Request for Referral to Consider a Special Education Evaluation

Request for referrals come in many different ways.  It can be from the school’s Response to Intervention (RTI) team or a Child Find concern.  When the request for referral has been made follow the steps as outlined below:

1. 1. 1. If a referral is coming from the RTI team, the Intervention Documentation form should be completed and shared with the MDT team for consideration and review. This document serves as a summary for interventions and progress monitoring that has taken place in the RTI process. The purpose of this referral is to bring a student to the attention of an evaluation team so that the team can determine whether to conduct a special education evaluation. 

      2. Notify Special Education Director to add student to EDPlan. It is the Case Manager’s responsibility (with support from his/her team) to completely fill out the referral form and generate the “Request for Input” form. These can be created from the first tile in the Referral>Eligibility page.Case Manager must then follow up with sending the documents home with the student. Document this action in the Contact Log. 

      3.  If the referral came from someone other than the parent/adult student the parent/adult student shall be notified and the parent should be provided with a copy of the Procedural Safeguards notice.

      4. Team must meet regarding the request for referral. The team should review evidence of student need and concerns, including data provided by the RTI team or information provided by parent.

         • • Formal referral meeting may be scheduled at the team’s discretion and MUST be held at parent request.

           • Idaho SESTA Quick Guide: Referral Team

      5. Ensure that the appropriate related service professionals are part of the team decision-making.

      6. Parent input can also be gathered through other means of communication without a full team meeting, unless the parent desires that a meeting be held.

      7. Team decides if a comprehensive evaluation to determine special education eligibility is warranted.

         • • If yes, proceed to Step 8.

           • If not, the team must document this decision in a Written Notice, clearly explaining the reasons the team is denying a special education evaluation. Provide Written Notice to the parent and document in the EDPlan contact log.

           • The team may also consider referring the student to the 504 process or to the RTI process for consideration of academic or behavioral interventions.

      8. Team agrees on areas to be assessed and formulates and documents appropriate and specific referral questions. When there are concerns requiring specialists such as OT, PT, or Speech/Language, that professional must be contacted before marking that as an area of concern. Idaho SESTA Referral Questions Quick Guide

      9. Consent is not required to review existing information (also known as a file review). This information should be included in the Background Information section of the eligibility report.

      10. Check to see if the team may need additional information from outside sources - if so an Authorization for Exchange of Confidential Information should be drafted to send home with Consent for Assessment.

      11. Consent for Assessment document is drafted and sent home to obtain consent to conduct assessments. Best practice is to communicate with parents about the Consent for Assessment via phone call, email, Written Notice, or face-to-face meeting.

          • • Include Consent to Bill Medicaid School Based Services from EDPlan.

            • Include Request for Input form from EDPlan.

      12. Once consent is signed and returned, scan and upload all signed documents to the student's EDPlan record and notify the Medicaid coordinator. VERBAL CONSENT IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PROCEED. CONSENT MUST BE IN WRITING.

      13. The Medicaid coordinator will check on the student's possible Medicaid eligibility and, if eligible, seek physician referral for the evaluation. DO NOT begin testing until you receive notice of clearance from the Medicaid coordinator.

      14. If the parent denies consent for an evaluation, provide written notice of the district's refusal to complete the evaluation due to denial of consent. Denial of consent should be in writing via a signature on the proposed consent form, unless the parent refuses to sign. If a parent refuses to sign giving or denying consent for an initial evaluation, provide written notice of the disrtrict's refusal to complete the evaluation due to the parent neither giving nor denying consent.

          • If the school team proposes an evaluation and agrees that proceeding with an evaluation with parent consent is appropriate, and the parent does not wish for the evaluation to proceed, the team must offer a Consent for Assessment form outlining the reasons for proposing an evaluation and the types of assessments to be performed. The parent should be asked to sign giving or denying consent. This is in order to document that the school followed appropriate Child Find processes related to identifying all students with disabilities, but couldn't proceed in this case due to parent denial of consent. After parent denial of consent, the team should provide written notice of the district's refusal to proceed with the evaluation due to parent denial.

Idaho SESTA Referral Process Flowchart

Idaho SESTA Guide to Academic Achievement Assessments

IMPORTANT: Special education services to be provided only after a comprehensive evaluation finds the student eligible, an initial IEP is proposed, and parent consent for initial placement is signed

During the time that a student is in the referral and evaluation process, involvement of special education staff needs to be limited to facilitating meetings, producing appropriate paperwork (e.g., Referral, Request for Input, Written Notice, Consent for Assessment, etc.), completing assessments once consent is received, and maintaining communication with parents as needed for evaluation purposes. All other interventions and supports MUST be provided through general education processes such as academic intervention, student support team, or behavior intervention. No special education staff member or contractor should provide services or supports to a student until that student has been found eligible for special education, the initial IEP has been proposed, and the parent has signed initial consent for placement in special education.