A Monmouth County school district has been ordered by an administrative law judge to provide compensatory education to a student with disabilities.
The case involves a 21-year-old man with autism and an array of complex behavior, including self-injury, aggression, and property destruction. The student, who had been in several out-of-district programs, including residential programs, returned to an in-district program in 2009 to receive highly individualized transition services. The parent charged that the district, in spite of their efforts, failed to provide adequate transition services and failed to prepare their son for work or independent living.
The judge found that while the district’s IEPs were designed to offer a free appropriate public education (FAPE), the IEP did not include vocational goals, and many of the transition services that were in the IEP were not fully implemented. The district delayed providing a vocational assessment, and the job coach hired to provide services was not credentialed as a BCBA, as required by the IEP.
In a ruling in favor of the student’s parents, the judge ordered 16 months of compensatory education for failing to provide FAPE and specifically required that services be consistent in manner and delivery to job coaching services that had been planned but never fully provided. OAL 16735-12
