Opinion ID: 2656175
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The First Three Years at Greenacres

Text: In October 2004, in kindergarten, C.L. began receiving speechlanguage therapy sessions once a week to address his episodic dy[sfl]uency. In January 2005, he began receiving pre-reading instruction sessions twice a week in Greenacres's Learning Resources Center (LRC).1 An occupational therapy evaluation in March 2005 noted C.L.'s delays in fine motor development and visual motor coordination, which [were] impacting [ ] his ability to perform classroom tasks, such as writing and using scissors. In March 2005, the District convened a committee pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (the 504 Committee) to consider whether C.L. was disabled within the meaning of the statute and, if so, to recommend a 1 The LRC at Greenacres provides small-group academic support services to students with significant delays in their academic development. -8- course of action. The 504 Committee determined that C.L. was eligible for services under the Rehabilitation Act and thus prepared a Section 504 Accommodation Plan (the 504 Plan). The 504 Plan recommended that C.L. be removed from class for thirty minutes once weekly for occupational therapy sessions in a 1:1 student-to-teacher ratio setting. The 504 Committee reconvened in October 2005 and October 2006 to plan for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years, respectively. Noting C.L.'s difficulties with writing, remembering routines, and sustaining attention, the 2005-06 504 Plan recommended: the continuation of the once weekly speech-language therapy sessions in a 5:1 setting; an increase of the LRC sessions to four times a week in a 6:1 setting; and an increase of the occupational therapy sessions to twice weekly in one 1:1 setting and one 4:1 setting. The 2006-07 504 Plan observed that [C.L.'s] reading ha[d] improved, but his level of disfluency ha[d] increased . . . [to] stuttering and he had begun to exhibit anxiety in the classroom. The 2006-07 504 Plan called for C.L. to continue largely the same services as the previous school year, except that the twice weekly occupational therapy sessions were now both in 1:1 settings. -9- In April 2007, a private occupational therapy evaluation arranged by C.L.'s parents placed C.L. in the twelfth percentile in visual-motor integration, second percentile in visual perception, first percentile in motor coordination, and sixth percentile in total motor composite. In May 2007, C.L.'s parents arranged for private occupational therapy sessions for him and consequently informed the District that he would no longer be receiving occupational therapy at Greenacres. C.L.'s parents also arranged for the Soifer Center to conduct an independent psychoeducational evaluation of C.L., which took place over the course of six days in April and May 2007. The Soifer Center's evaluation placed C.L.'s intellectual functioning within the upper end of the Low Average range. The evaluation found, however, that C.L.'s language and executive functioning abilities were weak, and that his reading and mathematical skills were also limited. Alarmed by this evaluation, C.L.'s parents requested that the 504 Committee reconvene. On June 6, 2007, two days after the parents' conference with the Soifer Center about their child, the 504 Committee amended C.L.'s 504 Plan. The amended 504 Plan noted that [a]lthough [C.L.] has made overall progress this year both in class and in the LRC, his teacher corroborates the findings of the -10- [Soifer Center] evaluation. The 504 Plan acknowledged that C.L. fidgeted and often required refocusing and reteaching of new concepts when he was in a large classroom setting, but noted that he had less trouble remaining on task in the smaller learning environment of the LRC. The 504 Plan was amended to add 15 hours of classroom aide time [per week] . . . to assist [C.L.] with his organization and execution of writing tasks, as well as various program and testing modifications. After the end of the 2006-07 school year, C.L.'s parents sought a second opinion on the results of the Soifer Center evaluation and arranged for a neurodevelopmental evaluation of C.L. by Dr. Marilyn C. Agin. After examining C.L. in June 2007, Dr. Agin found that he had an early history of dyspraxia, which caused him to suffer from weaknesses in attention, organization and sequencing; handwriting difficulties; and language processing difficulties. She also expressed concern about C.L.'s emotional well-being and self-esteem. Although Dr. Agin largely concurred with the recommendations of the 504 Plan created at Greenacres, she nonetheless strongly urged that [C.L.'s] parents investigate a private educational setting with an expertise in teaching children with attentional and learning issues. -11-