ESY Services 101: What, Who, and How (and why it matters!)

Welcome to Part 4 of our Multi-Part Series “Tips & Tricks for Parents Navigating the Special Education Process”. This part focuses on ESY Services. We will dive into… 

• What are ESY services? 

• Who is eligible for ESY services?

• IDEA versus State Regulations regarding ESY Services 

• How is eligibility determined? 

• Requirements of ESY services. 

  
  

  Summer is right around the corner! Time to ask your child's IEP team to consider if your child is eligible for ESY services.

  
  

It is hard to believe that summer is right around the corner, but it is! Maybe that is a source of excitement as you plan your annual family vacation or plan your beach days. Maybe you are in a panic thinking about what summer camps or activities you are sending your kiddos to. Maybe you thought about tutoring to keep what your child learned this past school year fresh in your mind. Or maybe you are like me thinking how hard it is to believe that summer really is right around the corner. 

With all these exciting things circulating in your mind and your child’s re-evaluation or annual IEP already implemented and meeting complete- you might think so long IEP team, until next year. What if I told you that with summer right around the corner, it is time to consider ESY services? 

First things first, what are ESY services? 

ESY is the abbreviation for “Extended School Year”. Under IDEA, public agencies otherwise known as school districts or local educational agencies, must provide ESY services when appropriate and determined by an IEP team. Let’s get into this a little more by breaking this section of IDEA down together.

Guidelines from the IDEA website emphasize that public agencies must provide extended school year services to ensure a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) when deemed necessary by a child's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team.

Who determines eligibilty of ESY Services?

Like we said before, every public agency must ensure that ESY services are available when determined appropriate to ensure FAPE (A free and appropriate public education). But who decides when it is appropriate? As with any decision regarding your child’s IEP, it is a *drum roll* TEAM DECISION! Majority does not rule, data is important, and your voice matters. This conversation is a team conversation, meaning all team members must discuss and decide if a child is eligible for ESY services. 

IDEA versus State Regulations

Although IDEA states every public agency must provide ESY when appropriate, each state differs in their consideration and criteria necessary to determine this need. Unfortunately this is where we enter the grey area of this part of IDEA. Factors which teams might consider include….

• Regression: Will the student experience significant loss of skills gained during school over breaks? 

• Recoupment: Will the student need a significant amount of time to regain the skills lost after breaks? 

• Breakthrough: Is the student on track to make breakthroughs in their learning, making ESY services imperative. 

• Individual Needs: Are there any factors (behaviors, communication, etc.) specific to the student that make ESY services necessary? 

Do you know your states consideration factors for ESY eligibility?

ESY Services Implementation & Guidelines 

Although the considerations vary from state to state as to how a child is determined eligible for ESY, IDEA states that the public agency providing ESY must follow a few rules themselves. 

Guidelines on Extended School Year Services Under IDEA: Provisions Ensure Accessibility and Inclusion Beyond the Regular School Year for Children with Disabilities.

What does this mean? 

“Limit extended school year services to particular categories of disability” → We will dive into the different categories of disability in an upcoming blog but for this one we will use an example. Think of all the houses on a block, some have cedar shingles, others have vinyl siding, painted shingles, bricks, or concrete blocks. A public agency can not say that only the students in the brick houses are able to be considered for ESY services. This is not the case. All students in all types of houses need to be considered for ESY services regardless of house type OR disability. If they have a house, they are considered. If they have a disability deeming an IEP appropriate, they are considered. 

“...limit the type, amount, or duration of those services” → Following our previous example, a public agency can not determine all students in all the different houses eligible but what each child’s ESY services look like vary based on the type of house. For example, only the cedar shingle houses get academic services and for 2 hours, the vinyl siding gets related services (speech, OT, PT, etc.) for 3 hours, and everyone else gets a half hour 1 day a week. The type of services, amount of services, and duration of the services need to be appropriate based on 1) the child’s IEP, 2) team considerations for eligibility, and 3) are necessary or required to ensure the provision of FAPE.  

“Beyond the normal school year of the public agency” → ESY services can’t take place before or after the school day during the school year. It has to take place between the last day of school and before the first day of the following school year of that particular public agency. 

“In accordance with the child’s IEP” → Imagine you sign up your child for a soccer league, drop them off for a practice, go pick them up and they are playing tennis. What would you say? I would imagine you would be confused. The same can be said for ESY services. Your child is expected to be working on their specific goals in their IEP. If your student only has a math and speech goal, your child should not be working with an occupational therapist and practicing reading. ESY is goal focused and individualized! 

“At no cost to the parents of the child” → ESY Services are free! They are not private tutoring where you cut a check or send a venmo after each session. If a district is offering summer programming or tutoring in supplement to ESY services, there is a major problem! 

This might seem like a lot but our hope is that next time you sit in an IEP meeting where ESY is discussed, you feel a little more confident in your understanding of it. As we always say, knowledge is power when it comes to knowing your rights to ensure your child’s success and to find solutions. 

Tips & Tricks

• It is never too early to talk about ESY! Ask your child’s IEP team members how your child is making progress towards goals before school vacations compared to after school vacation breaks. If there is no difference, your child’s regression might be minimal. If it is night and day, this might be a great consideration as to why they would be eligible for ESY services. Data driven decisions, remember? 

• Know your state’s consideration factors for ESY! IDEA requirements of ESY versus State Regulations vary, making the consideration of who is eligible different from state to state. While all states must make ESY services necessary, the considerations for who is eligible and how that is determined might vary. 

• Important acroynyms to remember when conversations about ESY services take place. 

  • ESY: Extended School Year 

  • FAPE: Free and Appropriate Public Education 

  • Public Agency: School district or local educational agency

• Ask for ESY to be added to the IEP meeting agenda! Try to be proactive instead of reactive. You don’t have to wait for the team to bring up the topic of ESY, you can ask at any time! 

• Bring your own data if you have concerns! If you have noticed a significant drop in a skill or behavioral problems, you can bring this concern up to the team to be considered. 

• ESY isn’t just academics! If your child has goals in speech, behavior, motor skills, or social communication, those services can (and should) be considered for ESY too! If a related service is necessary to prevent regression, it belongs in the ESY plan.