Knowing When Extended School Year Support Is Necessary

    It’s the time of year when things are starting to wrap up. As we enter spring IEP and transition meetings, I’m noticing a new trend—an unusual number of requests from parents for Extended School Year (ESY) academic summer support services. 

While I understand that parents are concerned about their children falling behind, not every student qualifies for ESY supports. The purpose of ESY is to prevent regression. Each state and district have paperwork that must be completed to determine eligibility for ESY, and usually require documented academic or developmental skill regression throughout the school year or following a gap in services (e.g., after returning from winter break). Some students may also qualify for ESY for medical reasons, such as a preschooler I work with who just received her second cochlear implant and will need continued auditory rehabilitation throughout the summer to help integrate the new processor. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of fear, and not just fear of getting sick. We’ve all had a disjointed school year. We’ve all bounced between hybrid and remote and in-person and back again. We’ve all had a piecemeal curriculum squeezed into these challenging instructional models. This does not mean all students are “behind.” We’re all right where we are. Every student is different, and every case deserves individual thought and planning, however, it is unfair to put unreasonable pressure on families, schools and students to attempt to make up an entire school year through a few weeks of ESY. For many of my students, the school team has been able to work with families to help them better understand ESY and why that might not be a good fit in terms of the peer group and academic focus. Students need the same break that the adults need right now. A summer of socializing, reading, camp and typical play is going to be the most valuable way to spend time for many of us. 

Determining ESY eligibility is no different than determining eligibility for any other supports. There’s no universal recommendation as each student is in a unique situation and must be evaluated as such. For students who have received ESY in the past, I’ll likely recommend those supports again this year. For students who have not needed ESY in the past, the team will need to discuss the request and determine how to proceed and if the student qualifies. There’s so much fear and pressure right now. Collectively maybe we can help encourage relaxation and regrouping for the summer as much as possible, rather than additional stress and anxiety, so that we can all return fresh in the fall.