When the school missed IEP sessions, ask for compensatory services
This letter puts the sessions your child did not receive on the record, with dates, and it asks the team what makes them up. Compensatory education is a remedy, so no letter wins it outright; this one wins a dated record and the school’s own logs. You can send it today: paste it into an email, replace what sits in brackets, and write down the day the school received it; the table below says which day starts each clock.
What the rule says
“In resolving a complaint in which the SEA has found a failure to provide appropriate services, an SEA … must address … corrective action appropriate to address the needs of the child (such as compensatory services or monetary reimbursement).”
34 CFR 300.151(b)
Compensatory services have a name in federal regulation and a state office that can order them.
When to send it
- The service log you finally saw shows fewer sessions than the IEP printed for spring.
- A speech or occupational therapist left in October and nobody took over the caseload.
- Your child sat in a general classroom while the resource minutes stayed unfilled on paper.
What happens after you send it
| What is being counted | By when | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| The service logs arrive | 45 days | Counted from the day you ask for the logs, and sooner if an IEP meeting is scheduled.34 CFR 300.613(a) |
| A written answer | Set by your state | IDEA fixes no answer date for this request, so the wait is your state’s to set.34 CFR 300.503(a) |
| The filing window | One year | A state complaint has to name a violation from within the year before it is filed.34 CFR 300.153(c) |
What the letter has to contain
The service, as written
Paraphrase the service and the district argues about what it promised; the printed minutes end that.
The district provides special education and related services in conformity with the IEP. 34 CFR 300.17(d)
Dates the service was missed
An estimate invites an estimate back; dated absences give the team something to match or correct.
Each provider is informed of the specific responsibilities the IEP assigns them. 34 CFR 300.323(d)(2)
A request for the logs
The school’s delivery records decide this, and a parent arguing from memory against an unseen log loses.
A records request is answered before any meeting held about the IEP. 34 CFR 300.613(a)
The meeting you are asking for
Nothing gets decided by email. Naming the meeting turns a complaint into an agenda item with a date.
The team revises the IEP when expected progress toward the annual goals is missing. 34 CFR 300.324(b)(1)
The letter
Replace everything in brackets. The rest sends as it stands.
- To
- The service provider’s supervisor, plus your child’s special education teacher
- Subject
- Missed IEP services and a request for the delivery logs — [Child’s full name]
Dear [Service Supervisor] and [Special Education Teacher], My child, [Child’s full name], is in [grade] at [School name]. The IEP dated [IEP date] lists [service] at [minutes and frequency, as the IEP prints them]. Between [start date] and [end date] my notes show [how many] of those sessions did not happen. [One line: what you were told about the gap, and who told you.] Please send the service delivery logs and provider notes for that period. I am also asking the team to meet, look at where [he/she/they] stands against the goals that service carries, and decide what would close the gap. If the answer to either request is no, I am asking for the district’s reasons as prior written notice. With thanks, [Your name] — parent of [Child’s first name] [Phone] · [Email] [Today’s date]
If no answer comes back
Wait the number of days your state gives, counted from the receipt date, then write again.
- Ask the special education office for the logs; that request stands on its own.
- Put the missed sessions into a state complaint, the route that ends in an order.
- Keep every log, email and progress report dated in one folder; that folder is the case.
A no owes you prior written notice: the decision, the reason for it, and the records behind it (34 CFR 300.503).
This is a template, not legal advice: it does not replace your state’s procedures, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the pages you are writing about read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
Review my IEP — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Where this comes from
- State complaint procedures (34 CFR 300.151)Where compensatory services are named.
- Access to education records (34 CFR 300.613)The logs you are asking for.
- Center for Parent Information and Resources: state complaintsHow the complaint route runs.
- Prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503)What a no owes you.
Response deadlines are set state by state, and the state pages carry each number with its rule.