All public school districts are required to offer a free and appropriate education to their students. Sometimes doing so requires special accommodations determined through a 504 accommodation plan or an individualized education plan (IEP). The goal of an IEP is to bring parents, teachers and specialists together to determine what is best educationally for the student.

But parents sometimes find themselves at odds with a school district about the educational needs of their child. That’s when they need to turn to an outside specialist to perform an Independent Educational Assessment to evaluate and determine the child’s educational needs. The California Educational Code, section 56329(b), gives parents or guardians “the right to obtain, at public expense, an independent educational assessment of the pupil from a qualified specialist … if the parent or guardian disagrees with an assessment obtained by the public education agency.” That means parents can request such an assessment if they believe that an assessment that a public education agency conducted is inadequate or flawed.

Healing Pathways performs qualified psycho-educational assessments that are admissible at a Fair Hearing, if necessary. Our network of affiliated professionals encompasses independent school psychologists who have the credentials necessary to conduct psycho-educational testing that may be required as part of an independent educational assessment.

One of the missions of Healing Pathways is to closely coordinate psychiatric care with special education support services offered through various school districts. Many school district special education officials erroneously regard the processes of assigning a child to special education services as equivalent to a psychiatric diagnosis. That assumption is false and can be harmful to children and interfere with their pursuit of the free and appropriate educational services to which they are entitled under the law. The children under our care receive our watchful attention and close coordination on their behalf with their respective school districts to assure their well-being and appropriate education.

Healing Pathways also has expertise in behavior analysis and psychopharmacology. Healing Pathways: Your road to contentment begins here

Healing Pathways: Your road to contentment begins here.