May 17, 1996

Associate Director Special Education

Thousand Oaks, California 91362-2198

Dear Associate Director:

This is in response to your letter to the Office of Special

Education Programs (OSEP) regarding the consent required

to conduct a behavior assessment of a special education

student in your district. I apologize for the delay in

responding to your inquiry.

Specifically, you ask whether a signed agreement between

the district and the parent must be obtained for the district

to conduct a behavior assessment of the special education

student. You have indicated that the relevant assessment

had been previously agreed to during an individualized

education program (IEP) meeting.

Under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act (Part B), parental consent must be obtained before

conducting a preplacement evaluation of a child with a

disability and before initially placing the child in a program

providing special education and related services. 34 CFR

300.504 (b) (1). These are the only two instances in

which Part B requires parental consent. However, Part B

does permit States to require parental consent for other

services and activities provided that each public agency in

the State implements procedures to ensure that a parent's

refusal to consent does not result in a failure to provide a

free appropriate public education to the child. 34 CFR

300.504 (c).

It appears that the student identified in your letter has been

previously placed in a special education program consistent

with the requirements of Part B. If this is the case, the

behavior assessment to which you refer would be unrelated

to the student's preplacement evaluation or initial

placement, and Part B would not require the District to

obtain parental consent in order to conduct the

assessment. However, California law and/or regulations

may require parental consent for such an assessment and

may specify the form in which the consent must be

documented.

To ensure that you are adhering to State requirements, I

suggest that you contact Mr. Leo Sandoval, State Director

of Special Education, at the following address and

telephone number:

Special Education Division

California State Department of Education

515 L Street, #270

Sacramento, California 95814

Telephone: (916) 445-4729

I hope that this information is helpful to you. If I may be of

further assistance, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Thomas Hehir, Director

Office of Special Education Programs

cc: Mr. Leo Sandoval