Independent Educational Evaluations in Spokane WA
Getting much needed support in school…
An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is a psychoeducational evaluation that is similar to that completed by the school but is completed by an outside, independent evaluator. IEEs typically happen when a parent disagrees with a school district’s evaluation results or decision making for services and would like a second opinion. An IEE can include typical data collection similar to any special education evaluation, such as classroom observations, IQ testing, academic testing, and reviews of records. For Dr. Hayward’s IEEs, she generally is collecting more standardized data than the school. She administers more in-depth tests that provide better information about academic challenges. She investigates social-emotional functioning and its role in a child accessing the curriculum. She also can provide diagnoses that were historically overlooked and give insight in how they affect your child day-to-day at school. This is especially important for children with tough-to-recognize diagnoses like higher functioning autism.
A primary reason Dr. Hayward’s IEEs go beyond the basics you might commonly see is her training. She is trained in school psychology at the PhD level, meaning she can diagnose and she is familiar with schools. This means she has worked in schools doing school psychology and with IEP teams seeing how districts think about results and services. She worked as a special education teacher and with the Louisiana Department of Education prior to graduate training, further building her knowledge base of how data informs education decisions and how teachers perceive different supports. Her goal is to get your child’s teachers the information and support they need so they can provide the best instruction possible. Many other evaluators are clinical psychologists or neuropsychologists without this background. They may not be aware of certain standards, practices, or the culture in education that will influence how their results are received. For instance, even how recommendations are worded in the report can influence if they are accepted. Dr. Hayward works to build a bridge between the clinical world and the school, giving teachers better, more targeted information they can act on.
Dr. Hayward’s board certification in applied behavior analysis (BCBA) also means she can provide Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) in addition to psychoeducational evaluations for your IEE. An FBA is a special assessment that looks to identify why your child might be having specific responses in the classroom, like outbursts, refusal to do work, lashing out, hiding, or running out of the room. FBAs inform the creation of helpful interventions that actually work.
Dr. Hayward’s IEEs still provide the clinical information many families need to access additional services through rendering appropriate diagnoses, like ADHD, autism, learning disorders, language disorder, behavior disorders, etc. Even anxiety and depression - often these two - contribute to your child’s performance in school. Because clinical diagnoses are not within the school’s wheelhouse, your child may be being overlooked. With proper diagnosis, you can better obtain other resources to meet their needs (e.g., medications, social supports), predict future needs (e.g., job skills training, executive functioning coaching), and support the school as they work to support your child (e.g., parenting supports, child individual therapy).
Dr. Hayward’s business model allows her to spend the quality time needed with your child to build rapport before collecting assessment data. This is a vital piece of a valid and reliable IEE. Many children obtain IEEs because of behavioral or social-emotional difficulties, so using a whole child perspective that respects autonomy and gets the child invested in the process is vital. Scheduling is flexible to best match the child’s needs so they can give their best effort.
If you’re frustrated by not making progress with your child’s school in getting appropriate services or accommodations, consider inquiring about an IEE. Their are many roads to an IEE. These are some common ones:
The parent contacts an educational attorney who has experience with advocating for children who need or are receiving special education services. The attorney guides you on requesting an IEE and negotiating an agreement with the school district. These agreements often include the district covering the costs of the parents’ attorney, IEE, FBA, Dr. Hayward’s attendance at the IEP meeting to interpret results for the IEP team, outside therapy for the child, and access to more supportive environments (e.g., clinical schools). They can include language around the district and the parent agreeing to accept the recommendations in the IEE report.
The parent requests in writing an IEE for their child, and the district agrees. Usually then the district will contract with Dr. Hayward directly and the assessment will begin.
The parent requests in writing an IEE for their child, and the district declines. In this case, the district should provide you with a Prior Written Notice detailing their reasons for declining the IEE. Then, the parent pursues due process, which is a presentation to a third-party educational judge who decides if the IEE will be granted.
The parent pays for the IEE out of their own pocket, then pursues reimbursement from the district through a request for an IEE and possibly due process.
Many times school districts and teachers are appreciative of the parent getting an IEE. IEEs and due process can be expensive for districts, so you might feel like there is some push back at points. But, many times both the district and the parents are feeling at a loss for how to provide appropriate support for the child and welcome the results.
If you’re considering an IEE for your child, feel free to reach out to Dr. Hayward via the Contact Dr. Hayward page or reach out to your school district or an educational attorney to get started.
