Extended School Year

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Extended School Year
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What are Extended School Year Services? (ESY)

• Individualized instructional programs provided
  beyond the regular school year for students with
  disabilities
• May be over any break from school, including
  summer, winter, spring or holiday breaks.
• Eligibility is determined for each child with a
  disability and is not limited to specific types
  of disabilities.
• ESY services must be
• Individualized to the unique needs of each
  student (not one size fits all)
• Inclusive of instructional and related services
  (therapies, transportation, transition services,
  etc.)
• Provided in the least restrictive environment.

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Who is eligible for ESY services?

• Students receiving special education under Part B
  of IDEA (ages 3-21)
• In any placement, including regular schools,
  special schools and hospital- or home-bound

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ESY is individualized to the unique needs of each
student Not all students will require ESY

• The IEP team considers the individual students
  needs
• - ESY is dependent on the students needs and
  goals as defined in the IEP the types of
  services, number of weeks, days per week and
  hours per day are based on each students unique
  needs.
• The school districts may not force the student
  into a fixed-length or one size fits all
  program
• -The district cannot place its own limits on the
  type, duration or amount of ESY services.
• - All services are dependent on the childs
  unique needs

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Extended School Year Services (ESY)

• Services must be provided if need is demonstrated
  in
• Academic skills (or, for pre-K students,
  developmentally appropriate preacademic skills)
• Communication
• Independent functioning and self-sufficiency
• Social/emotional or behavioral skills, as they
  relate to critical life functions.
• If an IEP team determines that a student needs an
  extended school year (or any other special
  education or related services), an administrator
  cannot override the teams decision.
• The amount and type of services must be
  appropriate to meeting IEP goals.

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ESY Settings

• ESY may be provided in a variety of settings,
  including
• General education summer school
• Hospitals
• In home
• Community recreational and educational programs
• ESY services must be provided in the Least
  Restrictive Environment (LRE.) However, schools
  are not required to create new programs for
  nondisabled students, simply so that disabled
  students have an opportunity for integrated
  services.
• Regardless of the setting or the services
  provided, ESY services must be provided free of
  cost to the student.

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When during the year should ESY be considered?

• The IEP committee decision to provide ESY
  services may be made at any point during the
  year
• ESY must be considered at least at one IEP
  meeting every year
• If a childs IEP has already taken place, parents
  may request another meeting to consider ESY.
• A determination of ESY needs must be made early
  enough to allow parents to appeal a denial of ESY
  services before the break in services occurs.

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Documentation of ESY

• A new or different IEP does not have to be
  developed for ESY
• Goals for ESY services should be specific to the
  needs of the student during the period's in which
  services are provided
• Typically, goals, including benchmarks and
  short-term objectives will be an extension of
  those on the current plan.
• New goals may be necessary in some instances.

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Eligibility Criteria

• No single criteria can be used to determine
  eligibility
• Each individual child has unique needs
• Seven separate criteria that must be considered
  each year (if a student satisfies any of these
  criteria, he/she is eligible for ESY)
• Regression/recoupment (if past regression is
  documented or future regression predicted)
• Critical point of instruction
• Emerging skills
• Interfering behaviors
• Nature or severity of disability
• Rate of progress
• Special circumstances.

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What ESY criteria is inappropriate?

• ESY is not
• Child care
• Respite care
• Intended to maximize educational opportunity or
  potential growth
• Based on the specific area of disability, level
  of service, or type of classroom placement
• One size fits all
• A longer school day.

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Questions for determining need

• Does the student demonstrate a severe disability
  in one or more areas?
• Is the nature or severity of the students
  disability such that the student would be
  unlikely to benefit from his or her education
  without the provision of ESY services? This may
  be reflected in the students rate of progress.
• Does the student experience significant
  regression, more pronounced than that experienced
  by nondisabled peers, in social or adaptive
  behaviors or learned skills over regularly
  scheduled school breaks during the year?
• Does the data indicate the likelihood that
  significant regression will occur in critical
  life skills related to the following areas and
  that those skills cannot be recouped within a
  reasonable amount of time without ESY services?
• Academics, or, for pre-K students,
  developmentally appropriate preacademic skills
• Communication
• Independent functioning and self-sufficiency
• Social/emotional development or behavior.
• Is a significant amount of time and effort,
  beyond that required by nondisabled peers, needed
  to assist the student in regaining previously
  learned behaviors and skills?
• If there is no documented history of
  regression/recoupment problems from prior breaks
  in instruction, does predictive data based on the
  opinion of professionals indicate that a serious
  potential for regression exists?

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Questions for determining need, cont

• Failing to achieve instructional goals and
  benchmarks or short-term objectives on the IEP
  due to the interruption of instruction between
  school years? Does the data indicate the
  likelihood that the student is at a crucial stage
  in the development of a critical life skill and
  that a lapse in service would substantially
  jeopardize the students chance of learning that
  skill? This may include emerging skills as well
  as critical points of instruction on existing
  skills.
• Does the targeted skill represent a barrier to
  continuous progress or self-sufficiency?
• Would the benefits derived from ESY outweigh the
  positive benefits of a summer break?
• Have other options that would meet the needs of
  the student been considered and determined to be
  of less benefit than ESY? Is continuous or
  year-round treatment an integral part of the
  methodology deemed necessary for the student?
• Are there unusual circumstances that create a
  need for ESY?
• Without ESY services in the identified critical
  life skills, will the student be unable to
  receive some reasonable level of benefit from
  his/her educational services during the regular
  school year?

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ESY Eligibility Criteria

• Two years ago, an IEP goal for the student was
  mastery of addition to 20 and the student
  mastered the goal. This years IEP lists mastery
  of addition to 20 as a new IEP goal. ESY is
  indicated because of regression. Over the course
  of the year, an 11-year-old student has mastered
  the sounds of the letters and the past three
  months have been spent teaching him to blend
  sounds. He has just begun blending sounds.
  Because of the critical nature of this emerging
  skill, the slow progress and the high
  probability of regression, ESY is indicated. A
  speech-impaired child with a degenerative muscle
  disease is losing oral muscle tone and needs
  continuous oral muscular exercises to maintain
  her ability to articulate she has begun learning
  sign language to compensate for the eventual loss
  of articulation. She was found to need ESY for
  speech therapy and sign language. A student has
  recently obtained paid supported employment and
  requires the services of a job coach in order to
  be successful. A student requires ESY in order to
  remain in his existing least restrictive
  environment (LRE) and prevent movement to a more
  restrictive setting. A 4-year-old child with
  developmental delays is just learning toilet
  training with prompts at school and summer
  regression may be so significant that the student
  will lose the skills she has and require
  extensive retraining.
• A students frequent health-related absences have
  significantly impeded progress on goals related
  to critical life skills.
• A student with a specific learning disability and
  speech/language disabilities was found to need
  ESY because it was clear he would regress without
  the services. A student with a language-based
  learning disability and attention deficit
  hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was found to
  require ESY to make up work missed during the
  regular school year and improve speech and
  language skills.

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Parent Strategy Making the Case for ESYPrepare
for the Annual IEP

• Review your childs cumulative folder annually
• Request a copy so that you have time to review it
  fully.
• Talk to your childs teachers, therapists, aides
  and outside experts
• What are their evaluations of needs and progress
  in each area?
• Evaluate your childs progress and needs
• Write a summary of your concerns and your childs
  needs and goals.
• Document your childs needs
• Do you have independent evaluations or reports?
• Tie the needs to specific goals.