It’s that time of year again, the time when we find ourselves saying these same words over and over in IEP meetings and in emails to school districts on behalf of our clients:
“ESY is not a place. It’s a service.”
ESY (Extended School Year) is a service in a child’s IEP that addresses a child’s disability related needs in an effort to address regression, recoupment and to maintain a child’s emerging skills in relationship to goal progression during extended school breaks. What does this actually mean? It means that:
- if your child has regressed (lost progress made on a goal/goals) and needs to recoup those skills then they qualify for ESY services and the services need to reflect the amount of time needed for the student to regain those lost skills.
- if your child needs to maintain emerging skills, or skills they have begun to gain with a risk of loss, then they qualify for ESY services.
What services happen in ESY?
The answer is a simple one: The services that your child needs to make and maintain progress on their goals during extended school breaks. It could be speech, Occupational Therapy, Specialized Academic Instruction, Physical Therapy, etc. What goal areas did your child have regression in and now needs recoupment? Which goals does your child have emerging skills where there would be concern about potential loss? Those would be the services that your child needs during ESY.
What do you mean when you say ESY is not a place?
ESY is not a place that a student goes to. It’s not a class that everyone with an IEP who qualifies for ESY all go to. ESY is a service provided to a child in their IEP. However, we often hear in IEP meetings that a student “doesn’t qualify for the ESY class which is for more severe disabilities” and then the district tries to check the ESY box with a no. Often as advocates when we push back and cite the student’s data that demonstrates regression and the need for recoupment or an emerging skill needing to be supported, we are sometimes met with statements like “We don’t have an ESY class for that.”
It can sometimes be challenging to get district staff to shift their thinking about ESY from a place to a service, but there are many options outside of the “ESY class” being offered. For instance if it is the area of speech that had regression, consider requesting 1:1 speech sessions during the summer as the district’s ESY service offer. Did the student lose skills in reading fluency and comprehension? Ask for Structured Literacy instruction with a certified provider at district expense. FYI: school districts can and do contract with outside providers ALL THE TIME.
The bottom line is that ESY services should ALWAYS reflect the needs of the child and not just what a district “has this summer” or placement in the “ESY class” for the summer. Look at your child’s data, look at their goals, look at the goal progress summaries. Does the data support the progress noted in the progress summaries? Was the data even provided to you? If you do not have the data collected for each goal, send an email to the case manager and copy the special education director and ask for it as a FERPA request. Go to your IEP meeting prepared to discuss ESY as a service and be prepared to explain that it is not a place. Bring this blog post with you if you need to. If your child has regressed and needs to regain skills or if your child has emerging skills that need to be maintained, be prepared to not accept no as the answer and advocate for your child to receive the SERVICE that they need during the extended school break.
