Compton Student With ADHD Wrongly Denied Special Ed for Two Years, Wins Tutoring

What Happened

Student is a foster youth who transferred to Compton Unified School District in January 2010, during seventh grade. She had a history of academic struggles — a prior psychological evaluation had found her reading and math skills at a third grade level and given her a provisional diagnosis of mild mental retardation. Despite these red flags, Student was placed in general education classes. Her teachers repeatedly reported that she was inattentive, distractible, failed to bring materials to class, disrupted peers, and could only engage when forcefully prompted. She was failing multiple classes. In April 2010, her educational rights holder requested that the district assess Student for special education eligibility.

The district conducted a psychoeducational assessment and found Student ineligible, concluding her poor performance was due to lack of motivation and disrupted schooling from multiple foster placements. A year later, with Student still failing — now in eighth grade Algebra I, English, and other core classes — a new assessment was requested. That second assessment was also incomplete: the school psychologist distributed behavior rating scales to teachers who never returned them, then simply moved on without replacing that data. At the September 2011 IEP team meeting, Student was again found ineligible. It was not until February 2012, when the district funded an independent educational evaluation (IEE) by a clinical psychologist, that Student was finally identified as having ADHD and found eligible for special education under the Other Health Impairment (OHI) category.

What the District Did Wrong

Failed to assess for ADHD despite clear warning signs (both years). In 2010, Student's teachers documented extensive attention-related behaviors: zoning out, failing to bring materials, being easily distracted, needing to be physically separated from peers to work, and engaging only when "pushed." The district's own assessor admitted at hearing that these behaviors are consistent with ADHD — yet no ADHD assessment was done. Instead, the district attributed everything to motivation and instability from foster placements, a conclusion the ALJ found was not supported by any actual evidence.

Abandoned the behavior assessment without a replacement in 2011. The second school psychologist distributed behavior rating scales (BASC) to Student's teachers, but when none were returned at the end of the school year, she simply abandoned that portion of the assessment. She did not follow up with teachers in the fall, did not seek alternate behavior data, and disregarded Student's own self-report indicating clinically significant hyperactivity and inattention. The ALJ found this rendered the 2011 assessment fundamentally incomplete.

Wrongly found Student ineligible despite evidence she could not access grade-level curriculum. Student was performing at a third to fourth grade level in math and reading while being placed in eighth and ninth grade classes without any special education support. The district's only recommendation was that a social worker try to find a private tutor, or that Student attend voluntary lunch and after-school tutoring with general education teachers. The ALJ found this was patently insufficient for a student with a five-year academic skills gap.

The ALJ did find in the district's favor on the speech-language issue: Student had a mild lateral lisp, but her speech was 96% intelligible, did not attract adverse attention, and did not interfere with her communication or educational performance. No compensatory speech services were awarded.

What Was Ordered

1. The district must provide 84 hours of one-on-one reading remediation delivered by credentialed district staff, to be completed by October 1, 2014.
2. The district must provide 36 hours of one-on-one math remediation delivered by credentialed district staff, to be completed by October 1, 2014.
3. The district is not required to provide these services through its own staff if Student moves outside district boundaries, or if Student cancels or misses scheduled sessions for reasons not attributable to the district.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. Teachers' behavioral observations are powerful evidence. If your child's teachers are consistently reporting inattention, disorganization, failure to complete work, or difficulty staying engaged — even if framed as a "motivation" or "attitude" problem — that is information a school district is legally required to investigate as a possible disability. Districts cannot use a student's behavior to explain away poor performance without first ruling out a disability like ADHD.

2. An incomplete assessment is a violation of the law. Schools are required to assess a child "in all areas of suspected disability." If a district starts a behavior assessment and then drops it because teachers didn't return forms, that is not a complete assessment — it is a procedural violation that can result in a denied FAPE finding. Parents can and should ask in writing what specific tools were used in each area of assessment.

3. Recommending tutoring is not the same as providing FAPE. Telling a parent to arrange private tutoring or have their child attend voluntary lunch-hour help sessions does not satisfy the district's legal obligation. If a child's needs cannot be met within the regular education program — even with modifications — the child must be found eligible for special education.

4. Foster youth have the same special education rights as any other student. This case shows that a child's foster status and school instability can be wrongly used to explain away academic failure. Districts have an affirmative "child find" duty to identify all children with disabilities, including foster youth and wards of the court, regardless of the complexity of their personal circumstances.