Familiar caregiver as 1:1 at school

[Katie Mc]

Hi all - I am attempting to get my son’s elementary school to hire his current care attendant as his 1:1 aide for kindergarten next year. We currently employ the attendant via Medicaid funding, and he’s been with my son everyday at (private) prek for the last two years. He takes my son to all his therapies and is extremely attuned to his needs. My son is profoundly physically disabled (no independent ambulation, non verbal due to muscular weakness and dystonia). He is intellectually typical and uses an eye gaze device and non-verbal communication to indicate his needs and engage socially. The school agrees he needs a 1:1 but says they don’t have any openings to hire his (highly qualified) current aide. 

Do we have any recourse? I recently obtained a letter from his neurology team stating that they recommend a “familiar caregiver” to ease the transition to kindergarten. Is anyone aware of any studies or legal precedent supporting this kind of request? Anyone had success getting this kind of request integrated into an IEP?

[Carolyn Rowlett]

This is a tough one.  I'm sure Lisa will chime in with some great suggestions.  Here's what I'm thinking.

In general, a parent cannot dictate who the staff member is - but can dictate that they be trained to provide the necessary services and accommodations to the child.  So that would be one question to look into:  What is the training of the person(s) the school is considering for his 1:1?  If not sufficient (you'll need a report that sets out what your son needs), make that argument (which might lead to them hiring someone else).

You could also ask that during the transition period (and this is a huge transition) that your son's current care attendant be allowed to be the aid in tandem with whoever will be fulling this role at the school.  It might make the transition easier and you have the letter that this is recommended.  You would, of course, have to pay/have Medicaid pay for the current care attendant's time to help with the transition.

I don't know much about how Medicaid factors into this.  Does this funding stop when a child reaches Kindergarten?  Or would it be possible to continue with the same care attendant and just obtain the school's approval that this person be the 1:1?  (Can't see why they would object to this - would help them out tremendously - but there could be liability issues, union issues, etc.)

This is not my area of expertise so just speaking generally.  Hopefully others with more experience will join the discussion.

[JSD24]

School district HR makes personnel decisions - not the family.  What you can do is make sure, because of the unique needs your child has, that the paraprofessional assigned to him is trained in how he communicates and all of his other needs.

The letter from his doctor is an outside assessment that the school must 'consider' - but they don't need to follow what's in the letter.  If Medicaid would pay for an aide at school, you might be able to have this person continue as his aide.

This is for perspective:  Let's say you are an aide in a school.  The school board authorized 10 aides for the district and there are 10 aides on staff.  Someone comes in insisting the school hire their aide for their child.  Are you OK with being let go?

You can go to Google Scholar and search for cases in your state where there is legal precedence for this.  I cannot do that w/o knowing what state you live in.