Parents failed to prove district denied child FAPE, could not be reimbursed for private evaluation   

This case, brought under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), concerned a teenage student who received special education services for autism and speech language impairment.  In denying the father’s request for relief under the IDEA, the Court concluded that (1) the father had failed to show he was denied opportunities to fully participate in his son’s education; (2) the goals laid out in the Individual Education Plan (IEP), while imperfect, appropriately tracked the student’s unique needs; (3) the school district could not be called upon to pay for a private evaluation when the child was withdrawn before the district could perform its own evaluation; and (4) the father did not sufficiently prove that an evaluation, if conducted, would have changed the student’s educational programming.  The Court further denied the father’s request for compensatory services, and it denied reimbursement for the student’s medical-related costs as they were not for “diagnostic or evaluation purposes.”