The accommodations a child requires to participate in both academic and nonacademic school activities will be determined by their IEP team — but the accommodations they need may not easily extend to every extracurricular interest. Woodsmall Law Group puts it this way: “The U.S. Supreme Court held that the offer of FAPE needs to provide just a ‘basic floor of opportunity,’ but it does not need to ‘maximize the potential’ of a student.” Therefore, it falls to the child and their parents to make the case that the extracurricular activity is an essential opportunity for them to make progress toward their individual goals.
If it is written into a child’s IEP that they require an aide to participate in this activity and receive FAPE, then they must be accommodated, even if the school has to hire outside of their typical contracting pool.
For more information on extracurricular activities, check out our article Extracurricular Rights 101.
