Who is eligible for ESY services?
All students
with disabilities who have a current IEP must be considered for ESY
services at least annually. To ensure FAPE, the IEP team must consider
and document whether ESY services are needed for each student regardless
of the student’s disability. A school may not limit ESY services to
particular categories of disabilities. These requirements apply to all
students with a disability between the ages of three and twenty-one.
Who determines the need for ESY services?
Determination
of need rests with the IEP team, which must be composed of the
following individuals: parent/ guardian(s) of the student, the student
if appropriate, general education teacher(s), special education and
related service providers, administrator or school representative who
has the ability to commit resources, and others as appropriate. All
persons involved in the IEP process should be active participants. Each
person fulfills an important role by bringing and sharing critical
information about the student and his or her need for ESY services. The
first standard that has been determined by federal courts is that no
single criterion can be used as a sole qualifying factor.
What factors determine the need for ESY services?
The primary criteria in determining a student’s need for ESY services are the likelihood of significant regression of previously learned skills during a break in services and limited or delayed recoupment
of these skills after services resume. The courts have found that the
regression/recoupment measures are an integral part of the determination
of need for ESY services, although they are not the only measures.
The
IEP team must consider regression/recoupment measures, in addition to
all appropriate factors, in determining whether the learning that
occurred during the regular school year will be significantly jeopardized if the student is not provided ESY services.
REGRESSION- A
decline to a lower level of functioning demonstrated by a decrease of
previously learned skills that occur as a result of an interruption in
educational programming.
RECOUPMENT- The ability to recover or regain skills at the level demonstrated prior to the interruption of educational programming.
What other factors should be considered when determining need for ESY services?
Schools
should use regression/ recoupment criteria in determining the need for
ESY services, but a broad range of relevant factors must also be
considered. The factors to be considered in making ESY services
decisions shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
Category of Disability.
Students with disabilities requiring consistent, highly structured
programs may be predisposed to regression when their educational program
is interrupted. These students may also have limited recoupment
capacity.
Emerging Skills. If the child is at a
critical stage of developing a skill which has great potential for
increasing his/her self-sufficiency; it should be incorporated into the
eligibility analysis.
Nature & Severity of Disability.
Although limited recoupment capacity can occur among students with
moderate disabilities, it is more likely to be a learning characteristic
of students with severe disabilities. Students with the most severe
disabilities are more likely to revert to lower functioning levels when
their programs are interrupted. Finally, students with severe
disabilities are more likely to have difficulty attaining the goals of
their IEP and may require additional instruction and support to meet
their goals. Nature and severity of a disability is a key factor in ESY
eligibility determination.
Student’s rate of progress.
Just as every student’s rates of learning, regression, and recoupment
are different from that of other students, an individual’s rate of
learning specific skills or behaviors may differ from his or her rate of
attaining other skills. Certain skills or behaviors are particularly
essential to meeting the goals of self-sufficiency. For example,
building self-help skills, such as toileting or eating, are essential
for minimal independence. Therefore, for students with severe
disabilities, a Team should consider the need for an ESY program if
there is a lack of progress in meeting short term objectives over two
marking periods, resulting in little or no progress made over the school
year.
How is the need for ESY services measured?
Determination
of the need for ESY services cannot be based on a formula. Formulas
lack the individualization to ensure that students with disabilities
have appropriate educational planning to accommodate their unique needs.
Case law supports this conclusion: the determination of the need for
ESY services cannot be based on a policy that prohibits or inhibits full
consideration of the needs of each student with a disability.
The
information that is needed by an IEP team to determine a student’s need
for ESY services is gathered through ongoing measurement of the
student’s progress toward the current IEP goals. An essential component
of a student’s goals is the method to measure progress. Information can
be gathered through a variety of informal and formal measures. Those
measures may include a record of daily performance,
criterion-referenced and norm referenced test data, anecdotal records
from information collected throughout the year, behavior checklists,
test results, report cards, homework, or other student work samples. Measurement
information should be gathered during the student’s performance after
long weekends, vacations, and past summer breaks.
When is regression/ recoupment considered severe or significant?
Research
shows that regression and recoupment occur in all students and will
vary across skills, people, and circumstances. The concern is that for
some students with disabilities, the regression is so severe and the
recoupment period so long that without ESY services, the learning that
occurred during the regular school year would be significantly
jeopardized if ESY services are not provided. The determination of need
for ESY is made on an individualized basis after careful and critical
analysis of the ongoing data gathered by the IEP team.