Riverside USD Failed Autistic Student During COVID Distance Learning, Owes 211 Hours of Services

An 11-year-old student with autism and intellectual disability was denied a free appropriate public education when Riverside Unified School District failed to provide meaningful distance learning support during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district did not implement the student's IEP services, failed to provide accommodations tailored to distance learning, and omitted required occupational therapy consultation from two consecutive IEPs. The ALJ ordered 189 hours of compensatory academic, behavior, and speech therapy services plus 22 hours of occupational therapy, and required district staff to complete training on identifying and providing necessary student supports.

What Happened

The student is an 11-year-old child with autism and intellectual disability who was enrolled in Riverside Unified School District's special day class for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. At the time of the pandemic school closures in spring 2020, the student was in third grade. His needs were profound: he communicated mostly through single words, sounds, and gestures at a developmental level equivalent to an 18–20-month-old, required constant adult supervision, and could not independently use a computer, navigate transitions, or complete non-preferred tasks without behavioral support. His IEP provided for five hours per day of specialized academic instruction, group speech and language therapy twice a week, and occupational therapy consultation.

When COVID-19 forced school closures in March 2020 and Riverside shifted to distance learning in April 2020, the district did not assess whether the student could access online learning, did not modify his accommodations for the new environment, and did not provide the adult support he needed to participate. The district was aware the student was not logging on to synchronous lessons and was not submitting asynchronous work, yet took no meaningful steps to address this. The same failures continued into the 2020–2021 school year when the family chose to remain in distance learning due to concerns about COVID exposure and the student's difficulty with transitions. Additionally, both the January 2021 and May 2021 IEPs were issued without any offer of occupational therapy consultation services — despite the student's own triennial assessment having recommended it. Parents filed for due process in September 2021.

What the District Did Wrong

Failed to implement IEP services during distance learning (spring 2020). From April 6 to May 28, 2020, the student did not participate in synchronous lessons and no asynchronous work was submitted or reviewed. His teacher confirmed no computer contact was recorded for him. Despite this, the district made no effort beyond weekly unanswered texts and voicemails. The ALJ found Riverside cannot excuse the failure by blaming parents.
Failed to provide accommodations appropriate to distance learning. The student's IEP contained accommodations designed for in-person instruction. When instruction moved online, the district never held an IEP meeting to revise or add accommodations to help the student access distance learning. State guidance explicitly required districts to plan for individual accommodations when changing instructional modality.
Failed to provide speech and language services during distance learning. The student's speech therapist confirmed no synchronous speech services were offered from April 6 to May 28, 2020. Packets of exercises posted online — which the therapist did not even know if the student accessed — were not an adequate substitute for two 15-minute group sessions per week.
Relied on parents and a private ABA therapist to fill its own obligation. During both the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years, Riverside knew the student could not independently access distance learning and required constant adult assistance. Rather than providing that support itself, the district effectively outsourced this responsibility to the family and their private therapist. The ALJ ruled this was impermissible.
Failed to implement IEP support during distance learning in the 2020–2021 school year. From August 2020 through March 7, 2021 (and on two additional distance learning days, March 17 and 31, 2021), the district continued to provide distance learning without securing a district-employed aide or support person for the student, even though it knew from the prior school year that he could not access education without one.
Omitted occupational therapy consultation from two IEPs. The student's 2020 triennial assessment recommended 120 minutes per year of occupational therapy consultation. Neither the January 27, 2021 IEP nor the May 14, 2021 IEP included any offer of occupational therapy services, resulting in approximately 22 weeks of missed consultation.

What Was Ordered

189 hours of compensatory education in academics, behavior instruction, and speech and language therapy, to be provided by a California-certified nonpublic agency of the parents' choice. This compensates for the total loss of specialized academic instruction, behavior supports, and speech therapy from April 6 through May 28, 2020 (37 school days at five hours per day plus approximately four hours of missed speech therapy). Parents may allocate these hours among the three service areas at their discretion.
22 hours of occupational therapy, provided by a California-certified nonpublic agency of the parents' choice, compensating for 22 weeks of missed OT consultation from January 27, 2021 through September 28, 2021.
Extended access deadline of June 30, 2025 for all compensatory services, in recognition of the student's limited attention span, difficulty adjusting to new people and environments, and ongoing COVID-related uncertainty.
Provider list within 15 days. Riverside must provide parents with a list of certified nonpublic agencies offering academic tutoring, behavior modification, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities and autism. Parents are not required to choose from this list.
Payment flexibility. Riverside must either directly contract with the parents' chosen nonpublic agency or reimburse parents for costs incurred, at parents' election.
Mandatory staff training. All Jackson Elementary special education staff who participate in IEPs must complete a 90-minute training — conducted by an outside party, not district staff — on how to identify when a student needs one-to-one support and the district's obligation to provide that support when instruction is delivered in an alternate format or location. This training must be completed before the start of the 2022–2023 school year.

Why This Matters for Parents

A district cannot use the pandemic as a blanket excuse. Federal and state guidance during COVID-19 required districts to still provide FAPE — just with flexibility in how services were delivered. If your child was not actually receiving educational benefit from distance learning, the district may owe compensatory services even for the pandemic period.
The district cannot rely on you to fill gaps in services. If your child needs an aide, a behavior support person, or any other resource to access their education, it is the district's job to provide it — not yours, and not your private therapist's. The ALJ was explicit: a district cannot avoid its FAPE obligation by pointing to parental assistance.
When instruction changes format, the IEP must change too. Moving from in-person to online learning is a significant shift. Parents can demand an IEP meeting to revise accommodations any time the delivery of instruction changes substantially. If the district refuses and your child cannot access the new format, that may be a FAPE denial.
Assessment recommendations must show up in the IEP as actual services. If your child's evaluation recommends a service — here, occupational therapy consultation — the district must include it in the IEP. An assessment recommendation that never becomes a service is a red flag worth challenging in writing at the IEP meeting.
Document non-participation carefully. In this case, the district's own computer attendance logs helped prove the student was not accessing distance learning. Parents should keep records of missed sessions, unreturned communications, and incomplete assignments. This kind of documentation is critical evidence if you ever need to show a pattern of failure to implement the IEP.

What Happened

What the District Did Wrong

Failed to implement IEP services during distance learning (spring 2020). From April 6 to May 28, 2020, the student did not participate in synchronous lessons and no asynchronous work was submitted or reviewed. His teacher confirmed no computer contact was recorded for him. Despite this, the district made no effort beyond weekly unanswered texts and voicemails. The ALJ found Riverside cannot excuse the failure by blaming parents.
Failed to provide accommodations appropriate to distance learning. The student's IEP contained accommodations designed for in-person instruction. When instruction moved online, the district never held an IEP meeting to revise or add accommodations to help the student access distance learning. State guidance explicitly required districts to plan for individual accommodations when changing instructional modality.
Failed to provide speech and language services during distance learning. The student's speech therapist confirmed no synchronous speech services were offered from April 6 to May 28, 2020. Packets of exercises posted online — which the therapist did not even know if the student accessed — were not an adequate substitute for two 15-minute group sessions per week.
Relied on parents and a private ABA therapist to fill its own obligation. During both the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years, Riverside knew the student could not independently access distance learning and required constant adult assistance. Rather than providing that support itself, the district effectively outsourced this responsibility to the family and their private therapist. The ALJ ruled this was impermissible.
Failed to implement IEP support during distance learning in the 2020–2021 school year. From August 2020 through March 7, 2021 (and on two additional distance learning days, March 17 and 31, 2021), the district continued to provide distance learning without securing a district-employed aide or support person for the student, even though it knew from the prior school year that he could not access education without one.
Omitted occupational therapy consultation from two IEPs. The student's 2020 triennial assessment recommended 120 minutes per year of occupational therapy consultation. Neither the January 27, 2021 IEP nor the May 14, 2021 IEP included any offer of occupational therapy services, resulting in approximately 22 weeks of missed consultation.

What Was Ordered

189 hours of compensatory education in academics, behavior instruction, and speech and language therapy, to be provided by a California-certified nonpublic agency of the parents' choice. This compensates for the total loss of specialized academic instruction, behavior supports, and speech therapy from April 6 through May 28, 2020 (37 school days at five hours per day plus approximately four hours of missed speech therapy). Parents may allocate these hours among the three service areas at their discretion.
22 hours of occupational therapy, provided by a California-certified nonpublic agency of the parents' choice, compensating for 22 weeks of missed OT consultation from January 27, 2021 through September 28, 2021.
Extended access deadline of June 30, 2025 for all compensatory services, in recognition of the student's limited attention span, difficulty adjusting to new people and environments, and ongoing COVID-related uncertainty.
Provider list within 15 days. Riverside must provide parents with a list of certified nonpublic agencies offering academic tutoring, behavior modification, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities and autism. Parents are not required to choose from this list.
Payment flexibility. Riverside must either directly contract with the parents' chosen nonpublic agency or reimburse parents for costs incurred, at parents' election.
Mandatory staff training. All Jackson Elementary special education staff who participate in IEPs must complete a 90-minute training — conducted by an outside party, not district staff — on how to identify when a student needs one-to-one support and the district's obligation to provide that support when instruction is delivered in an alternate format or location. This training must be completed before the start of the 2022–2023 school year.

Why This Matters for Parents

A district cannot use the pandemic as a blanket excuse. Federal and state guidance during COVID-19 required districts to still provide FAPE — just with flexibility in how services were delivered. If your child was not actually receiving educational benefit from distance learning, the district may owe compensatory services even for the pandemic period.
The district cannot rely on you to fill gaps in services. If your child needs an aide, a behavior support person, or any other resource to access their education, it is the district's job to provide it — not yours, and not your private therapist's. The ALJ was explicit: a district cannot avoid its FAPE obligation by pointing to parental assistance.
When instruction changes format, the IEP must change too. Moving from in-person to online learning is a significant shift. Parents can demand an IEP meeting to revise accommodations any time the delivery of instruction changes substantially. If the district refuses and your child cannot access the new format, that may be a FAPE denial.
Assessment recommendations must show up in the IEP as actual services. If your child's evaluation recommends a service — here, occupational therapy consultation — the district must include it in the IEP. An assessment recommendation that never becomes a service is a red flag worth challenging in writing at the IEP meeting.
Document non-participation carefully. In this case, the district's own computer attendance logs helped prove the student was not accessing distance learning. Parents should keep records of missed sessions, unreturned communications, and incomplete assignments. This kind of documentation is critical evidence if you ever need to show a pattern of failure to implement the IEP.