605 - School Action after receipt of Physician Generated Individualized Educational Plan Letters

Poster Number: 605
Publication Number: 605.1724

Background: One way pediatricians can advocate for families to receive necessary services regarding specialized educational support is by writing a letter to schools advocating for an individualized education plan (IEP) evaluation or services. In our pediatric primary care practices, we screen for unmet educational needs of children and offer a physician-generated education letter as a part of our social determinants of health screening and intervening program.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of physician-generated IEP letters to schools in: 1) leading action by the school, and 2) to determine if demographics such as language, race, and ethnicity were associated with outcomes of the letter.

Design/Methods: In this cohort study conducted from July to August 2023, an electronic health record–based social determinants of health screening tool and referral model was implemented in 3 urban hospital-based pediatric primary care sites. Caregivers of patients who reported unmet education needs of their child and received a physician-generated letter between June 2021 and June 2023 were surveyed via telephone about the schools actions 2 to 26 months later. All variables were summarized with frequency and percentage and compared across groups using a Fisher exact test.

Results: Between June 2021 and June 2023 856 children screened positive for an unmet educational need. Of these families, 217 (25%) requested and received a physician generated letter advocating for an IEP evaluation. A total of 74 families completed the follow-up telephone survey between July and August 2023 (Table 1). Of the 51 (69%) families who presented the IEP letter to the school, 32 (62.7%) reported that it led to action by the school (evaluation or re-evaluation for IEP, or receipt of additional services in school). There was no statistically significant difference found when stratifying outcomes of those who presented the letter to the school by race (p=0.644), ethnicity (p= 0.484) or language (p=0.379); or when stratifying outcomes for those that led to action by the school by race (p=0.155), ethnicity (p=0.334), or language (p=0.815).

Conclusion(s): Families with education concerns for their child who gave letters to their child’s school, reported that the process led to school action such as IEP evaluation or receipt of services. Integrating the IEP letter template into the electronic health record allows for a quick social care intervention, providing families with a simple way to advocate for special education services.