Individualized Education Plans in Nevada

Children deserve the opportunity to learn and grow, no matter their abilities. Education extends beyond just acquiring knowledge; it also serves as a way for students to enhance their social skills, foster independence, and build self-confidence. Additionally, their school experiences contribute to the exploration of their identity, the discovery of their unique abilities and talents, and the pursuit of academic success.

To ensure no child is left behind and that all children have access to equal education, especially children with disabilities, the United States implemented a federal law that obligates public school districts to provide students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). In Nevada, IEPs are offered from kindergarten through twelfth grade. If your child has one or more of the qualifying disabilities, under federal and state law, they have a right to accommodations and services that will improve their ability to achieve academic success.

However, sometimes, school districts are slow to provide the agreed-upon services or hesitate to provide reasonable services because of their cost. When this happens, the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can help you get the IEP enforced.

To help you identify what issues you might be having, we've answered some of the more common questions about Nevada's IEP process below. For a consultation, call 888-535-3686 or schedule a consultation online with Lento Law Firm today.

What is an IEP?

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which was authorized in 1975 by the US Government, all students with disabilities should have access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). To provide a true FAPE, students with disabilities would need special education services and other accommodations and thus must be evaluated. Once the evaluation determines that the student has a qualifying disability and identifies the services necessary for the student to succeed academically and socially, the IEP will be written up and immediately implemented.

Another aspect of the IDEA legislation stipulates that children with disabilities must be educated in the least restrictive environment. Typically, the least restrictive environment is a classroom setting with non-disabled peers, but other times, it can be a separate education setting or alternative school placement. The hope is that by providing students with an education in the least restrictive environment, they will be able to thrive personally, socially, and academically.

Unfortunately, there are times when public school districts fail to give students with disabilities necessary services and accommodations. If you feel your school has failed your child, you have every right to file for a due process hearing to try to have the school district's decision overturned.

Who Qualifies for an IEP?

There are particular disability categories that qualify for an IEP, including:

• Hearing impairments, including deafness
• Visual impairments, including blindness
• Speech or language impairments
• Emotional disturbance
• Orthopedic impairments
• Autism
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Other health impairments
• Specific learning disabilities
• Developmental delays

The IDEA further defined the “emotional disturbances” category as:

• An inability to learn that is not caused by the student's health, senses, or even intelligence.
• An inability to start or foster relationships with other people.
• Behaving inappropriately or having unfitting feelings during normal situations.
• Feeling sadness or despair for a long period of time.
• Being afraid or exhibiting physical symptoms because of problems or people at school.

It's important to note that if your child's disability or difference does not fall under one of these categories, it may be difficult – though not impossible – to enforce an IEP in Nevada. Lento Law Firm has years of experience helping students around the country navigate their schools' policies and procedures and can help guide you on this issue.

How To Get an IEP in Nevada

To get your child an IEP in Nevada, you first need to find out if they qualify for one. More often than not, your child's teacher will initiate the IEP process because they tend to see where a child might need extra accommodations or services before a parent. However, you can always request an IEP evaluation if the teacher does not initiate the process first.

When the school receives the IEP evaluation request, they will schedule a meeting with your child's teacher, a qualified IEP evaluator, and yourself. The qualified IEP evaluator can be someone from the school, like the school psychologist, or a third party evaluator who contracts with the school to provide these services. During the evaluation, your child will be asked several questions and engaged in different games and puzzles to see how they behave and respond. At the end of the evaluation, the teacher and IEP evaluator will conclude whether your child has a qualifying disability. They will also discuss which goals are important for your child to work towards, as well as the services and accommodations that might help them achieve the goals.

After the IEP evaluation, the school district will schedule a formal IEP meeting with the parents, IEP evaluator, and teacher, and in some cases the child as well. During this meeting, the parties will draft the IEP document, including a list of the agreed-upon goals, services and accommodations. would meet with the district and draft the IEP document listing the agreed-upon goals and services. The moment this document is signed, it becomes legally binding between the parties and must be implemented immediately.

The, every year after this, you will be expected to attend an IEP meeting to review your child's goals and accommodations. If updates or amendments are required, this the time to request them. While you are only required to attend one meeting a year, you have every right to request more frequent IEP meetings from the school district. But, if the school district fails to provide these additional meetings to you or does not implement the IEP as quickly as necessary - or in its entirety, an education attorney can help. Lento Law Firm will help you contact the school district and encourage them to meet their legal obligations.

Transition Plans

Before your child enters high school, their IEP meetings should become more frequent. Typically, they are once a semester. However, as we explained above, they can be as frequent as you like. During these IEP meetings, your child's IEPs will start to include transition plans. Transition plans are supposed to help your child plan goals and receive services that will help them succeed in high school, post-secondary schooling, independent living, and future employment. Whatever your child hopes to do after high school, this plan is supposed to help them work towards those goals.

In Nevada, like most states, transition plans must be incorporated after the age of 14. Moreover, high school students are expected to attend and participate in the IEP meetings now. They should be prepared, if possible, to suggest services that might enable them to succeed.

Private School Exceptions for Nevada IEP Regulations

Generally, IEPs are not extended to private schools because they fall under state and federal regulations. However, there are certain times when parents of disabled children will choose to place them in a private school versus a public school. When parents decide to place their children in private schools, and they are not specifically special education schools, they have to fight even harder to get their children the services and accommodations they need to succeed. Some of the reasons parents choose to place their child in a private school include:

• Believing their child is not receiving a FAPE in their public school district.
• Watching the public school district fail to offer their student the services that were agreed upon in their IEP.
• Believing their child would receive a better education and more attention in a smaller classroom setting.

Now, children with disabilities residing in Nevada still have a right to accommodations and services. In fact, the Nevada Department of Education Special Education office has stated that their local education agencies – public school districts – have an obligation to locate, identify, and evaluate children in private schools to see if they qualify for services. If they do, they are supposed to work with the private school to coordinate the application of such services.

If a parent unilaterally places their child in a private school, whether the child received an IEP at their public school or was awaiting evaluation, the parent might be able to receive tuition reimbursement from the public school district. To determine if you are eligible for such reimbursement, you will have to request a due process hearing.

Due process hearings can be incredibly overwhelming. As such, working with the Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team is one simple step you can take to help ease that burden. Our Education Law Team will reach out to the school district to negotiate prior to initiating the due process hearing. Sometimes, a simple meeting is all you need. However, a skilled attorney is your best bet for figuring out the right course of action for your case.

Nevada's Additional Support Services

Nevada offers families with children with disabilities additional support services, which can begin as early as a few months old. Some of these services include:

• The Early Childhood Special Education initiative helps young children with disabilities thrive in their preschool settings.

Emergency Event Plans & IEPs

All school districts have to plan for emergency events like tornadoes, active shooters, and fires. To ensure districts comply with this legislation, they must submit their emergency event plans to the state prior to putting them into action. Once the state approves the plan, the school district can begin to implement it, which includes practicing the procedures at random intervals throughout the year to ensure the entire school is ready for the real deal.

As you might expect, it is important for IEPs to include emergency event plans as well. Not only does this help a child with a disability plan for an emergency event, but it also provides peace of mind for parents. Though the specifics will change from IEP to IEP, they usually include one or more of the following accommodations:

• One-one-supervision – like a shadow.
• Self-calming strategies the student can employ on their own or with someone else.
• Schedule emergency drills so that the child can anticipate the change in schedule and self-soothe.
• A designated quiet place for the child to self-regulate.
• A peer buddy system that includes backup buddies.
• Access to earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, emergency medications, sanitation stations, or hand sanitizer.
• Allowing the child's service animal to practice for the emergency so that both the animal, child, and teacher know what to do in the event of an emergency.
• Accommodations for children with short-term disabilities.

Sometimes, the school will forget to add an emergency event plan to the IEP during the meeting, in which case it will be up to you to request a supplementary IEP meeting to get it included. As the child grows, the IEP should evolve to meet those new needs, including your child's needs during an emergency event. So, if the district pushes back on setting up a new IEP meeting, or providing your child with services for emergency events, it is important you push right back. Hiring an attorney can be an effective way to encourage the school district to abide by the law.

IDEA Reauthorization

Though the IDEA was passed in 1975 and reauthorized in 2004, it has yet to be updated or reauthorized since then. However, Part B of the IDEA specifically provides more funding to states so they can continue to improve the services and accommodations they provide their children with disabilities. To receive this additional funding, states have to submit a State Plan, which outlines their existing policies and procedures and how they are going to use the money to provide services and accommodations.

For the most part, State Plans outline the following things:

• Nevada's free appropriate public education policy.
• How Nevada currently addresses the educational and developmental needs of children under the age of five.
• The assistive technology devices or services they offer now, or will offer in the future, with the increased funding.
• Extended school year services for students with disabilities.
• Nonacademic services.
• Residential placements and the process for getting them going.
• Additional programs Nevada provides to students with disabilities.
• Physical education requirements.
• The full educational opportunity goal.
• How Nevada locates and evaluates children with disabilities.
• The methods for receiving, executing, and adjusting an Individualized Education Plan.
• Nevada's least restrictive environment policy.
• Their alternative education placement.
• Due process procedures for disagreements.
• How Nevada will routinely check students' hearing aids and external, surgically implanted medical devices.

Costs and Lack of Funding

When schools see that a student is doing “just fine” using a substandard accommodation, they are likely to refuse to provide the said student with a more adequate one, citing “lack of funding” or “high cost” as their reasoning. For instance, if a blind child is able to stay on track using audio textbooks, the school district may not want to provide them with braille textbooks instead, even if it would help the student succeed. The additional cost looks unfavorable to the bureaucratic school district, where the bottom line matters more than the student.

When this happens, it is incredibly important you stay on top of them and pursue the necessary accommodation instead of settling. Your child has a right to thrive in school, not just survive. If the school refuses to provide the necessary accommodation, you have options, including filing for a due process hearing. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team will review your child's IEP, their evaluation, and any other relevant evidence to help them advocate for your child's needs. Working with an attorney is an easy way to encourage the school district to listen to you.

Nevada Department of Education Procedures

Under the IDEA, it stipulates that every state must have its own dispute resolution process when an IEP is being argued about. In Nevada, a parent or guardian can initiate a due process hearing if they disagree with the results of their child's IEP evaluation, if they believe the IEP doesn't actually meet their child's needs, if they believe the school is not providing the services designated in the IEP, or they disagree with where the school district's places their child.

Once the due process hearing is requested, the hearing office or Special Education Agency will send a letter to the parent and school district explaining the due process timeline. The school district will have 10 calendar days to respond to the due process complaint. A resolution meeting must be scheduled within 15 days of receiving the complaint unless both the parent and school district agree in writing to waive the resolution meeting.

The due process hearing is overseen by a hearing officer. Both parties will have a chance to present their arguments, evidence, and testimony. After everyone has been heard, the hearing officer will consider the information provided, ask questions of the witnesses, and determine a resolution for the dispute. Like any judicial overseer, the hearing officer is meant to be neutral towards the case and have a significant understanding of the IDEA. Whatever the hearing officer's decision, both parties have the right to appeal it to the state court within 30 days after receiving the decision.

While you do not need an attorney to file for a due process hearing, they are legal proceedings, so hiring an attorney is the best way to help you prepare and deliver your arguments during the hearing. More than that, they can take the burden of preparing a legal case from you, ensuring the best possible outcome for your case.

Special Considerations for Preschoolers

The IDEA specifies that all public school districts provide students with disabilities in kindergarten through twelfth grade with a free appropriate public education. However, they do not specify such services to children under the age of five. To ensure preschoolers are receiving the services and accommodations that will help them succeed in preschool, and set them up to succeed in elementary school, Nevada has adopted Part C of the IDEA and incorporated preschoolers' needs into their legislation.

As such, preschoolers in Nevada must be evaluated by their local school districts to see if they need special education services. If they determine they do, they will create something similar to an IEP, which will include necessary services and accommodations, as well as a transition plan for them to follow to help with kindergarten.

According to this legislation, preschoolers with disabilities should still be placed in the least restrictive environment, which is often a classroom with non-disabled peers. If you feel like the state is failing to help your preschooler – whether they have not agreed to an IEP meeting, have yet to implement the IEP, or are not helping you create a transition plan for your child – an attorney can help. Not only will Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team contact your child's school district and advocate for your child, but they will pull all of the necessary policies and procedures to get the district to comply.

Protect Your Student's Rights

As we've explained, and as the United States has advocated for, all children deserve the right to excel in their academics, especially children with disabilities. Without receiving accommodations, such children will not be able to thrive in their classrooms, allowing them to fall behind their classmates. When this happens, they can be subjected to a lack of self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. To prevent this, it is important you encourage the school district to comply with federal law.

If you are unsure how to pursue such conversations or hearings, working with an attorney is imperative. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team has worked for years with students who are struggling in school. They understand how policies can change from district to district and have experienced first-hand how districts can try to wiggle out of compliance. For more information, call 888-535-3686 today or schedule a consultation online.