Can I request a specific gender for my child's 1:1 aide?

You can request a specific gender for your child's 1:1 aide, but the school is not required to honor it. Education Advocate Lisa Carey says she's rarely had pushback from the school district, but it may depend on the staff available. For example, if a female student needs assistance toileting and no female aides are avaialble, the school district may compromise with a male 1:1 aide but a female teacher does bathroom assistance. This could be documented in the notes section of the IEP.

If you want to implement a similar arrangement for your child, you can request an IEP meeting and see if your IEP team can change it without a meeting. If they can change it without a meeting, great; if not, then at least the 30-day timeline has started.