Compensatory Education

Compensatory education is a remedy: services meant to make up for education a child was denied when the school failed to provide what the law required. If services on the IEP were never delivered, if a child went without an appropriate program for a stretch, or if progress was lost because the school fell short, compensatory education aims to help the child recover the ground they missed.

The idea is to put the child, as much as possible, where they would have been if the school had met its obligations. This can take different forms — extra hours of a therapy, tutoring, or other targeted services — and the amount is meant to fit the harm, not follow a simple formula. It came up often, for instance, when services were disrupted and children needed a way to catch back up.

If you believe your child missed services they were owed, keep records of what the IEP promised and what actually happened. You can raise compensatory education directly with the team, and it can also be ordered through a state complaint or due process if needed. Documenting the gap — dates, missed sessions, lost progress — is what turns a general concern into a specific, provable claim.