Palo Alto District Mostly Prevails in Multi-Year FAPE Dispute Over Student with Autism, Cerebral Palsy

Parents filed a due process complaint against Palo Alto Unified School District on behalf of a 19-year-old student with intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy, and spastic dysarthria, alleging widespread FAPE denials across three school years. The ALJ found that Palo Alto largely provided appropriate assessments, goals, services, and implementation, but did find the district failed to deliver five 30-minute speech therapy sessions during the 2023-2024 school year and failed to give parents written notice of those missed sessions. The district was ordered to provide three hours of compensatory speech and language services.

What Happened

Student is a 19-year-old young woman with intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy, and spastic dysarthria — a combination of disabilities that severely affects her ability to communicate, move, and learn. She is effectively nonverbal and communicates through eye gaze, gestures, vocalizations, and an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Student's primary home language is Korean, and Parent believed Student understood Korean significantly better than English. Student attended Palo Alto Unified's "Futures" program for students with moderate to severe disabilities during high school.

Parents filed a due process complaint in July 2024, later amended in October 2024, challenging Palo Alto's special education program across three school years — 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and the beginning of 2024-2025. Their claims covered nearly every aspect of Student's education: whether she was properly assessed in Korean, whether her IEP goals and services were appropriate, whether those services were actually delivered, and whether the district responded appropriately when she wasn't progressing. The hearing spanned more than a dozen days before ALJ Alexa Hohensee.

What the ALJ Found

The ALJ ruled in the district's favor on nearly all issues. On the question of whether Student should have been assessed in Korean during the January 2023 multidisciplinary evaluation, the ALJ found overwhelming evidence that Student did not meaningfully understand or respond to Korean — a conclusion supported by years of prior assessments, Korean-speaking tutors who reported Student never responded in Korean, and speech-language pathologists who had worked with her using Korean interpreters. Parent's belief that Student understood 90–100% of Korean and was "pretending" to be nonverbal was found to be uncorroborated and not credible.

On goals, services, and implementation for both the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, the ALJ found that Palo Alto's IEPs were reasonably designed and largely carried out. Student made slow but steady progress on her annual goals, including learning to communicate bathroom needs using her AAC device and, for the first time in her life, learning to use the toilet. The ALJ noted that Student's chronic absences — often due to Parent scheduling medical appointments during school hours — significantly disrupted her access to services, and that Palo Alto was not required to reschedule or make up sessions missed for that reason.

However, the ALJ did find two related violations: Palo Alto failed to deliver five 30-minute speech therapy sessions during the 2023-2024 school year (a shortfall of approximately 150 minutes documented in speech service logs), and failed to give Parents written notice that those sessions were missed. These two findings — on implementation and procedural notice — were the only areas where Student partially prevailed.

What Was Ordered

Palo Alto must provide Student with three hours of compensatory one-to-one speech and language services with a licensed speech-language pathologist (the missed sessions were rounded up).
Services must be delivered through Palo Alto staff, SELPA contractors, or a certified nonpublic agency — at Parents' discretion.
The compensatory services may not be provided by Student's private speech-language pathologist Sarina Murrell or anyone associated with her practice (Airplane Spoon), as the ALJ found Murrell was providing medical rather than educational services.
Student has one year from the date of the order to use the compensatory services; any unused time is forfeited.
Transportation costs to compensatory services are not included in the award.

Why This Matters for Parents

Service logs are powerful evidence — keep copies and count the minutes. The only finding against the district came directly from its own speech service logs showing a 150-minute shortfall. Parents should regularly request copies of service logs and compare them to what the IEP promises. Gaps that neither party can explain may constitute a FAPE denial.
Districts are not required to assess in a student's home language if the evidence shows that language cannot yield more accurate results. The ALJ applied a "feasibility" standard: if a student doesn't respond to their home language any better than to English due to severe cognitive or communication disabilities, assessment in that language may not be required. If you believe your child would respond differently in their home language, independent bilingual assessment data — not just parent report — will carry far more weight than your word alone.
Chronic absences can significantly undercut a FAPE claim. The ALJ repeatedly noted that Student's progress was hampered by frequent absences caused by Parent scheduling medical appointments during school hours. Districts are generally not required to reschedule or make up services missed because a parent pulled a student out of school. Whenever possible, schedule outside appointments before or after school hours to protect your child's access to services.
When a district misses services, it must notify you in writing. Federal and state law require schools to give parents "prior written notice" when they are not implementing IEP services as written. The failure to send that notice was itself a separate FAPE violation in this case. If your child's services are not being delivered as the IEP says, the district must tell you — and if they don't, that procedural failure matters legally.

What Happened

What the ALJ Found

What Was Ordered

Palo Alto must provide Student with three hours of compensatory one-to-one speech and language services with a licensed speech-language pathologist (the missed sessions were rounded up).
Services must be delivered through Palo Alto staff, SELPA contractors, or a certified nonpublic agency — at Parents' discretion.
The compensatory services may not be provided by Student's private speech-language pathologist Sarina Murrell or anyone associated with her practice (Airplane Spoon), as the ALJ found Murrell was providing medical rather than educational services.
Student has one year from the date of the order to use the compensatory services; any unused time is forfeited.
Transportation costs to compensatory services are not included in the award.

Why This Matters for Parents

Service logs are powerful evidence — keep copies and count the minutes. The only finding against the district came directly from its own speech service logs showing a 150-minute shortfall. Parents should regularly request copies of service logs and compare them to what the IEP promises. Gaps that neither party can explain may constitute a FAPE denial.
Districts are not required to assess in a student's home language if the evidence shows that language cannot yield more accurate results. The ALJ applied a "feasibility" standard: if a student doesn't respond to their home language any better than to English due to severe cognitive or communication disabilities, assessment in that language may not be required. If you believe your child would respond differently in their home language, independent bilingual assessment data — not just parent report — will carry far more weight than your word alone.
Chronic absences can significantly undercut a FAPE claim. The ALJ repeatedly noted that Student's progress was hampered by frequent absences caused by Parent scheduling medical appointments during school hours. Districts are generally not required to reschedule or make up services missed because a parent pulled a student out of school. Whenever possible, schedule outside appointments before or after school hours to protect your child's access to services.
When a district misses services, it must notify you in writing. Federal and state law require schools to give parents "prior written notice" when they are not implementing IEP services as written. The failure to send that notice was itself a separate FAPE violation in this case. If your child's services are not being delivered as the IEP says, the district must tell you — and if they don't, that procedural failure matters legally.