TEA issued guidance on the difference between Compensatory Services & ESY Services for school districts.
Compensatory services are educational services needed to make up for skills or learning that have been lost when services described in an IEP were not provided.
ESY services provide individualized instruction and services to prevent the severe or substantial loss of skills or learning during the time beyond the regular school year when schools are not in session.
A school district must NOT suggest, encourage, or pressure families to waive special education services for students, including compensatory services.
Please note information in red italics is for information purposes only, and is NOT official TEA guidance.
Evaluation/Reevaluation Issues:
If a student experienced a pause during the initial evaluation process for special education eligibility due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic response, and is later found to be eligible for special education services, then the ARD committee should consider whether there is a need for services that address the delay in receiving special education services. (this means that if you were in the initial evaluation process and then your child is found eligible, your child may be eligible for compensatory services due to the delay)
If a student experienced a pause for reevaluation or an interruption in the actual testing midway through the reevaluation process, and is later found to be eligible for new special education services, then the ARD committee should consider whether there is also a need for services that address the delay in receiving the new special education services. (this means that if you were in the reevaluation process and then the reevaluation finds that your child needs NEW services, your child may be eligible for compensatory services for those NEW services due to the delay)
Here are a couple of the guiding questions for you & your school district to discuss:
- How has the LEA ensured effective communication with families regarding services provided and not provided? (If you received NO communication from school, your child may be eligible for compensatory services)
- Does the Emergency Contingency Guidance document from TEA, or similar document prepared by the LEA, serve a purpose in planning for possible compensatory supports? (this means compare the Contingency document with your original IEP – What’s missing to understand what instruction was NOT provided?)
- Was the student provided instruction or services via an alternative method (e.g. online math instruction, online speech therapy, or instruction provided telephonically) during the closure?
- Were alternative methods of instruction and services provided to the student as beneficial for the student as the methods normally used to serve the student? (this means Was the instruction or services beneficial to help them meet their IEP goals?)
- Was the student able to access the instruction and services? (heard a lot of families talk about their child not being able to “attend” to online learning – Could your child participate?)
- Is there clear documentation of the amount of instruction and services the student was provided during the closure (including dates, times, and duration)? If so, what amount of instruction and services did the student receive? (Did you document when and what types of instruction were provided?)
- How will the LEA clearly communicate the amount of instruction and time required of compensatory services so that parents and guardians, as members of the ARD committee, can be well informed participants in the decision-making process? (Hopefully you should participate in an IEP meeting to discuss compensatory services – NOT just have a document sent home for you to agree to!!)
- How will the LEAs monitor service times and notify families of completion? (Just like typical IEP progress, there will need to be a way to document that your child is making progress with compensatory services AND when your child has finished compensatory services. Make sure you know exactly what your child will be able to do for the school to say they are finished!)
- What percentage of the student’s IEP-required instruction and services did the student receive?
- Are there indications that the student regressed either academically or non-academically during the closure? Has the student lost any specific skills?
- How can the ARD committee address the need to accelerate skill recuperation without overloading students and/or families with services? (Remember – You have already been overloaded with home schooling, work and typical COVID 19 life. Compensatory services should not make your life harder!!)
There are more questions that you can review on line – Here is a link to the actual pdf document.
