Somebody at the school has said "let's give it a semester and see," twice. Meanwhile your child is coming home flattened, or not going in at all, and you are being handled rather than answered. There is a way out of that conversation, and it is not a better conversation. It is an email with a date on it.
The short answer: a parent's written request for assessment is a legal referral, not a favour. Once the district receives it, it has fifteen calendar days to give you a proposed assessment plan, you have at least fifteen days to decide whether to sign it, and from your signature the district has sixty days to complete the assessment and hold the meeting. Long school breaks pause the clocks; a request made in the last days of the year rolls into the autumn on a defined schedule. The assessment is free, you do not need a private diagnosis first, and an intervention process cannot be used to delay it.¹ ² ³ ⁴
Before you start: what you are actually asking for
| An IEP (special education) | A Section 504 plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Federal IDEA and California Education Code | Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 34 CFR Part 104 |
| The test | One of thirteen eligibility categories, and a need for specialised instruction | A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity⁵ |
| What it delivers | Specialised instruction, related services, goals, progress reporting | Accommodations and access |
| Timeline in law | 15 days / 15 days / 60 days, as below¹ ² | The regulation requires evaluation before an initial placement but sets no numeric day count⁵ |
| Who writes it | An IEP team including you | A 504 team |
Ask for the special education assessment. If your child does not qualify, ask about a 504 plan in the same meeting — the threshold is different and accommodations can still follow. Asking for 504 first does not put you in the queue for the other.
Child: · DOB / / · Grade · School What I am seeing, in observable terms: When it started: · What it is costing at school:
Write the request — email is fine, and it timestamps itself
California defines a referral for assessment to include any written request for assessment made by a parent or guardian.⁶ That is the whole trigger. Send it to the principal and the district's director of special education; copy the teacher if you like, but the district is the party with the deadline.
Subject: Written request for special education assessment — [child's name], [grade], [school]
I am the parent of [name], date of birth [date], currently in [grade] at [school].
I am requesting a full initial special education assessment in all areas of suspected disability, including [attention and executive function / reading / speech and language / social communication / anxiety and school avoidance / behaviour / motor / hearing and vision].
What I am seeing at home and what has been reported to me from school: [three or four concrete sentences — what happens, how often, and what it costs].
I understand that under Education Code section 56321 I should receive a proposed assessment plan within fifteen days of this referral, and that a copy of my procedural rights will be attached to it.
Please confirm receipt of this referral and the date it was received.
I am glad to provide any developmental, medical or therapy history that would help, and to meet at any point in the process.
[name] · [phone] · [email] · [date]
Sent / / · To: · Receipt confirmed ☐ on / /
Two things not to do. Do not diagnose in the letter; describe. And do not ask whether an assessment "would be possible" — a question invites a discussion, and a request starts a clock.
The three clocks, written down
Fill these in on the day you send the letter, and again when each one is met.
| Clock | The rule | Due | Met |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment plan to you | "within 15 days of the referral for assessment not counting days between the pupil's regular school sessions or terms or days of school vacation in excess of five schooldays"¹ | / / | ☐ |
| Your decision | "The parent or guardian shall have at least 15 days from the receipt of the proposed assessment plan to arrive at a decision"¹ | / / | ☐ |
| Assessment complete and IEP developed | "within a total time not to exceed 60 days, not counting days between the pupil's regular school sessions, terms, or days of school vacation in excess of five schooldays, from the date of receipt of the parent's written consent"² | / / | ☐ |
Read the pauses carefully, because districts and parents argue about them every spring. A vacation longer than five school days is not counted, and the fifteen-day period recommences on the date the pupil's regular school days reconvene.¹ A week off is not a pause; a three-week winter break is.
And the end-of-year rules, which almost nobody is told. If the referral is made ten days or less before the end of the regular school year, the assessment plan is due within ten days after the subsequent regular school year commences.¹ If it is made thirty days or less before the end of the year, the IEP is due within thirty days after the subsequent school year commences.² So a request sent in the last fortnight of May does not vanish over the summer — it lands on a defined date in the autumn. Send it anyway, and write that date down.
When a "student study team" is offered instead
It will be, often, and it is a real process with a real use. It is not a substitute, and it is not a gate.
Federal child find requires districts to identify children suspected of having a disability and needing special education "even though they are advancing from grade to grade."⁴ And the US Department of Education's own guidance to states is unambiguous: the use of response-to-intervention strategies "cannot be used to delay or deny the provision of a full and individual evaluation" to a child suspected of having a disability, and it would be inconsistent with the evaluation provisions for a district to reject a referral and delay an initial evaluation on the basis that a child has not participated in an intervention framework.⁴
So: accept the meeting, and keep the clock running. The sentence to say, warmly, in the room:
I am glad to do the student study team, and I would like it to run alongside the assessment rather than instead of it. My written referral was received on [date], so the assessment plan is due on [date]. Can we schedule both?
If the district declines to assess, it owes you that refusal in writing with its reasons — prior written notice — and that document is what you take to Step 6.⁷
☐ SST offered on / / · ☐ I confirmed the assessment clock in writing · ☐ Refusal received in writing on / /
Read the assessment plan before you sign it
The plan is a list of what will be assessed and by whom. Signing it starts the sixty days, so read it once with a pen.
- ☐ Every area I named in my letter appears on the plan. Missing:
- ☐ It names who will assess in each area (psychologist, speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, behaviour, academic)
- ☐ It includes observation in the classroom, not only testing in a room
- ☐ It includes a health and developmental history and a hearing and vision screening
- ☐ My procedural rights are attached¹
- ☐ If something is missing, I wrote it on the plan before signing, in this form: "I consent to the assessments listed, and I am also requesting assessment in [area], which I identified in my referral of [date]."
Signed and returned / / (keep a copy; the 60 days runs from the district's receipt of your consent²)
The sixty days, and what to do at day thirty
Put two entries in the calendar: the deadline, and the halfway point. At the halfway point send four lines:
Checking in on [name]'s assessment, consented on [date] and due by [date]. Which assessments are complete, which are outstanding, and is there anything you need from me? Please also send me the draft reports at least three days before the meeting so I can read them properly.
That last request is the one that changes the meeting. Reports handed to you across the table get skimmed; reports read at the kitchen table two nights before get questions attached to them.
Halfway email sent / / · Draft reports requested ☐ · Received / / Meeting scheduled / / · Who will attend: ☐ I am bringing someone with me (a partner, a friend, an advocate) — name:
Before the meeting, write your three sentences: what you want the team to understand, what you are asking for, and what you will do if the answer is no. Bring outside reports if you have them; the team must consider them.
If you disagree with the results
Four routes, in ascending order of formality. Most cases end at the first two.
| Route | What it is | The deadline | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent educational evaluation | If you disagree with the district's evaluation, you may request one at public expense. The district must, without unnecessary delay, either fund it or file for a due process hearing to show its own evaluation was appropriate³ | Ask in writing, as soon as you disagree | In writing to the district |
| State compliance complaint | For a violation of the rules — a missed timeline, a refusal to assess, services not delivered | The complaint must allege a violation occurring not more than one year before it is received; the state has 60 calendar days to investigate⁸ | California Department of Education, cde.ca.gov |
| Mediation | A voluntary conference to resolve the disagreement | Scheduled within 15 calendar days of the request, completed within 30⁹ | Through the state |
| Due process hearing | A hearing before an administrative law judge, administered by the Office of Administrative Hearings | Filed "within two years from the date the party initiating the request knew or had reason to know of facts underlying the basis for the request"; a decision is due within 45 calendar days of the request⁹ | Office of Administrative Hearings |
The sentence that starts the first one:
I disagree with the district's assessment of [name] in the area of [area], and I am requesting an independent educational evaluation at public expense. Please send me the district's criteria for independent evaluations.
Route chosen: · Filed / / · Reference #:
Run the health plan route at the same time
The school route and the medical route answer different questions, cost differently, and do not replace one another. The school assesses educational need; your health plan owes medically necessary diagnostic care regardless of what the school is doing, and California's parity law does not let a plan refuse it on the grounds that a school district could do it instead.¹⁰
Run both. If one stalls, the other is already moving. Child autism assessment, both routes → · ADHD: when testing is not needed → · If the plan denies it →
What happens next
An assessment produces an answer in writing, with data, and a meeting at which people who have watched your child have to say what they saw. That is worth having even when the answer is no. If your child does not qualify for special education, ask in the same meeting about a Section 504 plan, and ask for the accommodations to be written down rather than agreed to warmly.
And keep the file. One folder, paper or digital: your referral, the assessment plan, your signed consent with its date, every email, the reports, the IEP or the refusal. Almost every dispute in this system turns on a date, and the parent who has the dates has the argument.
Q&A
Q: How do I request a special education assessment in California? A: Send a written request — email is fine — to the principal and the district's special education director. That written request is a referral. The district then has fifteen calendar days to give you a proposed assessment plan, you have at least fifteen days to decide, and the district has sixty days from your consent to complete the assessment and hold the IEP meeting.¹ ² It is free.
Q: Do I need a diagnosis from a doctor first? A: No. A suspicion of disability affecting education is the trigger, and the assessment is how the question gets answered.
Q: The school wants to try interventions for a semester first. A: Interventions and assessment can run together. Federal guidance states that intervention strategies cannot be used to delay or deny a full and individual evaluation for a child suspected of having a disability.⁴
Q: What if the request is made at the end of the school year? A: The clocks roll rather than reset. A referral made ten days or less before the end of the regular school year produces an assessment plan within ten days after the next school year starts; a referral made thirty days or less before the end produces the IEP within thirty days after the next year starts.¹ ²
Q: Does the district have to pay for a second opinion? A: If you disagree with the district's evaluation and request an independent educational evaluation, the district must without unnecessary delay either fund it or file for a hearing to defend its own.³
Q: How long do I have to file a due process complaint? A: Two years from when you knew or had reason to know of the facts underlying the request.⁹ The state compliance complaint has a shorter reach — one year.⁸
Q: My child is in a charter or a private school. A: Charter schools are public schools and the process applies. For a privately enrolled child, the district of the private school's location has obligations, but they are narrower; ask specifically about a services plan.
Our therapist directory: See its current status → · 504 plans and IEPs, explained →
Once the report exists, it is yours within five business days. How do I get my child's school records and evaluations? →
If the school says the assessment must wait for a doctor or a prescription, it cannot. Can the school require ADHD medication? →
More help with school support: See the family support guide →
Sources
- California Education Code §56321(a) and (c)(4) — "the parent or guardian of the pupil shall be given, in writing, a proposed assessment plan within 15 days of the referral for assessment not counting days between the pupil's regular school sessions or terms or days of school vacation in excess of five schooldays"; the assessment plan is developed "within 10 days after the commencement of the subsequent regular school year" for a referral made "10 days or less prior to the end of the regular school year"; "The parent or guardian shall have at least 15 days from the receipt of the proposed assessment plan to arrive at a decision" — california.public.law; restated at §56043(a) and (b) — california.public.law.
- California Education Code §56344(a) — an IEP "shall be developed within a total time not to exceed 60 days, not counting days between the pupil's regular school sessions, terms, or days of school vacation in excess of five schooldays, from the date of receipt of the parent's written consent for assessment"; and within 30 days after the subsequent school year commences for a referral made 30 days or less before the end of the year — california.public.law.
- 34 C.F.R. §300.502 — independent educational evaluation at public expense; on request the agency must "without unnecessary delay" either "file a due process complaint to request a hearing to show that its evaluation is appropriate" or "ensure that an independent educational evaluation is provided at public expense" — ecfr.gov; California Education Code §56329(b).
- 34 C.F.R. §300.111(c)(1) — child find includes children "suspected of being a child with a disability under §300.8 and in need of special education, even though they are advancing from grade to grade" — ecfr.gov; US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Memorandum 11-07 — the use of response-to-intervention strategies "cannot be used to delay or deny the provision of a full and individual evaluation" — sites.ed.gov.
- 34 C.F.R. §104.3(j) and §104.35 — the Section 504 definition of disability, and the requirement to evaluate before an initial placement; the regulation sets no numeric evaluation timeline — ecfr.gov.
- California Education Code §56029 — a referral for assessment includes any written request for assessment made by a parent or guardian — law.justia.com.
- California Education Code §56500.4 — prior written notice, including an explanation of why the agency refuses to take the action.
- California Department of Education, special education complaint procedures — a complaint must allege a violation occurring not more than one year before it is received, and the department has 60 calendar days after filing to investigate — cde.ca.gov; California Education Code §56043(p)(1).
- California Education Code §56043(q), (r) and (s), with §56500.3 and §56505 — mediation scheduled within 15 calendar days of the request and completed within 30; a due process request "shall be filed within two years from the date the party initiating the request knew or had reason to know of facts underlying the basis for the request"; a final administrative decision within 45 calendar days — california.public.law; due process hearings are administered by the Office of Administrative Hearings — cde.ca.gov.
- California Health and Safety Code §1374.72 — california.public.law.
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