Tutoring as a related service

[Kristin Hubbard]

For those with kids with health issues that cause intermittent absences how is tutoring implemented? I have a high school freshman who has already missed ten days of school this year. I would like to have tutoring written into his IEP as a related service and would love detailed examples of what has worked for others in a similar boat. Sometimes he just misses a day or two and then he's back in school other times he's missed several weeks or more. If we know it will be a long absence we get him on home hospital but for these shorter term periods I feel it's important to have a tutoring plan in place through his IEP. Please include both the wording in your IEP and how well (or not) it has worked for your child. Especially looking for high school (or middle school) as absences are so much more impactful on grades in those grades. Thank you!

[Lisa Lightner]

I think you can get this added, but I would try as an SDI, not a related service. The IDEA portion on related services does not exclude tutoring, but it does not include it either.

I think if you try to add it there, the focus will then switch to whether or not tutoring can be added as a related service, and not your child's needs, if that makes sense. 

Students with frequent absences often have "absence plans" or specific accommodations added to IEPs or 504s. 

https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/a/300.34

[JSD24]

Not sure about including self-advocacy with this.  Since your child is older, they need to learn to reach out to their teachers to catch them up when they are out.  Would it make sense for them to email their teachers and ask what they missed when they were out?  This could be part of the IEP.

My SD has a policy when a student misses more than 20 classes over a year, the school doesn't have to give them credit for the class - even if they pass it.  I would see about making sure that the excessive absences don't mean they won't get credit - even if they do all the work for the class & have passing grades.

[ShannonRamiro]

On 10/7/2022 at 8:04 PM, JSD24 said:

Not sure about including self-advocacy with this.  Since your child is older, they need to learn to reach out to their teachers to catch them up when they are out.  Would it make sense for them to email their teachers and ask what they missed when they were out?  This could be part of the IEP.

My SD has a policy when a student misses more than 20 classes over a year, the school doesn't have to give them credit for the class - even if they pass it.  I would see about making sure that the excessive absences don't mean they won't get credit - even if they do all the work for the class & have passing grades.

This is important, I missed a lot of school in high school for verifiable chronic medical issues due to an autoimmune problem. One semester I had to miss finals and received incompletes in all of my classes. Over the summer several of the teachers moved on to other schools, jobs, and/or districts. With some assistance from administrators I was attempting to track them down to make arrangements to take the finals, I was only able to take 1 final. Because of that, even in classes I had a 97% in prior to the final, I wound up being given either a D or an F as a final grade. Not only was my spirit and GPA crushed, but I wasn't permitted to play high school sports in the Fall due to not passing enough classes the prior semester...and I had been looking forward to playing my second year of Varsity Tennis during my senior year. It was a mess which didn't get later straightened out to a fair result, partly because my parents didn't advocate for me and left me to advocate on my own, at 16. I also did not have an IEP. So, definitely make sure that his attendance is not counted against him.