Our clients’ son, who is nonverbal and autistic, had been neglected by his school district for virtually his entire school career. Not only was he not provided with the kind of support he would need to make academic progress—individualized attention, speech and language instruction, occupational therapy, assistive technology—he was denied his most basic needs, returning home from school each day with a full lunchbox and water bottle and growing more anxious about school every day. Adding to his parents’ advocacy, YELP attended IEP meetings, and pushed the district to find an appropriate placement for him  at a nonpublic school with staff trained to support students with severe autism, among other demands. After what seemed like a successful first IEP meeting – with everyone in seeming agreement that a new placement was needed – there was radio silence. Our team followed up, sent a demand letter to the school district, and eventually got a response granting our smaller requests, but denying the main one: placement at a nonpublic school. We ended the winter quarter by drafting our complaint and gearing up for due process proceedings. And this is where the Spring 2022 quarter student team would pick up.

After filing a comprehensive complaint, including graphs and charts that showed our client’s complete lack of progress, we agreed to participate in  mediation with the school district through the Office of Administrative Hearings. The mediation resulted in exactly what our clients wanted–a non-public school which specializes in autism. Our clients’ child is thriving there today.

Winter 2022 Clinical Law Student Team: Elora Henderson and Leanna Lupin
Spring 2022 Clinical Law Student Team: Alistair Murray and Kyra Sikora
Social Work Intern: Jessica Raquel Wright