What Is “Compensatory Education” for Special Education Students?

The COVID-19 pandemic has left American children with steep educational deficits
The problem is even starker for students receiving special education services.

School disruptions for quarantines and distance learning formats left millions of students receiving something less than the services detailed in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

The key to recovery could be “compensatory education.” But what is compensatory education?

It’s the term for makeup services to help children with disabilities catch up from missing specialized instruction they were supposed to receive.

Getting compensatory services, especially after COVID, could be complicated.

Strains on resources and disagreement about which compensatory education services are warranted can make this difficult for parents to navigate.

A recent article in The New York Times about making up for lost education services captured some of the challenges.

It said many parents of some of the 200,000 students in special education in New York City’s schools, and even New York State government officials, are reporting severe learning losses in children thanks to the disruption of services during the pandemic.

The article tells stories of several parents fighting to get compensatory education for their children to rebound from missed services like face-to-face speech therapy, occupational therapy or other in-person, dedicated instruction from special education teachers.

The article also said schools may argue that because the pandemic was beyond their control, they don’t have an obligation to provide compensatory education for the full amount of services students missed. And it may be impossible to replace all of the lost special education time for 7 million students in special education throughout the United States.

The Cuddy Law Firm’s special education lawyers have been closely monitoring the pandemic’s effect on special education services, and informing parents of strategies to protect your children’s rights, from the very beginning of the COVID outbreak.

Cuddy Vice President Adrienne Arkontaky anticipated the widespread need for recovery from lost instruction in a panel discussion before the start of the 2021-22 school year.

In this post, we’ll look at compensatory services, how they work and how to get them for your child.

How Are Compensatory Education Services Delivered?

A fact sheet prepared by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) described two types of compensatory services:

1. Quantitative, which means making up for every hour of lost special education instruction time
2. Qualitative, which means restoring educational benefits to the child, not measured in hours of lost services but in the individual needs of students

The qualitative approach may be the most likely one parents will see, especially after a mass loss of services during the pandemic.

In fact, Cuddy special education attorney Alison Morris wrote in an earlier blog post that, “simply not receiving instruction and/or services at the frequency (amount per week) or duration (length of time per session) that your child’s IEP mandated will likely not be enough on its own to warrant COVID-based compensatory services.”

Instead, she said, you’ll need to explain which areas of learning your child hasn’t made progress in, where they’ve regressed, and any new issues that have arisen during COVID. Your request for compensatory services will likely focus on creating a plan to address those points.

How Do Parents Go About Getting Compensatory Education Services?

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Cuddy Law Firm special education attorneys have been advising parents to document how their children’s educational program has changed.

That means writing down what services your child received before the pandemic, what services they received during the pandemic and how they differed.

It includes noting how much attention your child received from educators, such as number of sessions per week. It also includes the way those sessions were delivered, such as in-person vs. video call vs. phone call.

And it includes changes such as worksheets replacing classroom time.

The school should have documented these instructional changes, too, and you should be able to get a copy of their records.

Keeping track of these details can help in your effort to get the school to provide compensatory education services. Even if you don’t get a one-to-one replacement of every instructional minute, these records demonstrate the need for make-up services.

When it’s time for your child’s IEP meeting, make it clear to the educators where your child stands now in their learning level. And make sure compensatory services are included in the plans discussed.

Your child’s IEP provides a prime opportunity to establish a compensatory services strategy to help your child regain their progress after the pandemic.

You should also hold on to any notices you receive from your child’s school describing their decisions on approving or denying compensatory services.

Obstacles Parents May Face While Requesting Compensatory Services

The paper from COPAA anticipated resistance families may encounter trying to get compensatory services.

School districts may argue, for example, that all students suffered the same pandemic disruption, so uniform efforts at catching up all students at once should suffice for special education students.

They may also say that the pandemic left them with depleted financial resources, limiting their capacity to provide compensatory education.

Problems with these arguments include:

If you feel your school district isn’t cooperating to provide the compensatory services your child needs, you can start your response by negotiating with the district.

If that doesn’t work, you can request a due process hearing. You also may be able to further ask for a state review of your child’s situation, or go to court.

Our special education law firm helps families navigate processes like this.
If you want to learn more about what is compensatory education—and what it is not—and you feel your child’s academic growth was damaged in the pandemic and you need help advocating for their needs, get in touch with the Cuddy Law Firm.