Patricia S. Phelan runs The Law Office of Patricia S. Phelan – a practice dedicated exclusively to the field of special education law and advocacy.  Ms. Phelan has been practicing law for eighteen years and is an experienced litigator as well as a parent of a child with a disability.  For guidance about your child’s rights under the law, please contact Ms. Phelan by email at PSPESQ@aol.com or telephone at 914-629-4707.  For more information about The Law Office of Patricia S. Phelan, go to www.Phelanspecialedlaw.com.

If possible, select an evaluator who both you AND your district are comfortable with.   Even though you are not required to select from a district list, there are often advantages to picking an evaluator the district is familiar with; the district is more likely to respect and embrace that evaluator’s recommendations. 

Ask for the evaluator’s credentials up front; request a copy of their curricula vitae/resume.  You want to make sure the evaluator is qualified to conduct the evaluation and that their recommendations will be well respected.

Try to pick an evaluator experienced with your child’s disability.

Try to pick an evaluator who comes recommended by other parents, your pediatrician or anybody else you know and trust.

Try to find an evaluator who can reliably assess your child AND who can thoroughly memorialize his or her recommendations into a clearly written report, containing conclusions and lots of recommendations, in plain language.  If possible, try to review a sample of the evaluator’s work from another parent, etc.

Pick an evaluator who as part of their assessment, in order to get a complete picture of your child, will:

Visit your child in his or her present educational setting (i.e. current classroom) [note, the law does not allow the school to prevent the evaluator from having the opportunity to observe the student as part of the evaluation];

Speak with your child’s teachers; and

Speak with you (the parent).

Make sure the evaluator is comfortable participating at your child’s IEP meeting, which may become necessary.

Even though your district will be paying for the IEE, you and your child remain the client.  The school district is merely a third party payer.  Therefore, the school has no right to control or direct the evaluation.  Confirm that the evaluator will send you the report first, and discuss the results with you, the client, before they send the report to the district.  If the evaluator is not comfortable with this, it is a good indication that they are not the evaluator you want to use.

Finally, think of the IEE is a wonderful opportunity for you and the school to come together in an effort to gain important insight into your child’s needs.  You want the district to respect the evaluator and the integrity of the evaluation conducted.  After all, it is your hope that the recommendations provided on your child’s behalf will be understood, agreed with and followed by the other members of the IEP team.