LAUSD Denied FAPE by Failing to Provide Trained Aide and Home Behavior Services

What Happened

Student is a girl with autism and speech-language impairment who was six years old at the time of her 2005–2006 IEP. She had significant behavioral challenges, including tantrums, whining, aggression, and difficulty transitioning between activities. She communicated using a combination of sign language, picture cards, and limited speech. In the prior school year, LAUSD had agreed, through a settlement, to fund a nonpublic agency (NPA) to provide intensive behavioral support services — a total of 570 hours of behavior therapy and 57 hours of supervision. That NPA, CARS, presented a glowing progress report at the June 2005 IEP meeting claiming Student had met all her goals. In reality, she had not.

Based in part on CARS' misleading report, the district's June 2005 IEP did not include any continued NPA behavioral services for the new school year. Instead, the district offered a full-time classroom aide and a basic behavior support plan implemented by the aide and teacher. Parent disagreed, requesting continued NPA behavioral therapy including a home-based component. The district refused. Student was then transferred to a new school, placed with a male aide despite her need for diaper-changing assistance, had that aide leave without replacement for nearly four months, and received only minimal training for the eventual replacement aide — all while her aggressive behaviors escalated significantly.

What the District Did Wrong

The ALJ found the district violated FAPE in several significant ways. First, the district assigned Student a male aide, despite the IEP explicitly requiring the aide to assist with Student's toileting needs and diapering — tasks that were then delegated piecemeal to female staff and never consistently met. Second, when that aide departed in late September 2005, the district left Student with no dedicated full-time aide whatsoever from October 2005 through January 2006 — a gap of nearly four months during which Student had no adult support to help her focus, learn, or stay safe. Third, when the district finally assigned a new aide in late January 2006, that aide had received almost no training in behavior support plans, data collection, or autism-specific strategies until just days before the due process hearing. The aide didn't even know she was responsible for implementing Student's behavior support plan.

The ALJ also found a procedural violation: no general education teacher was present at either the June 10 or June 24, 2005 IEP meetings, and Parent never waived that right. Because Student was being transferred specifically to gain mainstreaming opportunities — and because two of Student's new IEP goals assigned responsibility to a general education teacher — that absence was more than a technicality. It denied the IEP team insights that could have shaped Student's transition plan and impeded both Student's FAPE and Parent's meaningful participation.

The ALJ further found that the district's failure to offer continued home-based behavioral support denied Student a FAPE. The prior NPA (CARS) had misled the IEP team with inflated progress claims, and a respected expert (Dr. Freeman) had documented in May 2005 that Student showed virtually no progress in core communication and socialization skills. Despite this, the district assumed Student no longer needed home-based intensive support. That assumption was wrong.

What Was Ordered

1. District must reimburse Parent for all Stepping Stones NPA services provided from July 2005 through March 3, 2006, including home-based behavior therapy, school-based services, and supervision, upon submission of appropriate invoices.
2. District must reimburse Parent for Stepping Stones services from March 4, 2006 through the date of the decision.
3. District must fund combined home and school-based autistic behavior support services from a reputable NPA (not CARS) until Student's next annual IEP, including: 30 hours per week of school-based one-on-one therapy, 15 hours per week of home-based one-on-one therapy, 4.5 hours per week of supervision, and 9 hours per month of clinic meeting time.
4. If the district chooses a different NPA instead of Stepping Stones, it must implement a transition plan to phase out Stepping Stones over at least 30 days.

The district prevailed on the ABA methodology question — the ALJ ruled the district was not required to use Lovaas-style ABA specifically, and that its "best practices" approach using general ABA principles, PECS, and TEACCH was legally sufficient.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. A male aide assigned to assist a young girl with toileting is inappropriate — and a FAPE violation. When an IEP assigns an aide responsibility for intimate self-care tasks, the district must ensure the aide can actually perform those tasks. Parents should explicitly address aide gender and personal care duties in the IEP document itself.

2. Gaps in aide coverage can be FAPE violations. The district leaving Student without any aide for nearly four months — after the IEP promised full-time support — was a serious implementation failure. Parents should document and formally complain in writing any time a promised aide is absent for more than a brief period.

3. A general education teacher must attend IEP meetings when mainstream participation is planned. The law requires this even when a student is not in general education full-time. If your child will have any mainstreaming time, insist a general education teacher participates and document it if they do not.

4. Districts can choose their own methodology, but not a methodology that produces no results. The ALJ upheld the district's right to use its own behavioral approach rather than Lovaas-style ABA. However, when an NPA's misleading progress report is used to justify cutting behavioral services, and a credible expert documents that the student made virtually no progress, the district cannot hide behind that false report. Parents should request independent assessments when they doubt an NPA's progress claims.

5. Reimbursement for privately obtained services is available when the district fails to deliver. Because LAUSD failed to provide adequate behavioral support, Parent was reimbursed for the cost of hiring Stepping Stones privately. If your district is not providing required services, document your costs — courts and ALJs can order reimbursement as a remedy.