IEE: Your Questions, Answered

The straightforward answer: you request an IEE when you genuinely disagree with an evaluation the district has conducted. In practice, disputes often arise around placement, eligibility categories, or the denial of services like a 1:1 aide.

Here's a nuance that matters: when districts review an IEE request, they're looking for disagreement with their evaluation specifically — not simply a service denial. For example, if the district conducted a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and, based on their findings, didn't recommend a 1:1 aide, your IEE request should be tied to the adequacy or conclusions of that FBA — not just the denied aide.

No, you are not limited to the district's list. Under federal law (34 CFR § 300.502), you have the right to request an IEE from a qualified professional of your choosing. As for affiliation — being on the list simply means a provider submitted credentials and agreed to the district's fee schedule. It does not mean they work for the district or are beholden to them. It also does not mean they are quality evaluators.

Honestly, being on a district's list means very little in either direction. I know this firsthand — I'm currently on the approved lists of seven school districts I've never heard of, some over a hundred miles away. And there are local districts I've been trying to get onto for years with no luck. The list reflects paperwork, not quality.

Many lists go years without being updated — some providers on them may no longer be practicing at all. And providers not on any list aren't automatically better. The deeper vetting is entirely your responsibility.

Your questions should be specific to what you are trying to achieve for your child. If your question centers on a diagnostic distinction — autism versus ADHD, learning disability versus OHI versus emotional disturbance — you want someone with deep experience in exactly that area who can speak to it clearly and defend it. If your goal is improved reading, better placement, or a stronger IEP, ask the evaluator about outcomes they have achieved in cases like yours. What happened at the IEP table? What changed for the child?

It's often not the report — or even the evaluator — that makes the difference. It's whether the evaluator can translate findings into recommendations that actually move a team. Ask about that directly.

Your questions are your own, but here are strong ones to start with:

• What percentage of your business is IEEs?
• Have you ever worked as an employee in a public school?
• How many [autism / ADHD / learning disability] assessments have you completed?
• What would make this assessment challenging for you?
• Do you have any current or past relationships with our district?
• How many IEEs have you completed for our specific district?
• What kinds of outcomes have your IEE reports helped achieve at the IEP table?
• Do you attend the full IEP meeting to present your findings?
• Do you write and propose IEP goals for the team?
• Do you write your reports according to Ed Code or DSM — and why?
• How do you ensure your recommendations are practical within a public school setting?
• How long will the full assessment take from start to finish?

Once your IEE is approved and you choose me as your evaluator, you are done with the money conversation. The district contracts and pays me directly — you never write a check, manage an invoice, or sit in the middle of any fee negotiation. I also have every bit of paperwork ready at all times — TB clearance, fingerprints, certificates of insurance — so I am never the holdup on onboarding.

My psychoeducational evaluation fee is $7,000. This may vary up or down by up to 25% depending on case complexity. I will let you know in advance if your case requires an additional fee, and I communicate all of this directly to the district — so there are no surprises on your end.

My FBA starts at $5,500. I never charge districts for travel time.

My fees are market rate, set in alignment with both the GLAAS (Greater Los Angeles Assessment Services) rate schedule and LAUSD's rate — two of the most widely recognized benchmarks in the region. If a district in LA County is not meeting that rate, their cap is likely under market value. My FBA fees are set above the standard GLAAS rate, and intentionally so. That cap was designed for BCBA-only practitioners completing a basic behavioral assessment. My training, credentials, and experience are well in excess of that scope, and my FBAs reflect it: they are holistic, fully integrative, and built to be implemented — with follow-up plans written directly into the IEP, not handed to a family as a standalone report. Hundreds of districts have been willing to shoulder the additional cost because they end up with an FBA that is of real utility to them.

IEEs are currently the entirety of my business. I only take private evaluation cases or ongoing work in unique circumstances — which means when you hire me, this is all I do.

Please don't. This is the single most costly mistake families make, and it almost never works in your favor. There's an important legal distinction: an IEE is something you and the district agree on together (or a judge orders). A self-initiated private evaluation — one you arrange without prior district agreement — is something the district has almost no legal obligation to reimburse.

The frustration of waiting is completely valid. But the solution is pushing through the approval process, not around it. Reimbursement only happens if you had the district's written pre-approval, reached a specific agreement with them, or a legal decision required it.

The law is firmly on the district's side here. Under 34 CFR § 300.502(e)(1), districts are permitted to impose reasonable geographic limitations on an IEE examiner — typically around a 60-mile radius — to control costs and ensure local accessibility. Even if you're willing to travel, the regulation gives districts this right and courts have consistently upheld it.

That said, districts can choose to approve evaluators outside their typical area when unique circumstances justify it. I am located east on the 210 freeway, which makes me more accessible to San Bernardino and Riverside County families than many evaluators based further west. Those areas also have a notably low number of qualified IEE providers — a factor that has supported exceptions in my experience. I do not charge for travel time.

There are effectively no firm legal deadlines for an IEE to be completed. Because independent evaluators aren't district employees, the district can't impose timelines on them the way they can with their own staff. Add to that board approval delays, communication gaps, and staff shortages — and timelines can feel completely out of your control.

My practice is built around fixing that. Here is exactly how it works:

• Before we meet: All records are reviewed, all interviews conducted, and all surveys collected before I ever see your child. This is how I keep the testing window short without making it shallow.
• One focused week of testing: Two to four sessions, custom-designed for your child's specific profile. I run a small, intentionally limited caseload so your child has my full attention.
• Report in your hands within one week of your child's last testing session — guaranteed. The district can schedule the IEP meeting the moment it arrives.

Because I don't maintain a waitlist, I'm almost always able to start within two weeks of the contract being approved.

This is one of the most important things to understand — and one of the most misunderstood. Under federal law (34 CFR § 300.502(c)(1)), IEP teams are only required to consider IEE results. Not implement them. In practice, "considering" can be satisfied by a district simply saying "we reviewed it" — without a single recommendation making it into the IEP.

It does not matter how excellent a report is. If the evaluator cannot directly connect evaluation results to recommendations tied to IEP and programming decisions, those recommendations very often go unimplemented.

What makes the difference is an evaluator who speaks fluent IEP — someone who has not only been in the room, but has led those rooms. My twenty years span clinical assessment, school psychology, and SELPA-level program oversight across multiple districts and SELPAs. Even in private practice, I plan not just for the IEP meeting — but for the roadblocks I can already anticipate you'll run into three months later. The families I have the privilege of serving get that experience, the insider knowledge of someone who used to lead these teams, and the perspective of a parent of neurodivergent children herself.

I cannot promise what the testing will reveal. That is already within your child. What I can promise is that we will leave no stone unturned and get the answers you have been waiting for.

No — and I want to explain why, because it's not about generating business. I genuinely believe in the power of a second opinion from someone who can come in from the outside with fresh eyes and a rare opportunity to actually make a difference in your child's program. That only works if my recommendations are beyond reproach.

If a district had any reason to doubt that my findings came from clinical precision alone — rather than a prior relationship with a family — it devalues the entire process. I'm happy to talk with you once your IEE is approved. If you need support getting to that point, these resources are a great place to start:

• LA Public Counsel – Special Education Advocacy
• Wrightslaw
• California Parent Rights & Procedural Safeguards
• COPAA – Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates