Every Child Deserves A Meaningful Education

Can an IEP allow a child to bring a service dog to school?

On Behalf of | Jan 22, 2025 | Special Education Law |

An individualized education program or IEP can make public school truly accessible for a child with special needs. School administrators and educational professionals work with the parents of children with special needs to determine what types of support they require to successfully attend public school.

An IEP can ensure that a student has a place in a special education classroom. It can give them access to a para-professional or aide who can help them with daily school tasks. IEPs may provide for testing accommodations and exemptions from certain standard school requirements.

One of the many types of support that parents may seek out on behalf of a child with a disabling medical condition is a service animal. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), both miniature horses and dogs can act as legal service animals. Can an IEP give a student the option of bringing a service dog with them to school?

Service dogs can be a challenge to accommodate

There are certain types of accommodations that schools can readily provide. It is incredibly simple for a teacher to give a student a private space in which to take a test or additional time for testing when necessary. Schools can offer various forms of therapy and enrichment for students with special needs.

Other accommodations can be much more difficult to integrate into a traditional educational environment. A service dog can perform a variety of tasks for a child with special needs. However, the school may not be able to allow the dog to come on campus or attend class with the student in most cases. The potential of other students having allergies is one issue. The ability to control the animal is another.

Generally speaking, a parent rather than their child with special needs is likely the person who underwent training as the animal’s handler. The service dog can only work while under the direct control of an individual trained to interact with the animal appropriately. The school typically cannot afford to pay for workers to undergo the extensive training necessary to handle the service animal.

There may be exceptions in scenarios where the student who relies on a service animal is a teenager. If the teenager has undergone the necessary training to be a handler for the service animal, then a discussion with the school about the animal could be a worthwhile undertaking.

Discussing the support requirements of a child with special needs and family expectations can help those trying to establish, improve or enforce an IEP. Schools generally need to provide reasonable accommodations regardless of the medical challenges a child faces.