ACK! We're moving!! Will my child still be entitled to his IEP at the new school?

This is an excellent question! Under most circumstances, the answer is YES.  If your child has a current and valid IEP (meaning there is appropriate testing within the last 3 years to back up the need for SpEd services and the IEP has been updated within the last 12 months), then any school you attend must recognize that need.

There are, as you might expect, a few areas where things get sticky. If the IEP is out of date, or the services are not something the current school can offer, a new IEP will likely need to be written.  If accommodations are not something that can be offered in the current school, the IEP will likely need to be rewritten. If the goals do not match services offered, then the IEP will likely need to be rewritten.  What this means for you, the parent, is simply another meeting.  The burden during this process is generally on the special education teacher and staff of the new school.

You may run into problems, however, if your IEP has not been updated in the last 3 years with updated testing or, at the very least, a review of existing data.  Per federal guidelines, a student who qualifies for special education must be re-evaluated every three years.  Generally, this means the same battery of tests (or something very similar) which were used to determine eligibility in the first place.

If testing was done, say, when your child was in the 2nd grade, and then in the 5th grade, the school chose to use a 'review of data' to continue to find him/her eligible, well, now that original data is pushing 6 years old and may no longer be valid.  What can sometimes happen, (and this is really a GOOD thing) is that after enough time has passed, the student may have closed the achievement gap that originally qualified him/her for services.  This means they may no longer have a learning disability!  While this is excellent news, because we really don't want our children "disabled", it is scary to both the parent and the child to think of a new school without supports.  Often, the IEP can be written in such a way as to monitor progress for a semester and see how things go.  Should the student not make progress, the team can reconvene and see what may be done next.

So, what can you, as a parent, do to ensure a smooth transition to a new school for your child? Most importantly, please tell your new school that your child was receiving services.  In my years of teaching, I have seen many instances where students literally get left behind because the parent did not tell the school that the child needed services.

Remember, your child's psychological file with their school WILL NOT be automatically forwarded. The receiving school will need to request records, and that can often take some time.  Until a current, valid IEP is in the school's possession, the new school is under no obligation to provide services for your child.  In order to side-step this, I always recommend parents bring their OWN copy of a valid IEP to the new school.  Once your child is enrolled, and the school has something to work with in terms of an IEP, then the request for records is not as vital or time-sensitive.