Student with SLD Won Compensatory Speech Services After Compton Failed to Hold IEP or Match Prior Services

What Happened

The student, born in 1990, has a Specific Learning Disability and spent much of his childhood moving between school districts while living in foster care and group homes. His parents are developmentally disabled, and his aunt held educational rights through a power of attorney. In the 2001-2002 school year, Fontana Unified developed an IEP that placed him in a special day class and provided weekly 50-minute pull-out speech-language sessions. When he transferred to Compton Unified (CUSD) for seventh grade in September 2002, Compton never held an IEP meeting, never made a written placement offer, and provided only 7 speech-language sessions for the entire year instead of the 64 sessions required by his existing IEP. A psychoeducational assessment was finally done in June 2003 — at the very end of the school year — but no IEP meeting was ever convened while he was at CUSD.

The student later moved through Pasadena Unified (dismissed from the case) and then entered Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD) at Dorsey High School for ninth grade in 2004. His aunt repeatedly raised concerns about his behavior and made both oral and written requests for an IEP meeting and psychological assessment. LAUSD failed to convene the requested IEP meeting, a violation the ALJ found constituted a substantive denial of FAPE. The student also attended Hollywood High within LAUSD, where a more complete IEP was developed in June 2006. The student's aunt and an advocate attended that meeting, and the IEP team did consider independent assessments the family had obtained. The ALJ found LAUSD's Hollywood High program largely appropriate, and denied most claims against LAUSD.

What the District Did Wrong

Compton Unified School District — 2002-2003 School Year:

1. Failed to hold an IEP meeting upon transfer. When the student enrolled at Willowbrook Middle School, CUSD was required to convene an IEP meeting within 30 days to review and adopt or revise his existing Fontana IEP. CUSD never did this — not within 30 days, and not at any point during the entire school year.
2. Failed to hold an annual IEP meeting. The student's annual IEP was due by April 23, 2003. No IEP meeting ever took place during the 2002-2003 school year. This procedurally violated the IDEA and denied the family any opportunity to participate in educational decision-making.
3. Failed to make a written offer of placement. CUSD never provided the family with a formal written offer identifying the student's proposed educational program, a requirement under federal and state law.
4. Failed to provide speech-language services required by his IEP. The Fontana IEP, which remained legally operative because CUSD never replaced it, required 50 minutes of pull-out speech-language services weekly. Over 16 months of enrollment, the student received only 7 sessions — roughly 57 sessions short of what was legally required. This was a material failure that denied him FAPE.

Los Angeles Unified School District — 2004-2005 School Year (Dorsey High):

5. Failed to convene an IEP meeting after a written parent request. The student's aunt submitted a written request in March 2005 asking for an IEP meeting to address his ADHD and behavioral concerns. LAUSD never responded and never held the meeting. The ALJ found this was a substantive denial of FAPE because it blocked meaningful parental participation.
6. Failed to provide written notice of refusal. When LAUSD decided not to assess the student or convene an IEP meeting, it was required to give written notice explaining why. It gave none. The ALJ found this was a procedural violation, though it did not independently rise to a substantive FAPE denial.

What Was Ordered

1. Compton Unified must provide 36 hours of compensatory pull-out speech-language services. These must be delivered at the student's current school. CUSD must identify a certified non-public school provider to deliver the services.
2. All other requests for relief were denied. This included claims for compensatory education against LAUSD, reimbursement of independent educational assessments, and findings of FAPE denial based on inadequate transition planning, assessment quality, or failure to incorporate independent assessments into IEPs.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. When your child transfers to a new district, that district must act within 30 days. The new district must either formally adopt your child's existing IEP or develop a new one within 30 days of the transfer. If they do nothing — as Compton did here — that is a violation of FAPE. Keep a copy of your child's most recent IEP whenever you move, and follow up in writing immediately if no meeting is scheduled.

2. Put all IEP meeting requests in writing and keep a copy. The student's aunt made an oral request for an IEP meeting and later sent a written letter. The written request was what the ALJ relied on to find a FAPE violation. Oral requests are harder to prove. Always send requests by email or certified mail and save the record.

3. Failure to provide IEP services is not just a paperwork problem — it can be compensated. Compton provided 7 speech sessions instead of 64. The ALJ awarded compensatory services because this was a material failure to implement the IEP. If your child's district is not delivering services listed in the IEP, document the missed sessions and consider requesting compensatory services.

4. Foster care and family complexity do not eliminate your child's rights. This student had developmentally disabled parents, lived in foster care, and moved frequently — circumstances that could easily lead a district to assume no one was watching. The aunt's persistence in asserting educational rights, and the parents' formal delegation of those rights, kept the case alive. If you are a caregiver or relative, you can be granted educational rights through a power of attorney.

5. Independent assessments carry weight, but the district does not have to adopt their conclusions. The family obtained independent speech-language, vocational, and psychological assessments. The ALJ confirmed that IEP teams must consider these assessments, but are not required to follow their recommendations if the district's own qualified evaluators reach different conclusions through proper methods. If you disagree with a district assessment, getting an independent evaluation is still worthwhile — it creates a record and must be discussed at the IEP meeting.