to Do If a School Fails to Accommodate a Student's Developmental Delay Disability
Whether you have asked for your child to be evaluated for a disability and their school has neglected to do so, or your child has an IEP and the school isn't following it; or some other issue has arisen and the school is not accommodating your child's disability, you should not be shy about contacting the school and pointing out their mistakes. This can be done even more effectively in cases where you have the help of an experienced education law attorney who can explain to the school exactly what the law requires them to do, and how they are failing.
The Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team regularly helps parents of children across the country with special educational needs make sure their child's school is following the federal and state requirements for educating their children. Our experienced attorneys understand what those legal requirements are, and regularly work with parents and schools to make sure students with special needs are receiving the education they deserve.
The Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team Can Help Students with Developmental Delay Disabilities Get the Accommodations They Need and the Education They Deserve
Whether you are just beginning to explore whether your child will benefit from special education services, or are experiencing problems with the way their school is implementing your child's IEP, or are running into a situation where their school is refusing to accommodate their disability, the Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can help. We will review your child's situation with you in detail so we understand what challenges they face at school. Our experienced attorneys can help school officials understand their obligations to your child under federal and state law and how they can meet those requirements in a way that will help your student learn and achieve their full potential. While we won't hesitate to file a lawsuit if the school is not meeting its obligations, we generally find that making it clear to the school what their legal requirements are can go a long way towards helping your child receive the education they're entitled to.
Give us a call with your questions and concerns about your child's special education needs. The Lento Law Firm Educational Law Team can be reached at 888.535.3686, or by scheduling a confidential consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. We are here to help you help your child get the education and the future they deserve!
