The regional center must make sure your child gets the services they need to meet IPP goals, even if your child is in school. Schools must provide many services to make sure students with disabilities get a free appropriate public education (FAPE). So, many of your child’s services come from the school district during their school-age years.

But children with developmental disabilities rarely get all their services from their school. They have needs not related to education or that only come up when they are at home. These are service needs which regional centers may be responsible for. Examples of regional center services your child may need besides their special education programs include:

• Socialization Programs. Your child may need an after-school program to develop social skills if they have socialization goals in their IPP that special education services are not meeting. A socialization program may be essential to helping your child develop skills needed to interact well with people in the community. Your child may learn how to start a new conversation, how to walk through the grocery store, and how to do things not taught in a school setting.
• Communication Services. These can be communication devices your child uses when they are not in school and which the school does not permit the student to take home. It can also be training for you on how to use communication equipment that the regional center provides in your home.
• Respite (see respite sections above).
• Behavioral Supports. Even if your child gets behavioral services at school, your child may need additional services at home. School services may address your child’s behavioral needs in a structured classroom. When your child is home, they may need behavioral help to deal with the less rigid structure of a family during the evenings, weekends, and school breaks.
• After school day care (see day care sections above).