Does My Child Need Special Education?

Does my child need special education? If your child struggles in school, you’ve probably asked yourself this question. It’s a hard one to answer, because the truth is: it depends.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, let me say this: you can request a special education evaluation without agreeing to your child being put into special education. You have to give consent for the special ed evaluation, and then give consent again for them to receive services.

What does this mean? It means, you have a right to data and information before deciding if your child requires special education. If you are on the fence, I always suggest parents request the evaluation. If nothing else, it’ll give you invaluable insight into how your child learns.

Ok, now let’s say you are a parent who doesn’t want to overwhelm the school with unnecessary evaluation requests. You want an expert opinion on whether or not your child should be evaluated. 

Here’s what I recommend: 

1. Talk to the teacher about your concerns. Get their opinion on whether or not it is time to evaluate for special education. If you do not trust the teacher and/or the school, see number 2.

2. Talk to an advocate. An advocate doesn’t have to be someone official, like me. It could be a friend who’s a teacher, another parent who has been through the special education process, etc.

Finally, for those of you who don’t want to talk to anyone yet, here are some questions to ask yourself about your child:

1. In what areas are they struggling? These could be specific academic subjects, or they could be social, emotional, and/or functional areas.

2. Do they have a disability that is causing them to struggle, or do you suspect they have an undiagnosed disability? In order to qualify for special education, students have to fall into one of the thirteen disability categories outlined in IDEA. If you suspect your child does, request an evaluation. Those results will show whether or not a disability is present.

3. Do they need specialized instruction? Think about what your child needs to be successful. Do they have ADHD and struggle to finish work in time? If so, they may need extended time and/or shortened assignments. In which case, those are accommodations and can be provided through a 504 plan. However, if they still struggle despite the accommodations, they may need someone to explicitly teach them executive functioning strategies. That is specialized instruction and falls under special education.

Now, let’s look at some common signs a student is struggling. There are a few you probably know: poor grades; lacking academic, social, emotional, or functional skills  other kids their age possess; volatile emotional outbursts.

But there are others you may not immediately attribute to struggles at school and/or a need for special education.

• Misbehavior: If your child is acting out at school, it’s possible they feel inadequate in some way. Kids, especially as they get older, are sensitive to how peers perceive them. Some kids would rather be viewed as the “trouble maker” than the “dumb kid,” so they act out. In these cases, you may see an increase in noncompliance and disruptive behaviors.

  
  

• Internalizing Behaviors: While some people are vocal about their distress, others are quiet. When dealing with challenges, they retreat into themselves, becoming quieter than usual and often appearing as a well-behaved perfectionist who takes longer than usual to complete work.  These kids may show signs of anxiety, like suddenly regressing in toileting skills, skin picking, nail biting, etc.

  
  

• School Refusal: Most kids say they don’t want to go to school, but some kids flat out refuse. They may plant their feet, or become aggressive when forced inside a school building. In these cases, there’s usually an underlying reason. It could be an emotional disability. It could also be a learning disability or something else. Imagine, would you want to go to school every day if the tasks given felt impossible?

  
  

• Homework Issues: Children hold it together at school all day only to come home exhausted and done. That’s pretty normal. However, if they refuse to even look at homework, or spend hours and hours on it, there may be a bigger issue. One thing to look into for the latter, is if the work coming home is homework, or unfinished work. If it is unfinished work, why isn’t your child able to finish it in school? Asking this question may tell you a lot about their struggles.

At the end of the day, it is hard to watch our children struggle. It is even harder when we don’t know how to help them. But there are people and resources out there to help you, and the fact that you are here, reading this, means you are doing your job as a parent.