The school is responsible for obtaining consent for a child to undergo psychological or educational assessment, or both, by a school diagnostician or a school psychologist. Such an assessment may qualify the child to be eligible for special education services.

The foster or surrogate parent will generally be asked to consent to testing. If the child has never been eligible for special education services and therefore has no surrogate parent appointed the school may ask DFPS to consent to initial testing. The worker is allowed to consent to the initial testing.

Providing the Child’s Previous Assessments

Before the assessment is conducted the caseworker must provide a copy of the child’s most recent psychological evaluation to the school diagnostician or school psychologist, with all confidential information removed. This is done to assist in or alleviate the need for further testing.

Confidential Information

CPS staff reviews and removes any confidential information in psychological evaluations and other diagnostic assessments that is not relevant to meeting the child’s educational needs before DFPS provides the report to the school. The caseworker must consult with the regional education specialist if there is a question about the relevance of certain information to the child’s educational needs.

After the Assessment

After the assessment is completed, the caseworker must obtain a copy of the child’s Full Individual Evaluation (FIE) or the school’s psychological report on the child. The caseworker must keep a copy of the report in the student’s case record. Document the report in IMPACT. See 15410 Education-Related Documents Required for the Education Portfolio.

The caseworker must consult with the supervisor, the regional education specialist, the child’s physician, or other healthcare professionals about any subsequent recommendations that are made.