ASD Service Verification & IEP Rights
· Roberts Investigative Services
From Intuition to Evidence: Protecting Your Loved One’s Rights to Mandated Services
When a family believes agreed services are not being delivered, the first need is a reliable record of what was scheduled, documented and observed.
Moving Beyond "Parental Intuition"
Disagreement can harden quickly when records are incomplete or the parties use different definitions of delivery. Roberts Investigative Services focuses on facts that can be sourced rather than speculating about anyone's motive.
We can help document the factual record. An attorney or qualified advocate should advise what the IEP requires, whether FAPE obligations were met and which remedy is available.
Evidence-Based Advocacy Methodology
With proper authorization, the review may compare:
- Substantive Non-Compliance Audits: Documenting the gap between the written IEP and the implemented IEP, such as missing 1:1 aide support during recess or lunch.
- Service Log Triangulation: Comparing school attendance records against service logs to identify "cloned" entries or therapy billed for days your child was absent.
- Public Setting Verification: For community-based services, we provide direct, real-time verification of staff engagement and safety protocols in public settings.
What families usually already have
Most of the useful record is already in a parent's possession, unorganised. Before commissioning anything, gather:
- The current IEP or service authorization, including the service grid stating minutes, frequency and setting.
- Progress reports and data sheets for the period in question.
- Attendance records — the child's, which the school will provide on request.
- Every email and message with the school or provider, in date order.
- Your own contemporaneous notes, including dates a service was reported missed.
Assembling that alone resolves a meaningful share of disputes, because the gap is often visible once the service grid and the attendance record sit side by side. Where it is not, that assembled record is what an investigator works from.
What can and cannot be verified
Can be documented: whether a session appears in the provider's log, whether the child was marked present that day, whether the assigned staff member was on site, how long a community-based session ran, whether a provider holds the credential claimed, and whether logs contain duplicate or implausible entries.
Cannot be determined by an investigator: whether the IEP as written was legally adequate, whether a shortfall amounts to a denial of FAPE, whether a particular methodology was clinically appropriate, or what remedy a hearing officer would order. Those belong to an education attorney, a qualified advocate and a clinician.
The distinction matters practically. A parent who arrives at a hearing with a documented list of dates on which a logged service could not have occurred is in a much stronger position than one arriving with a conviction that something is wrong. But the legal weight of that list is counsel's to argue.
The recording question
This comes up in nearly every consultation, so it is worth stating plainly: in Florida, covert audio recording of a conversation you are not party to is a criminal offence under F.S. 934.03, and Florida requires the consent of all parties. Placing a recorder in a child's bag to capture staff conversations is not a grey area.
Beyond the criminal exposure, it tends to destroy the case it was meant to build — a parent who records unlawfully hands the other side a reason to litigate the parent's conduct instead of the service shortfall. There are lawful routes to the same question, and they are the ones worth spending money on.
Working through counsel
When a due-process filing is contemplated, ask counsel whether the investigator should be retained through the law firm. Privilege and work-product protection depend on the relationship, the purpose and the jurisdiction; hiring through counsel does not automatically make every document non-discoverable, and anyone promising otherwise is overstating it.
Guardian FAQs
Is it legal to put a recording device in my child's backpack?
How do you document a possible gap in IEP services?
Build a Record Counsel Can Evaluate
Bring the IEP, service schedule, attendance records, communications and the specific dates or services in question. We will explain what can be compared and where an education, clinical or legal opinion is required.
Call: +1-888-772-7894
If any of this sounds familiar, we offer verify the services your child is actually receiving, families in St. Lucie County and check the background of a provider or aide.
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Find out whether an investigation can help.
Describe the question you need answered. A licensed investigator will explain what can be done legally, what information would help and what the likely scope will be.