If you're the parent or guardian of a child with autism in Florida, you know first-hand how important their education is to your child's future. You want to do everything you can to make sure your child receives the education that they deserve, that they learn to live and interact with others, and that they develop the life skills they will need to grow and prosper as adults. Florida schools are required by both federal and Florida law to identify children who have what Florida law calls “disabilities” and to provide them with a “free and appropriate public education” that is specially adapted to their particular needs. Despite these requirements, schools sometimes don't provide the level of services that autistic and other special needs children need and are entitled to under the law. When that happens, the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you protect your child's educational rights. To learn more about how we can help, call us at 888.535.3686 or click our contact link to set up a consultation with one of our experienced student defense attorneys.
The Rights of Autistic Students in Florida
Florida has a comprehensive set of laws and rules that describe how schools in the state are to identify students with disabilities and provide them with the specialized education services required by federal law. Florida includes children with disabilities in its definition of the term “exceptional student,” and in particular, identifies “autism spectrum disorder” as one of the disabilities that makes a child eligible for special education services in Florida.
The Florida State Board of Education defines “autism spectrum disorder” as a “condition that reflects a wide range of symptoms and levels of impairment” that typically vary from one child to another. School districts are required to conduct comprehensive evaluations of students who may be autistic, and when a child meets certain eligibility criteria, they will be approved to receive “exceptional student education” benefits. The child's evaluation must show evidence of the following:
- Impairment in social interactions; this can be reflected by “delayed, absent, or atypical ability to relate to individuals or the environment”
- Verbal or nonverbal language impairment in social communication situations
- Repetitive or restricted “patterns of behavior, interests, or activities”
Those behaviors must occur across a number of different settings, and the student must show a need for special education as provided by the BOE.
Special education for autistic students in Florida must include the following:
- Instruction, whether in the classroom, home, hospital, or other settings
- Physical education, including where appropriate, special physical education, movement education, and motor development
- Where needed, speech-language pathology services
- Travel training: learning the skills needed to move “effectively and safely” from one place to another
- Career and technical education; programs to prepare the student for paid or unpaid employment
Each autistic child who is entitled to special education will receive benefits that are tailored to the child's specific needs. This is described in the child's Individual Education Plan (IEP), which is created for the child by a team of educators and the child's parents.
The parents play an important role here. As the parent or guardian of a child with autism who is entitled to special education benefits, you have an active voice in determining what kind of education your child will receive, including what types of accommodations the school will provide as part of that IEP. In situations where you and the school disagree about how your child should be educated, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team for help. Our experienced attorneys understand your rights as a parent under Florida law, and we can help you determine what steps are best to take to go to bat for your child and make sure they receive the education they are entitled to and deserve.
Determining Whether a Child is Eligible for Benefits
Before an autistic child can be eligible to receive special education benefits in Florida, they need to be evaluated to determine whether their autism qualifies them for those benefits. The evaluation process for a child that may be autistic must include behavioral observations that target social interaction and communication skills as well as any “restricted or repetitive” patterns; a “social/developmental history;” a psychological evaluation; a language evaluation; an assessment of “adaptive behavior;” and where necessary a functional assessment of the child's behavior to help decide what if any “behavioral interventions” should be part of the child's IEP plan.
Parents are to play an important role in the evaluation process. In addition to providing consent for the process to happen, parents are expected to contribute background information that will be used to construct their child's social/developmental history, which is one component of the evaluation. They are also to be part of a group that includes qualified professionals who conduct the evaluation. The evaluation must be in writing, signed by each group member (including the parents), and must include a summary of the group's analysis as well as specific types of data that were relied upon to make the determination as to whether the student is entitled to special education services.
As noted above, the child's evaluation must show that the child has a number of specific traits associated with autism before the child can be approved for special education services. If you disagree with your child's evaluation or the determination of whether your child is eligible for benefits, you have a number of options. One is to request an independent evaluation, one conducted at public expense. If the school agrees to this, both evaluations will be used to determine your student's eligibility for special education services. If the school disagrees and believes the original evaluation is sufficient, it must request an administrative law hearing to resolve the matter.
In a situation where you disagree with the school's determination – for example, where the school decides your child isn't entitled to special education benefits – you are entitled to take the matter to an administrative law judge who will conduct a “due process hearing” to decide whether the benefits determination is correct. If the judge rules against you, you then have the right to file a civil lawsuit in state circuit court. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can advise you about your rights to bring a due process hearing and to file a civil lawsuit in the event it becomes necessary to protect your child's right to an education.
The Individual Educational Plan
Once an autistic child has been evaluated and approved for special education services in Florida, the child's Individual Education Plan must be developed. The IEP is created based on the information in the child's evaluation and is meant to be unique for that child. It is crafted by a team that includes the following:
- The child's parents
- At least one “regular education teacher” of the student
- At least one “special education teacher” of the student
- A school district representative who is qualified in special education topics
- Someone qualified to interpret the student's evaluation results in terms of how they impact the student's education
- Other individuals with special knowledge or expertise about the student, such as a physician or therapist
- The student, where appropriate
Parents must be notified of IEP Team meetings in advance and should be given a chance to participate remotely when they can't attend in person. The IEP Team should consider – and the student's IEP should reflect – the student's strengths, weaknesses, and educational and behavioral needs. The IEP explains how the child will be educated and what special accommodations will be made during the course of that education to help the child progress. It must be in effect at the beginning of the school year and must be revised annually. In particular, the IEP needs to include:
- The student's current academic and performance level
- Measurable, annual goals, both academic and functional
- Benchmarks or short-term objectives, where appropriate
- The specific special education services the student is to receive, including any supplementary aids and services
- Accommodations or modifications that will be provided to the student in the course of their day-to-day school experience
- Any “individual appropriate accommodations” to be made in the way statewide standardized tests are to be administered
- When the various services will begin to be provided to the student
In cases where the IEP requires specially designed physical education, the student should receive that; otherwise, the student should be able to participate in the school's physical education program along with the other students attending the school. Each of the student's teachers, as well as other school personnel involved with the student, must understand their responsibilities for making sure the student's IEP is followed in the classroom and other school settings.
Parents have the right to ask for their child's IEP to be revised. In situations where parents believe the IEP does not properly address their child's needs, they have the right to seek an administrative hearing or to file a civil action to address their concerns. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understands the laws and rules that relate to special education in Florida, and our attorneys are ready to help you protect your child's rights and future in cases where their special education needs are not being met.
Autism and the Least Restrictive Environment
Florida State Board of Education rules implement the requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including its requirement that “to the maximum extent possible,” students are placed in what is called the Least Restrictive Environment for their education and school experience. This essentially means that, wherever possible, autistic students should be “educated with students who are not disabled.” Special classes or tutoring should only happen in cases where the student can be satisfactorily educated in the regular classroom setting.
Decisions about when to deviate from the regular classroom or regular school experience should be based on the student's IEP. Parents should be involved in the decision, along with school personnel who know the student, understand the student's evaluation, and are aware of the various options available for educating the student. The LRE decisions should cover other areas of school life, such as lunch periods, recess and PE, access to counseling, athletics, transportation to and from school, intermural athletics, and student clubs and organizations. Schools are required to take steps to try to make sure that each autistic student can participate in school life along with students who aren't disabled “to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student.”
Providing disabled students with as much of the regular school experience as possible, given their needs, can be challenging, and schools don't always live up to that challenge. When that happens, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team to discuss the situation and review your options. In some cases, a meeting with school administrators may resolve things, but in other situations, it may be necessary to ask for a due process hearing to resolve the matter or, in other cases, to file a civil lawsuit to protect your child's rights.
Disciplining Autistic Students
All students are disciplined at one point or another during their years in grade and high school, and in most cases, it's not an issue – the teacher may reprimand a student, for example, and the matter will end there. In other, more serious cases, discipline can take harsher forms. Where autistic and other exceptional needs students are concerned, Florida has special rules that govern what schools can and cannot do when it comes to school discipline.
For example, there are strict rules regarding isolating and restraining students with disabilities as an immediate consequence of their misconduct. “Seclusion” – where the student is confined alone in a room or an area and not allowed to leave – is not permitted at all. Restraint is only permitted under very limited circumstances – in particular, where “all positive behavior interventions and supports” have been tried and have not worked. Even then, the school can't use “mechanical restraint” such as handcuffs, zip-ties, or ropes but can only use “physical restraint,” which includes “manual restraint techniques” that restrict the student's movement.
There are other limits placed on how the school can discipline an autistic student. The student can't be removed from school for more than 10 consecutive school days in a school year for a single “code of conduct” violation. If there are separate code of conduct violations that occur at different times of the school year, each one can result in removal from school, but not for more than 10 consecutive school days at a time.
Any decision to change the student's placement as a consequence of the student's conduct violation must involve the parents as well as “relevant members” of the student's IEP Team. The IEP Team and the school must evaluate whether the student's misconduct had a direct relationship to the student's disability or was a consequence of the school's failure to implement the student's IEP. Where the conduct was the result of such a failure, the school has an obligation to remedy the failure. Where the conduct had a direct relationship to the student's disability, the IEP Team needs to review the behavioral aspects of the IEP and create a behavioral intervention plan or, if one is in place already, modify it to address the circumstances of the student's misconduct.
If the school intends to change the student's placement – moving them to another setting – as a consequence of their misconduct, parents have a right to seek an expedited due process hearing if they disagree with the determination.
Not every disciplinary situation involving an autistic student will result in the student's school placement being changed. As with other students, the school may choose to impose lesser penalties for misconduct. In these cases, the student still has rights that need to be protected.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has represented students all over the country, including Florida, in school disciplinary investigations and proceedings. We have seen over and over again how overburdened school administrators sometimes fail to fully investigate a misconduct situation and will try to discipline a student based on less than complete information. The sad fact is that autistic students may receive more than their fair share of abuse from other students and sometimes can end up being disciplined for a bullying situation where they were simply trying to defend themselves.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can conduct investigations on behalf of our student clients, gathering information that the school failed to uncover or ignored when it disciplined a student. We understand the laws, rules, and policies that apply to school misconduct situations, and we know how to defend your child's rights when their school tries to discipline them unfairly.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team Can Protect Your Autistic Student's Rights in Florida
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team is here to help. Our experienced student defense attorneys understand Florida's sometimes-complicated laws and rules that govern how autistic students are evaluated for special education services, and what types of services and accommodations your child's school is legally required to deliver to autistic students.
We can help and represent you in a number of ways, depending on where you and your child are in the process of securing special education benefits in Florida. Our student defense attorneys can:
- Review your child's evaluation, and make sure the school or school district has properly considered all of the relevant factors that apply to determining whether an autistic student is entitled to Florida's special education benefits
- Assist with seeking an independent educational evaluation where you disagree with the initial evaluation performed on your child
- Representing you at any administrative hearings that the school may seek if it disagrees with your request for a public-funded independent educational evaluation
- Working with the school on you and your child's behalf to resolve problems with the IEP developed for your child
- Making sure the school is providing your child with the reasonable accommodations that your child is entitled to under both federal and state law
- Helping you enforce the terms of your child's IEP, both by speaking directly with the school to address concerns about instances where the IEP is not being followed, and by taking administrative action to enforce those terms
- Defending your child in any disciplinary proceedings that may arise at school, including investigating the facts of the alleged misconduct; evaluating whether the misconduct is the result of the school's failure to implement your child's IEP; and determining whether response to the alleged misconduct should include revising the IEP to include behavioral modification strategies
It is challenging to be a parent, and when you are the parent of an autistic child, your challenges increase. While federal and Florida laws provide for a “free and appropriate public education” when a child has been evaluated as being autistic and having special educational and developmental needs, the policies and procedures that are used to get your child the education benefits they need are complex. In many cases, you need an advocate when dealing with your child's school and school district, one that understands your child's needs, the challenges you both face and the policies and procedures that must be followed when getting your child the education they deserve.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has helped families and students across the country, including in Florida, secure the special needs evaluations and benefits that they deserve. To learn more about how we can help, call us at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to set up a confidential consultation. We are here to help you help your child have the future they deserve.
