When Schools Threaten to Remove an IEP or Services: What to Do Next.

This is probably one of the biggest reasons parents dread IEP meetings. For the most part, we expect to be told “no” when we ask for something new, even when we have the data to support it.

But when the school wants to take away something your child already has? Yikes.

Maybe your child currently receives individual pull-out services and the school wants to change them to a group setting. Then push-in. Then consult. Maybe they want to reduce the minutes, remove an accommodation, discontinue OT or speech, or tell you that your child doesn’t need an IEP anymore.

Sometimes parents are even told, “We have to move him to a 504.” No wonder parents go into IEP meetings already anxious.

There are legitimate reasons to change an IEP, reduce a service or even determine that a child no longer qualifies for special education. Our kids should not have the exact same IEP forever just because that’s what they’ve always had.

However, those decisions should be based on the individual child and the data, not school models, arbitrary timelines or vague statements about what the school “usually does.”

So, if your school wants to remove an IEP service or take away the IEP entirely, here’s what I recommend doing next.

School Wants to Remove IEP Services

First, remain focused on your child and the facts in front of you. I know that can be difficult when you feel like something your child needs is being taken away.

I’ve advised many parents who immediately jump to, “They’re doing this because they have it in for me,” or “They’re retaliating because I complained.”

Maybe, maybe not. Unless you have evidence of that, speculating about motives isn’t going to help you make your case.

Keep bringing the conversation back to your child’s needs and the data.

IEPs are needs-driven. The Present Levels are one of the most important parts of the IEP because they describe where your child is right now. The IEP goals should be developed from the child’s identified needs, and the services and supports should help the child make progress toward those goals and access their education.

If the school proposes reducing or removing something from the IEP, ask what has changed about your child’s needs and what data support the proposed change.

When Should Something Be Removed From an IEP?

There absolutely are times when it makes sense to remove or change something in an IEP.

Maybe your child mastered a skill and no longer needs a particular service. Maybe an intervention hasn’t worked and the team needs to try something different. Maybe the student has become more independent and needs less adult support. Maybe the current approach isn’t producing progress and everyone agrees it’s time for another strategy.

For example, perhaps the team has been working on handwriting and the data show that continuing to work on handwriting isn’t giving the child meaningful access. The team may decide that assistive technology is now a more appropriate approach.

That’s very different from, “He’s been getting OT for three years, so it’s time to stop.”

Look at whether the child is meeting their IEP goals, whether their needs have changed, what progress-monitoring data show and what recent IEP evaluations say.

A change in services should make sense when you look at the child’s needs, progress and data.

What If the School Wants to Remove the Entire IEP?

Removing a service from an IEP and determining that a child is no longer eligible for an IEP are not exactly the same process.

Under IDEA, a public agency generally must evaluate a child before determining that the child is no longer a child with a disability. The exceptions are when eligibility ends because the student graduates from secondary school with a regular diploma or exceeds the age of eligibility for FAPE under state law.

During a reevaluation, the team reviews existing evaluation data, information provided by the parents, classroom assessments, observations and information from teachers and related service providers. The team determines whether the child continues to have a disability, continues to need special education and related services, and whether changes to services are needed.

That does not necessarily mean the school has to administer a brand-new battery of tests every time. If the team determines that no additional data are needed, IDEA requires the school to notify the parents of that determination, explain why and inform them of their right to request an assessment.

If you’re told, “He doesn’t need an IEP anymore,” ask what data support that conclusion and how the team determined that your child no longer meets IDEA eligibility requirements.

Reasons Schools Give for Removing an IEP or Services

Over the years, I’ve heard some interesting explanations from parents about why their schools want to remove an IEP or reduce services. Some may signal that you need to ask more questions because they don’t tell you much about the child’s actual needs or progress.

“We Have To.”

Says who?

I’ve heard this when schools want to move a child from an IEP to a 504 Plan, when a student is going to high school and in several other situations.

“We have to move him to a 504.”

“We have to because he has ADHD.”

“We have to because he’s going to high school.”

If you’re given a blanket “we have to,” calmly ask where that requirement comes from. If it’s a federal law, state regulation or district requirement that applies to your child, they should be able to identify it.

There are requirements in IDEA, of course. “This is what we always do” isn’t one of them. There are very few “have to’s” in IEP land. IDEA is very non-specific about program implementation, in the spirit of individualization.

“It’s Our Model.”

I hear this one when a school wants to change individual services to group services, pull-out to push-in, direct services to consult, or otherwise reduce the amount or type of support.

The school’s service-delivery model may be part of the discussion, but the I in IEP still stands for individualized.

Ask how the proposed model will meet your child’s documented needs and allow them to make progress toward their goals.

“Your Child Is Already Getting More Than Other Students.”

Maybe your child needs more than other students.

Special education isn’t supposed to be based on everybody getting equal minutes. Services should be individualized according to the student’s needs.

If the school wants to reduce a service because your child receives more than other students, bring the discussion back to your child’s data.

“We Don’t Think He Needs It Anymore.”

Great. Maybe he doesn’t.

Don’t we all want our kids to develop skills, close gaps, become more independent and build self-advocacy skills to the point that they need fewer supports?

But “we don’t think he needs it” should lead to a discussion about why.

What criteria did the team use? What do the data show? Has your child mastered the skill? Is your child functioning independently without the support? What happens when the support isn’t provided?

IDEA requires schools to use a variety of assessment tools and strategies and prohibits using a single measure or assessment as the sole criterion for determining whether a child has a disability or determining an appropriate educational program.

And yes, this includes grades. Good grades are information, but they do not tell you everything about a child’s disability, needs or the amount of support required to earn those grades.

Sometimes a child is doing well because the IEP is working.

“There Aren’t IEPs in College.”

That’s true. There aren’t IEPs in college.

That doesn’t mean a high school student must give up an IEP before graduation just to get used to not having one.

If a student continues to qualify for special education and needs the services in the IEP, approaching college does not create a rule that the student must first be moved to a 504 Plan.

Transition planning should prepare students for life after high school. That includes developing independence and self-advocacy skills. It doesn’t require prematurely removing services a student still needs.

IDEA has specific provisions for students whose eligibility ends because of graduation with a regular diploma or because they exceed the state’s age eligibility for FAPE. The school must provide a summary of the student’s academic achievement and functional performance, including recommendations to help the student meet postsecondary goals.

“We Don’t Do That Here.”

This often comes up when a child changes schools, moves to another district or enrolls in a different type of school.

If you hear “We don’t do that here”, ask what the school is proposing to meet the child’s identified need instead.

The conversation shouldn’t end with what a school traditionally does or doesn’t do. Keep bringing it back to the individual student’s needs.

“A 504 Is Better.”

A 504 Plan isn’t automatically better or worse. It’s different.

IEPs and 504 Plans have different eligibility requirements, processes and protections. I have an entire explanation of the differences between an IEP and a 504 Plan because they are constantly lumped together when they shouldn’t be.

I’ve even heard of a team telling a parent that a 504 would be better because she wouldn’t have to attend IEP meetings anymore.

Sure, lots of parents dread IEP meetings. That doesn’t make “fewer meetings for Mom” an eligibility criterion.

If the school believes your child no longer qualifies for an IEP but may qualify for a 504 Plan, ask for the data and reasoning behind that proposal.

“You Don’t Want an IEP on Your Child’s Record.”

I don’t even know what to say about this one, except to ask for specifics.

If someone suggests that having an IEP will harm your child’s future, ask them to explain exactly what they mean and what law, policy or requirement they’re relying on.

Student education records also have privacy protections under FERPA. Vague warnings about an IEP being “on the record” are not a good reason to remove services a child needs.

Ask for the Data Behind the Proposed Change

If the school wants to remove a service, reduce minutes or end eligibility, start gathering your own information.

Compare this year’s IEP with last year’s IEP. Look at goals and progress reports. Review the last two evaluation reports. Look at how your child performs in the area connected to the service the school wants to remove.

If the school wants to eliminate OT, what do the OT data show? If they want to reduce reading services, what do the reading assessments and progress-monitoring data show? If they want to remove behavior supports, what do the behavior data show?

Ask the team to identify the evaluations, assessments, progress data, observations and other information it relied upon. A simple “and what data was used to make this decision?” at the meeting should result in….actual data. You can add, “great, if you could send me a copy of that after this meeting, I’d like to review it. Until then, I’m not agreeing to this change.”

This is also where Prior Written Notice becomes very useful.

Get Prior Written Notice

Prior Written Notice, or PWN, is one of those things I wish parents learned about approximately five minutes after learning the letters I-E-P.

Under IDEA, the school must provide parents with written notice a reasonable time before it proposes or refuses to initiate or change the child’s identification, evaluation, educational placement or provision of FAPE.

PWN is supposed to tell you what the school is proposing or refusing, why it is doing so, which evaluations, assessments, records or reports it used to make that decision, what other options the team considered and rejected, and other factors relevant to the decision.

So when a team says, “We’re reducing OT to consult,” or “We’re determining that your child is no longer eligible,” don’t spend 45 minutes arguing in circles about whether you like the idea.

Ask for the proposed change and the basis for it in PWN.

Now you have something concrete to respond to.

What to Do When the School Wants to Remove IEP Services

Start by gathering your data and reviewing the current IEP, previous IEPs, progress reports and evaluations. Then read your Procedural Safeguards so you understand the dispute-resolution options available to you.

After the meeting, send an IEP meeting follow-up letter documenting what was proposed, your concerns and anything you believe was left unresolved. If you disagree with the proposed change, explain why using the child’s data rather than simply saying that you don’t want the service removed.

You can also request another IEP meeting if more discussion is needed.

If the disagreement involves evaluation data, consider whether additional evaluations are appropriate. If you disagree with an evaluation obtained by the school, you may also want to learn about your rights regarding an Independent Educational Evaluation, or IEE.

Depending on the scope of the disagreement, you may also decide that it’s time to consult a special education advocate or attorney.

What About Stay Put or Pendency?

Parents should also understand pendency, commonly called “stay put”, but don’t assume that simply telling the school “I disagree” automatically freezes every proposed IEP change.

Under IDEA’s federal stay-put provision, during the pendency of certain administrative or judicial proceedings, the child generally remains in the current educational placement unless the parent and school agree otherwise.

Whether stay put applies to the specific change you’re disputing can be more complicated than a Facebook comment makes it sound. Shocking, I know.

Read your Procedural Safeguards and learn the requirements and timelines in your state. If maintaining the current placement or services while a dispute is pending is critical, this may be a situation where you need individualized legal advice.

What If the School Wants to End IEP Eligibility Completely?

If the school believes your child is no longer eligible for special education, IDEA requires an evaluation before the school determines that the child is no longer a child with a disability, except when eligibility ends because of graduation with a regular diploma or exceeding the age eligibility for FAPE under state law.

Again, that evaluation process doesn’t necessarily mean brand-new testing in every area. The team may review existing data and determine that additional assessments aren’t necessary. If that happens, the school must notify you of that decision and tell you that you have the right to request an assessment.

Review the areas that originally led to eligibility and compare them with your child’s current functioning.

Has the child closed the gap with peers? Is the student performing independently, or are good grades and progress occurring because of the special education services currently in place? What do current academic and functional data show? Does the student continue to need specially designed instruction?

If the data truly show that your child no longer meets IDEA eligibility requirements and no longer needs special education, that’s a good thing. The goal isn’t to keep an IEP forever just so we can continue enjoying IEP meetings until the end of time.

But ending an IEP should follow the evaluation and eligibility process, not a casual announcement that “it’s time.”

I Already Agreed to Remove the IEP or Services. What Can I Do?

If you left an IEP meeting believing you agreed to a change that you actually oppose, address it immediately in writing.

Explain what you understood at the meeting, what you disagree with now and why. Ask the school to clarify the status of the proposed change and provide any required PWN.

State rules and procedures regarding consent to changes in an existing IEP vary, so don’t assume that writing “I rescind my signature” automatically reverses a change in every state and every situation.

Review your Procedural Safeguards and get individualized help if necessary, particularly if implementation of the change is imminent.

Keep the Focus on Your Child

There are appropriate reasons to remove services from an IEP. There are appropriate reasons for an IEP team to determine that a child no longer qualifies for special education.

Kids grow. Skills improve. Needs change. Supports should change with them.

But when the school proposes taking something away, you don’t have to fill in the blanks yourself about why.

Ask for the data. Ask what changed. Ask what the school is proposing. Ask which evaluations, assessments and records support the proposal, and use Prior Written Notice to document it.

Then respond using the same thing you’re asking the school to use: facts and data.

And stay professional, even when you would really, really prefer not to.

That’s usually where the better paper trail is anyway.