My child is in public school with an IEP and I want to start homeschooling. What do I do next?
You are absolutely allowed to withdraw your child from public school and homeschool your child, even if they have an IEP. The school district will no longer provide therapy/intervention services once you withdraw. However, if your child is in grades K-12 with an IEP, he or she would be eligible for the Jon Peterson Scholarship (or the Autism Scholarship for some students). This scholarship would provide funding for outside therapies ($9400-$32,000 a year). Here are the steps you would take after beginning to homeschool:
Find a scholarship provider: A scholarship provider is a professional (therapist or special education teacher) that can provide services. A scholarship provider must be approved through the specific scholarship. For example, if you’re using Jon Peterson, you must find a provider (or therapist) that is a Jon Peterson provider (similar to finding a doctor that is “in network” with your insurance). If you want to use the Autism scholarship, you must find a provider that is an Autism Scholarship. At Massery Speech Therapy, we are providers for BOTH scholarships and provide online speech therapy for both scholarships.
Complete the scholarship application: Your provider will give you an application to fill out and will submit it for you. Parents are not able to apply for the scholarship on their own, you must apply through a provider.
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