Thank you for your response, Allan. It was a lot of helpful information that I will ponder, especially on the regression issue. I really appreciate it! Don

ESY stands for Extended School Year and is determined via an IEP Team looking at data that is supposed to be taken right before and shortly after a time away from school to determine if the student has a regression or recoupment issue. The generally accepted rule is, for every 3 days off, after 1 day of review/return, a typical student should be back to or higher than where they were when they left. Thus, if a student has a one week vacation (e.g. Spring Break) then after being back to school for 2 full days, they should have the skills they had when they left, or more skills. If the student has less skills and needs more than the two days in this example, to catch up, then the student has a 'recoupment' issue. Data is key to determining whether a student needs ESY. Failure to take data may be a reason to have to offer ESY. Data may include work samples, charts, graphs, report card info, or a combination of those things. If your child meets the above criteria, the IEP Team should have authorized those services.

Since we are now into the Summer, if the above data exists but ESY was not offered or the district does not have an appropriate program for your child's needs (some districts only have classes for lower functioning students) then you likely need an experienced advocate to step in and get the services from a different option than the lower functioning class, at district expense. There are a number of ways to meet those needs.

Allan Roth, Alliance Resources and Associates, Inc.