La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § LVII-533

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section LVII-533 - Extenuating Circumstances

A. There may be unusual situations or circumstances in which a student classified with a disability and enrolled in special education may need the ESYP, but does not meet any of the eligibility criteria. The intent of extenuating circumstances is to identify the student who meets the spirit, but not the letter, of the existing criteria.

1. The teacher/instructional personnel must use professional judgement and make the ultimate decision whether the student needs the ESYP to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). In other words, the teacher/instructional personnel must answer the question: Will a break in instruction negatively impact him/her or cause the student to lose skills that will restrict his or her ability to function as independently as is possible?

B. Steps

1. The teacher/instructional personnel must screen the student using all the ESY criteria that apply.

2. If the student does not qualify, but the teacher/instructional personnel believes there is a need for ESYP, an ESY-IEP meeting must be convened.

C. Required Documentation

1. The teacher/instructional personnel must describe the student's need for the ESYP based on the instructional data and the most closely applicable ESY criteria. This description/narrative is written on the ESY-IEP, or on another page, and attached to the ESY-IEP.

D. Examples

1. A student has 20 health related absences by the screening date and the teacher/instructional personnel expects s/he will be absent at least six more days because of a diagnosed health condition. The teacher/instructional personnel must determine whether the health-related absences have impeded the student's progress on high priority goals and objectives and whether the ESYP could have a significant impact on his or her educational program (the excessive absences criterion).

2. A student in a self-contained class setting may be able to increase his or her time in the general education class if s/he receives some assistance during the ESYP (CPI-1 criterion).

NOTE: This placement does not indicate that students may receive the ESYP to pass a class or remediate a deficit.

3. A student was addressing the critical social objectives/skills [e.g., demonstrating appropriate peer/adult interactions (90 percent of interactions), following school and classroom rules (95 percent of rules/day] on his or her IEP and started to make progress on them late in the school year. S/he is now at 50 percent and 60 percent of the criterion level in those skill areas (i.e., not near criterion).

4. A student has an assistive technology device and it is essential for that student to use the system/technology through the summer to maintain his/her functioning level of the device.

5. The skills are deemed crucial for the student to continue to participate in the general education setting. Now that the student has begun to make significant progress on the critical skills, the teacher/instructional personnel agree that the ESYP would have a significant impact on the student's ability to master/maintain these critical skills (CPI-2 criterion).

6. A student does not show a pattern of regression-recoupment problems on the objectives targeted for regression-recoupment data collection. However, there are other objectives on the IEP which were not targeted and the data indicate there is a regression-recoupment problem with these objectives. The teacher/instructional team decides these are essential skills for the student and that these skills need to be maintained. The team indicates the student qualifies for ESYP via the regression-recoupment criterion (regression-recoupment criterion).

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § LVII-533

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 30:2005 (September 2004), amended LR 31:917 (April 2005).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:1941 et seq.