Update on the Availability of Millwood Group Services

Since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, we've observed a marked decrease in the number of requests from parents seeking help with special education-related issues. This drop is particularly noteworthy because providing support in this area has been central to our services since the establishment of Millwood Group LLC in 2013. It's important to highlight that the reduced demand for assistance can be partly attributed to the widespread learning challenges that nearly all students encountered during the Covid-related school closures. Consequently, schools took comprehensive action by intensifying progress monitoring for all students and implementing targeted interventions where needed. As a result, the majority of struggling students have received timely and personalized support. In cases where these interventions did not produce the desired improvements, we've noticed a significant decrease in schools' resistance to parental requests for special education evaluations.

We've also noticed a considerable drop in requests for help from parents of primary school children. We believe this drop is due to the enhanced reading screening and intervention measures in Ohio public school districts. The fuller implementation of the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee has resulted in better identification and support for struggling readers in the primary grades. Additionally, the Ohio Dyslexia Law, effective from the 2023-24 school year, now requires extra screening and intervention for students, especially those in grades K through 3. Consequently, most school districts are providing the necessary support, and children are being referred for IDEA evaluations if necessary.

As a result of the above, the Millwood Group services that are available to parents have been adjusted. Following are the new parameters for our services:

- Assistance will be provided for parents who are new to the Millwood Group only in those situations in which it is determined that there is an extreme need and for which assistance cannot otherwise be obtained. Only limited, no-charge, phone consultation will be available.

- Follow-up assistance for former clients will continue to be available.  However, services for former clients will be limited to the no-charge phone support that has always been available to clients.

- Other services that were provided in the past including but not limited to in-person and remote participation at meetings, detailed analysis of ETRs, IEPs, 504 Plans, and other documents, drafting letters, complaints, etc., are no longer available.