What are my childs legal rights regarding psychological testing for special education?
The federal law which governs special education is known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. It was reenacted in the Spring of 1997. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 specify a number of safeguards that are relevant to psychological testing. First, parents must be notified of testing and give consent to administration of tests for either an initial special education evaluation or subsequent reevaluation (under the old law parental consent was only required for initial evaluations). Section 614 of the 1997 IDEA states: “The local educational agency shall provide notice to the parents of a child with a disability, in accordance with subsections (b)(3), (b)(4), and (c) of section 615, that describes any evaluation procedures such agency proposes to conduct.” “The agency proposing to conduct an initial evaluation to determine if the child qualifies as a child with a disability as defined in section 602(3)(A) or 602(3)(B) shall obtai
