Garden Grove District Ordered Compensatory PT, APE, and AT Services After IEP Implementation Failures

A parent filed for due process against Garden Grove Unified School District on behalf of her daughter, a young woman with cerebral palsy, seizure disorder, and severe visual impairment who relies on an AAC device to communicate. While the ALJ ruled in the district's favor on most assessment and placement issues, the district was found to have materially failed to implement the student's IEP in several areas — including physical therapy, adaptive physical education, transportation, and assistive technology. The district was ordered to provide compensatory services and reimburse the parent for transportation costs.

What Happened

Student is a young woman with multiple disabilities stemming from a premature birth, including cerebral palsy with spastic quadriplegia, seizure disorder, retinopathy of prematurity, and significant cognitive and visual impairments. She is non-verbal and relies entirely on an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to express herself. Student attended a series of non-public schools (NPS) funded by Garden Grove Unified School District — first SeaStar, then Grace Education, and finally Buena Park Speech and Language Development Center — over the course of several school years. Her mother had spent years customizing Student's AAC device with over 300 personalized communication files and became deeply involved in every aspect of Student's educational program.

Parent filed for due process in March 2009, raising concerns about the appropriateness of multiple assessments, the district's failure to provide adequate related services (including physical therapy, adaptive physical education, and assistive technology), and the district's alleged delay in implementing a stay-put placement. The case addressed a time period running from March 2007 through the date of hearing. At the center of the dispute was a disagreement over Student's AAC device — specifically, whether the district's recommended replacement device (the Mercury II) was appropriate, and whether the district had adequately maintained and supported Student's assistive technology throughout the school years in question.

What the ALJ Found

The ALJ ruled in the district's favor on the majority of Parent's claims. The psychoeducational assessment, the AAC evaluation reports, the physical therapy report, the vision impairment reports, and the orientation and mobility evaluations were all found to be appropriate. The ALJ found that the district's school psychologist used valid and reliable instruments suited to a non-verbal student, that the AAC evaluation reasonably recommended the Mercury II replacement device, and that Parent's objections to these assessments largely reflected disagreement with the district's professional judgment rather than legal violations.

However, the ALJ found that the district materially failed to implement Student's IEP in four specific ways:

Physical therapy: The district had agreed in writing to provide 43 hours of compensatory physical therapy but never delivered those services, even though the failure was partly complicated by Parent's refusal to allow the contracted provider to deliver services at Grace Education.
Transportation: When Grace Education informed the district it could not provide transportation, Parent was required to drive Student herself for approximately four to five weeks before the district took over. The district never reimbursed Parent for those costs.
Adaptive physical education: Grace Education failed to provide the five 30-minute APE sessions per week required by Student's IEP. This failure lasted approximately 11 weeks — from early January 2009 to March 20, 2009 — and was serious enough that the district ultimately terminated its contract with Grace Education because of it.
Assistive technology devices and services: During both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years, Student did not consistently have a functioning AAC device or classroom computer. When Student's Gemini was sent for repair, no adequate loaner was provided with her customized files. As a result, Student failed to meet several communication goals identified in her IEP. The ALJ noted that Parent's refusal to share her custom files with the district and her rejection of the recommended Mercury II replacement contributed to the problem, and reduced the compensatory remedy accordingly.

What Was Ordered

The district must provide 43 hours of individual physical therapy services during school hours, to be completed before Student exits special education on December 31, 2010.
The district must provide 1,650 minutes (27.5 hours) of individual adaptive physical education services during school hours, to be completed before December 31, 2010.
The district must provide one additional hour per month of consultative assistive technology services beyond what is already in Student's IEP, for each month Student attends school (including extended school year) until December 31, 2010, focused on communication development and effective use of her AAC device.
The district must reimburse Parent at 55 cents per mile for transportation provided to and from Grace Education during November and December 2008. Parent must submit a log of dates and mileage to receive payment.
All other requests for relief were denied.

Why This Matters for Parents

A district's failure to deliver services promised in the IEP is a legal violation — even if the school blames a third-party provider. The ALJ made clear that when a district contracts with a non-public school or agency, the district remains legally responsible for ensuring all IEP services are actually provided. If a contracted school stops delivering PT, APE, or transportation, the district — not the parent — must fix it immediately.
Keep records of every service gap, no matter how short. The transportation reimbursement in this case covered just four to five weeks of driving. Parents who document dates and mileage carefully can recover these costs even for relatively brief service failures. A simple log submitted to the district is all that was required here.
A parent's conduct during a dispute can reduce the relief they receive. The ALJ reduced the compensatory AT remedy in part because Parent refused to share custom AAC files with the district and rejected the recommended replacement device for personal reasons. This does not mean parents must agree to everything — but it does mean that unreasonable refusals to cooperate with the district's attempts to provide services can affect what a hearing officer awards.
Disagreeing with an assessment's conclusions is not the same as proving the assessment was legally deficient. Parent challenged multiple evaluations, but the ALJ found them appropriate because the evaluators used valid tools suited to Student's disabilities, were properly credentialed, and their findings were consistent across multiple assessments. To successfully challenge an assessment, parents generally need expert testimony identifying specific procedural or substantive flaws — not just disagreement with the results.

What Happened

What the ALJ Found

However, the ALJ found that the district materially failed to implement Student's IEP in four specific ways:

Physical therapy: The district had agreed in writing to provide 43 hours of compensatory physical therapy but never delivered those services, even though the failure was partly complicated by Parent's refusal to allow the contracted provider to deliver services at Grace Education.
Transportation: When Grace Education informed the district it could not provide transportation, Parent was required to drive Student herself for approximately four to five weeks before the district took over. The district never reimbursed Parent for those costs.
Adaptive physical education: Grace Education failed to provide the five 30-minute APE sessions per week required by Student's IEP. This failure lasted approximately 11 weeks — from early January 2009 to March 20, 2009 — and was serious enough that the district ultimately terminated its contract with Grace Education because of it.
Assistive technology devices and services: During both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years, Student did not consistently have a functioning AAC device or classroom computer. When Student's Gemini was sent for repair, no adequate loaner was provided with her customized files. As a result, Student failed to meet several communication goals identified in her IEP. The ALJ noted that Parent's refusal to share her custom files with the district and her rejection of the recommended Mercury II replacement contributed to the problem, and reduced the compensatory remedy accordingly.

What Was Ordered

The district must provide 43 hours of individual physical therapy services during school hours, to be completed before Student exits special education on December 31, 2010.
The district must provide 1,650 minutes (27.5 hours) of individual adaptive physical education services during school hours, to be completed before December 31, 2010.
The district must provide one additional hour per month of consultative assistive technology services beyond what is already in Student's IEP, for each month Student attends school (including extended school year) until December 31, 2010, focused on communication development and effective use of her AAC device.
The district must reimburse Parent at 55 cents per mile for transportation provided to and from Grace Education during November and December 2008. Parent must submit a log of dates and mileage to receive payment.
All other requests for relief were denied.

Why This Matters for Parents

A district's failure to deliver services promised in the IEP is a legal violation — even if the school blames a third-party provider. The ALJ made clear that when a district contracts with a non-public school or agency, the district remains legally responsible for ensuring all IEP services are actually provided. If a contracted school stops delivering PT, APE, or transportation, the district — not the parent — must fix it immediately.
Keep records of every service gap, no matter how short. The transportation reimbursement in this case covered just four to five weeks of driving. Parents who document dates and mileage carefully can recover these costs even for relatively brief service failures. A simple log submitted to the district is all that was required here.
A parent's conduct during a dispute can reduce the relief they receive. The ALJ reduced the compensatory AT remedy in part because Parent refused to share custom AAC files with the district and rejected the recommended replacement device for personal reasons. This does not mean parents must agree to everything — but it does mean that unreasonable refusals to cooperate with the district's attempts to provide services can affect what a hearing officer awards.
Disagreeing with an assessment's conclusions is not the same as proving the assessment was legally deficient. Parent challenged multiple evaluations, but the ALJ found them appropriate because the evaluators used valid tools suited to Student's disabilities, were properly credentialed, and their findings were consistent across multiple assessments. To successfully challenge an assessment, parents generally need expert testimony identifying specific procedural or substantive flaws — not just disagreement with the results.