Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) an IEP must be "reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive an educational benefit.” This is sometimes called the Free Appropriate Public Education standard or “FAPE” An "educational benefit" must be more than trivial, meaning the IEP and services must be calculated to enable the student to make "meaningful and effective progress commensurate with his or her educational potential"
Standardized cognitive / intellectual assessments provide one widely-accepted way to assess a child’s potential. The following are a list of common evaluation tools with links to descriptions of the tests:
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition (“WISC-V”)
Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (“WJ IV COG”)
Leiter International Performance Scale, Third Edition (“Leiter-3”)
Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, Second Edition (“CTONI-2”)
An experienced special education lawyer or advocate can help you understand how your child’s test scores are analyzed within the context of education law. If you are concerned that your child is not making progress commensurate with his or her potential contact the Boston-area attorneys at Wong & Boscarine.