Escondido Denied FAPE by Refusing Interim Placement and Using Flawed Assessments for Nonverbal Student with Autism

What Happened

Student is a nonverbal teenager with autism who had significant sensory issues, elopement behaviors, and complex communication needs. When the family moved to Escondido and enrolled Student in eighth grade in August 2017, they provided the district with an unsigned 2014 IEP from a previous district but did not disclose that Student was receiving outside communication and behavior services through a private program called the Alternative Teaching Strategy Center (ATSC). Because Student had been homeschooled since 2014 without signing a new IEP, Escondido incorrectly assumed his parents had formally revoked consent to special education — even though no one at the district ever asked, and no written revocation existed. Instead of offering an interim special education placement while completing new assessments, the district placed Student in a general education classroom with no supports except a basic safety plan targeting only elopement. Parents refused to send Student to that placement and filed for due process after sending a 10-day notice of unilateral placement.

The district then completed assessments in academics, speech/language, AAC, adaptive physical education, and other areas, and held an IEP meeting in October 2017. Parents challenged the adequacy of those assessments and the resulting IEP, arguing they were based on flawed data that underestimated what Student could actually do — particularly his ability to communicate through typing.

What the District Did Wrong

Refusing to provide an interim special education placement was the district's first and clearest violation. When a student with a known IEP history enrolls in a new district, that district must provide services comparable to the previous IEP while completing new assessments. Escondido instead treated Student's enrollment as a brand-new referral, offered a general education classroom with no special education supports, and left Student without services for two months. The ALJ found this constituted a denial of FAPE from August 16 through October 15, 2017.

The academic and speech/language assessments were inadequate. Both assessors tested Student in noisy, distracting environments — including a teacher's lounge full of interesting objects — rather than in the quiet, controlled setting his disability clearly required. Formal testing was largely abandoned due to Student's inability to focus, yet assessors did not reschedule or try a different approach. Critically, the district had documentation showing Student could type words and had previously used an AAC device to communicate in full sentences, but assessors never attempted to assess his typing as a mode of communication. The academic assessor used the same criterion-referenced tool he gave to every moderate-to-severe student, which the ALJ found suggested predetermination of Student's abilities rather than individualized assessment. These failures produced inaccurate present levels of performance and an IEP that likely underestimated what Student could achieve. The ALJ found this denied Student a FAPE.

The AAC assessment, by contrast, was found to be mostly appropriate. The AAC specialist used a quiet room, rescheduled when Student was agitated, and properly identified the iPad with Proloquo2go as appropriate communication technology. The only shortcoming — not testing Student's keyboard typing ability — was found to be a procedural violation that did not, by itself, rise to a denial of FAPE.

The adaptive physical education "cut and paste" of baselines from the 2014 Pleasanton IEP was called out as "sloppy and lazy," but because the underlying assessment was appropriate and parents had withheld relevant information about Student's physical activities at home, the ALJ found it was harmless error — not a FAPE denial.

What Was Ordered

1. Escondido must pay parents $22,000 in reimbursement for Student's enrollment and fees at ATSC for the period of August 16, 2017 through June 5, 2018.
2. Escondido must pay $3,018.40 in transportation reimbursement for daily round-trip travel to ATSC.
3. Escondido must fund independent educational evaluations in the areas of academics and speech/language, up to a maximum of $1,500 — reduced from full cost because parents withheld significant information from the district's assessors. Invoices must be submitted by June 30, 2019.
4. All other requests for relief — including reimbursement for educational software purchased for the ATSC program — were denied.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. When you move to a new district, that district must provide interim services immediately — not make you wait for new assessments. A district cannot use the time needed to reassess your child as an excuse to offer no special education at all. If your child has a history of IEP services, the new district must put something comparable in place while assessments are underway.

2. Be transparent with the district about all outside services and your child's current abilities — even if you distrust the district. In this case, parents withheld information about outside services and Student's typing skills. The ALJ found this directly contributed to the inadequate assessments. As a result, parents received only $1,500 for IEEs instead of full reimbursement, and the decision specifically noted that greater candor would have changed the outcome significantly.

3. Districts cannot use a one-size-fits-all assessment approach for students with significant disabilities. The ALJ found it was a red flag that the academic assessor used the same tool for every moderate-to-severe student without considering whether it fit this particular child's communication needs. Assessments must be individualized, conducted in appropriate environments, and must follow up on specific information parents provide — such as a child's ability to type.

4. Private programs don't have to meet public school standards to qualify for reimbursement — but they do need to address your child's identified areas of need. ATSC was certified by the California Department of Education as a nonpublic agency, and the ALJ found its Visual Communication Analysis methodology addressed Student's communication and behavioral needs. However, related software purchases were denied because parents couldn't show they supported anything beyond academics. Document carefully what each service addresses and how it connects to your child's IEP needs.