Long Beach Student With Intellectual Disability Wins Partial Victory on Speech Goals and Behavioral Services

What Happened

Student was a 16-year-old in 10th grade, eligible for special education under the category of intellectual disability, attending Long Beach Unified School District's moderate-to-severe special day class at Cabrillo High School. Student worked on an alternative curriculum and received speech and language therapy as a related service. Beginning in February or March 2019, Student experienced a sudden onset of mental health challenges that significantly affected her school performance and progress toward IEP goals. Long Beach convened additional IEP team meetings in March and June 2019 to address the impact of those challenges.

Parent filed for due process in October 2019, raising more than 20 separate claims covering school years from 2017-2018 through 2019-2020. Parent alleged that the district failed to provide appropriate goals, adequate speech and language services, behavioral services, and required assessments — and that the district predetermined its IEP offers, excluded required team members, and failed to consider Parent's concerns. The hearing took place over six days in the summer of 2020, with the record closed in September 2020.

What the ALJ Found

The ALJ ruled in favor of the district on the large majority of issues, including placement, predetermination, parental participation, transition services, and the adequacy of academic instruction. The ALJ found Student made progress appropriate to her intellectual disability profile, that Long Beach timely held IEP meetings and triennial evaluations, and that the IEP document itself provided sufficient notice to Parent in lieu of separate prior written notice letters for most disputed items.

However, the ALJ found Long Beach violated Student's right to a FAPE in several significant areas across all three school years:

Immeasurable and incomplete speech and language goals. From October 2017 onward, Long Beach offered speech and language goals that were either immeasurable (combining two separate skill areas into one goal, or using vague baselines) or incomplete (failing to address significant deficits in expressive language, semantics, and pragmatic/social skills that Long Beach's own assessments had identified). The ALJ found these failures prevented the IEP team from accurately monitoring Student's progress and denied Student access to services targeting her actual areas of need.

Failure to offer behavioral services. During the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, the IEP team failed to consider or offer appropriate behavioral interventions at the March and June 2019 IEP meetings, despite evidence that Student's mental health challenges were affecting her behavior and school participation.

Failure to assess in functional behavior, occupational therapy, and assistive technology. Long Beach did not conduct functional behavior assessments in either the 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 school years, and failed to assess Student in occupational therapy and assistive technology during 2019-2020, despite indicators that assessments in those areas were warranted.

Failure to implement IEP services after March 13, 2020. When COVID-19 caused school closures in March 2020, Long Beach failed to implement the IEP services to which Parent had consented.

Immeasurable transition and self-care goals (2018-2019). Goals using terms like "little," "minimal," and "several" prompts — without defining those terms — were found to be vague and immeasurable, leaving the IEP team without accurate information about Student's progress.

What Was Ordered

1. Long Beach shall fund 45 hours of after-school speech therapy from a certified non-public agency of Parent's choosing, including both individual and group sessions as determined by the provider.
2. Long Beach shall contract with the parent-selected agency within 45 days of receiving written notice of the chosen provider.
3. Within 30 days of the decision, Long Beach shall fund Lindamood-Bell's intensive visualizing and verbalizing program (four hours per day for up to ten weeks), including any assessments Lindamood-Bell requires for enrollment.
4. Within 10 school days of Student's return to on-site instruction, Long Beach shall initiate functional behavior, occupational therapy, and assistive technology assessments by providing Parent with an assessment plan.
5. All compensatory services must be used by June 30, 2022; unused hours are forfeited after that date.
6. All other requested relief — including non-public school placement, a one-to-one aide, psychological services, an augmentative communication device, parent training, and staff training — was denied.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. Vague goals are a real legal violation, not just a paperwork complaint. The ALJ found that goals using undefined terms like "minimal prompts" or "several prompts" — and speech goals that lump two separate skill areas together — are legally insufficient. If your child's IEP goals don't include specific, measurable baselines and objective criteria, you can challenge them. Ask the IEP team to define every term used to measure progress.

2. Districts must assess in areas of suspected need, not just areas they choose. Long Beach was found to have violated FAPE by failing to assess Student in functional behavior, occupational therapy, and assistive technology even when evidence existed that those areas needed evaluation. If you believe your child has unaddressed needs in any area, put your request for assessment in writing.

3. Speech and language goals must cover all significant deficit areas identified in assessments. The ALJ found it was not enough for Long Beach to offer two speech and language goals when its own assessor found deficits in four distinct areas. A district cannot selectively address only some identified needs and call it appropriate. Review your child's assessment reports alongside the IEP goals to see if all flagged areas are actually being targeted.

4. When school closes unexpectedly, your child's IEP services still apply. The ALJ found Long Beach violated FAPE by failing to implement consented-to IEP services after COVID-19 school closures began in March 2020. Districts have an obligation to provide services even during disruptions — and failures to do so can support compensatory education claims.

5. Not every district failure leads to a big remedy. Even where the ALJ found FAPE violations, many of Parent's requested remedies — including non-public school placement, a one-to-one aide, and an augmentative communication device — were denied because the evidence did not support them. Document your child's needs carefully and connect each request for relief directly to evidence of what your child needs to catch up.