Opinion ID: 4566339
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: D.S.’s Evaluation History

Text: D.S. was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at age four, at which time he also exhibited signs of other developmental and behavioral disorders, such as autism. D.S.’s “overall intelligence was in the low average range,” J.A. 417, and he showed “documented delays” in his cognitive, communicative, and physical abilities, J.A. 52. D.S. has received special education services since preschool. He repeated kindergarten because of “delays in readiness and social skills,” J.A. 52, and he has experienced a decline in intellectual functioning since the first grade. When D.S. was in third grade, he moved with his family to Trumbull, Connecticut, where he was enrolled in the public school system. Reports from the Trumbull Public Schools indicate that D.S. “had very little availability for learning” and exhibited significant behavioral issues, including “a high frequency of physical aggression” and “a very low frustration tolerance.” J.A. 418. D.S. entered fifth grade in 2013. At the beginning of the school year, D.S. transferred to Cooperative Educational Services—a therapeutic day school in 11 Trumbull that specializes in educating students who have significant behavioral issues. D.S.’s school conducted a triennial reevaluation of D.S. in October 2014 (the “October 2014 Triennial Reevaluation”), which assessed his academic, psychological, behavioral, and language abilities. These assessments revealed an overall decline in D.S.’s abilities and performance since his last triennial reevaluation, including a decline in his intelligence to the “extremely low” range. J.A. 180, 206. D.S.’s IEP Team, to which the parties refer as his Planning and Placement Team (“PPT”), met in October 2014 to review the October 2014 Triennial Reevaluation. The PPT determined that D.S.’s behavior was significantly interfering with his progress toward achieving his academic goals. Instead of verbalizing when he was upset or frustrated, D.S. would engage in self-injurious violent behaviors, like banging his head against the wall and punching himself, or D.S. would become destructive to inanimate objects, like kicking or throwing classroom items. This dysregulation happened frequently, and often D.S. would be relocated from his classroom to a different room for space. D.S. spent a significant amount of time outside of the classroom as a result of his behavior, interrupting his academic experience and interfering with his academic progress. 12 With D.S.’s parents’ consent, D.S.’s school began conducting FBAs of D.S. each year to obtain more information about his problematic behavior and to update the PPT at their annual review of D.S.’s IEP. Generally, an FBA is a means of assessing a child’s problematic behavior in order to understand the cause of that behavior and establish a successful way of intervening and resolving the behavior. D.S. underwent FBAs in April 2015, March 2016, and March 2017. D.S. was in eighth grade when his school conducted the March 2017 FBA. The March 2017 FBA reported that “[w]hen [D.S.] is emotionally regulated, he is able to complete his assignments either with the group, or in an alternative location in the classroom,” but that “[w]hen he is having a particularly difficult day, he is encouraged to take as many strategies as he needs in order to stay safe and his work demands are decreased significantly.” J.A. 341. D.S.’s PPT met for D.S.’s annual IEP review in March, just after the March 2017 FBA was conducted. The PPT recommended that D.S.’s triennial reevaluation be conducted by October 2017, consistent with the IDEA, and that the reevaluation should include assessments of D.S.’s cognitive, behavioral, language, and physical abilities, including assessments targeted at diagnosing autism. The 13 PPT also discussed a plan for D.S.’s high school placement. D.S.’s mother gave her consent for the school to conduct the planned reevaluation in October 2017. D.S.’s PPT met again in May at D.S.’s parents’ request. D.S.’s parents brought a draft complaint to the meeting, 4 in which they expressed concern with the “evaluations” of D.S. that had been completed to date; indeed, the draft complaint listed every analysis, test, assessment, and evaluation that D.S. had ever received. Based on their “[c]oncerns” with the inadequacy of this “evaluation” history, D.S.’s parents requested an IEE at public expense with the following: (1) a speech and language assessment, (2) an occupational therapy assessment, (3) a home and school FBA, (4) a physical therapy assessment, (5) an assistive technology assessment, (6) a psychoeducational assessment, and (7) a central auditory processing disorder assessment. J.A. 377–78. In response to this request, the school reminded D.S.’s parents “that comprehensive assessments for the upcoming October triennial re-evaluation had 4 D.S.’s parents’ complaint was drafted by their “parent advocate.” Historically, just D.S.’s parents attended his PPT meetings. D.S.’s grandmother also attended the March and May 2017 PPT meetings, and the parent advocate attended for the first time at the May 2017 PPT meeting. Because it does not matter for the purpose of this opinion who attended the PPT meetings or spoke on behalf of the parents, we refer only to D.S.’s parents as the operative party. 14 been planned and consented to at the March 2017 PPT.” J.A. 384–85. When asked with which “evaluation” they disagreed among the extensive list of D.S.’s history of assessments, testing, and evaluations, D.S.’s parents did not identify any specific one; instead, they explained that they “believed that further evaluations should have been conducted since the last triennial re-evaluation.” J.A. 385. The Board refused D.S.’s parents’ request for the comprehensive IEE. The Board offered to add additional assessments to D.S.’s planned triennial reevaluation in October 2017, to cover some of the areas of concern identified in the parent’s IEE request, but D.S.’s parents did not give their consent for those assessments in the upcoming reevaluation.