Why you should have an SLP for your child's IEE
Communication is the cornerstone of a child's development, influencing everything from their classroom performance to their ability to build friendships. Strong speech and language abilities are essential foundations for a child's academic success, social connection, and overall learning. When these skills are impaired, it can severely hinder a child's ability to thrive in school.
School-based evaluations may not always fully capture the complexity of a child's communication challenges. These evaluations frequently focus on structured, quiet environments and rely on formal, decontextualized testing, missing how a child communications when distracted, stressed, and/or navigating peer-to-peer or nuanced social interactions. As such, a "passing" score on a school evaluation might not reflect social pragmatic and functional communication challenges in the child's activities of daily living.
A speech-language pathologist (SLP) offers a deep dive into a child's unique communication style, bridging the gap between a diagnosis and the practical evidence-based strategies needed for an effective Individual Education Program (IEP) and/or 504 plan.
At BEAS, we develop a plan of evaluation addressing one, some, or all of the following areas to meet your child's specific needs.
1. Language: The "input and output" of communication
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Receptive and expressive language
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Gestalt Language Processing
2. Speech Sound Production: Physical production of sounds
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Articulation
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Phonological Awareness
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
3. Social Communication: The rules of communication
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Pragmatics
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Social interaction and cognition
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Language processing
4. Fluency: The flow & rhythm of speech
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Continuity and smoothness of speech
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Speech rate
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Effort of speech production
5. Literacy: Reading, spelling, and writing
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Phonological and phonemic awareness
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Phonics
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Reading fluency
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Vocabulary
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Comprehension
6. Augmentative & Alternative Communication: Forms of communication other than oral speech
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Unaided systems (e.g. signs. gestures)
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Aided systems (low to high tech devices used in place of oral speech)​
Additional IEE Information
An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) offers a second opinion from external specialists, providing the time and expertise necessary to uncover gaps in the original evaluation and propose tailored, actionable interventions. It is a neutral, external evaluation that can provide fresh perspective on your child's strengths and weakness, help ensure proper Free Appropriate Public Education, and provide evidence in disputes.
Some reasons for obtaining an IEE
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Parents/caregivers disagree with the school district's findings, determination of eligibility, and/or proposed services (or lack thereof).
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The school district did not evaluate all areas of the child's suspected challenges and/or disability.
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Parents/caregivers believe the school district misunderstands their child's strengths, weakness, and/or unique learning profile.
General process to obtain an IEE
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Submit a written, dated request to the school district stating your disagreement with their evaluation and state you want an IEE at public expense.
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The school responds in a reasonable amount of time by either initiating a due process hearing to prove its evaluate was appropriate or by paying for an IEE.
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Parent/caregiver can choose an independent evaluator who must meet the same qualification criteria the district uses for its own evaluations.
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If the parent/caregiver IEE request is granted, the school district pays an external specialist (for example, BEAS) to conduct the evaluation.
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While the school district must consider the IEE results, they are not required to accept all recommendations.
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​​Note 1: This is a general description of the process. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to contact their school district to obtain information on their specific process.
Note 2: Parents/caregivers can also obtain an IEE from BEAS, at their own expense, and provide the results to the school district for consideration.
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