How to Request a Paraprofessional or Aide for Your Child in Louisiana Schools

Requesting a paraprofessional or one-on-one aide for your child is one of the most contentious conversations in Louisiana special education. Schools have strong financial incentives to deny paraprofessional support — a full-time paraprofessional costs the district between $25,000 and $40,000 per year in salary and benefits. When a parent asks for an aide, the district frequently deflects, delays, and offers compromises that fall short of what the child actually needs.

Understanding what the law requires — and how to frame your request within that framework — changes the conversation.

What a Paraprofessional Is and Isn't

A paraprofessional (also called a paraeducator or aide) is a school employee who provides support to students under the supervision of a licensed special education teacher or service provider. In an IEP context, a paraprofessional can provide one-on-one academic support, behavioral support, personal care assistance, or facilitation of participation in general education.

Critically, a paraprofessional is not a substitute for qualified special education instruction. If your child needs specialized reading instruction, the paraprofessional cannot provide that independently — it must be delivered by a licensed teacher. The paraprofessional provides support; the licensed educator provides specially designed instruction.

There is no standalone "right to a paraprofessional" in IDEA. The right is to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). A paraprofessional is one potential support that enables FAPE — when the IEP team determines that a child cannot access their education or participate in their placement without that support.

When a Paraprofessional Is Educationally Necessary

The IEP team — which includes you — determines what supports are needed for FAPE. A paraprofessional becomes educationally necessary when the child's current evaluation data shows that without that support, the child cannot:

• Access the general education curriculum in the placement specified by the IEP
• Make progress toward their IEP goals
• Participate safely in the school environment
• Meet personal care, health, or safety needs that require ongoing support

The evaluation data matters here. Requesting a paraprofessional is most effective when it is grounded in specific evaluation findings rather than general concern. If the psychoeducational evaluation shows severe deficits in executive function, significant behavioral challenges documented in an FBA, or medical needs requiring continuous monitoring, the case for a paraprofessional is built into the data.

If the current evaluation data is outdated or does not adequately address the functional areas relevant to a paraprofessional request, consider requesting a new or updated evaluation. An IEP team cannot make an informed placement and support decision based on three-year-old data, particularly for a student whose needs have changed significantly.

How to Formally Request a Paraprofessional

Request the support in writing, addressed to the special education director and the IEP case manager. Your request should:

• Specify the type of paraprofessional support you are requesting (academic, behavioral, personal care, or a combination)
• Reference the specific evaluation findings or IEP data that support the need
• Reference the LRE requirement — frame the paraprofessional as the support that enables your child to remain in the least restrictive environment, rather than require a more restrictive placement
• Request that an IEP meeting be scheduled within a reasonable timeframe (10 school days is reasonable) to discuss the request

If the school's response is "we don't have the budget" or "we don't think it's necessary," request Prior Written Notice (PWN) in writing. Under Bulletin 1706, the school must provide PWN within 10 business days explaining: what they are refusing, why, what other options they considered, and what data they relied on. The requirement to formally justify a refusal in a legal document forces the district to construct a defensible argument — and many arbitrary refusals collapse under that requirement.

What to Do If the School Denies the Request

If the school refuses to provide a paraprofessional and you disagree with the denial, you have several options:

Request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). If the basis of the refusal is that evaluation data does not support the need, you have the right under Bulletin 1706 Section 503 to request an IEE at district expense. A private evaluator may assess functional needs — executive function, behavioral regulation, social-emotional functioning — more comprehensively than the school's evaluation, providing stronger support for your request.

File an LDOE state complaint. If the IEP team has already agreed in writing or in a prior IEP that a paraprofessional is needed, and the school is now refusing without proper procedure, that is a denial of FAPE. File a state complaint with specific documentation of the prior agreement and the current refusal.

Present peer-reviewed research. Bring research supporting the use of paraprofessionals for students with your child's specific disability category to the IEP meeting. The IEP team is required to consider peer-reviewed research when determining appropriate supports.

When the Paraprofessional Is in the IEP but Not Showing Up

A paraprofessional requirement in an IEP is just as binding as a speech therapy requirement. If the IEP specifies paraprofessional support and the school is inconsistently providing it — due to staffing shortages, absent aides with no substitute, or other operational failures — track those gaps in writing the same way you would track missed therapy sessions.

Missed paraprofessional days equal missed service delivery. Request compensatory services for significant gaps, citing the specific dates and the IEP provision that was not met. This is especially relevant in East Baton Rouge and rural parishes, where staffing shortages mean aide positions frequently go unfilled for weeks or months.

The Louisiana IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook includes a paraprofessional request template grounded in IDEA language, the PWN demand script, and a tracking log for documenting missed aide support. It also covers the LRE argument that frames a paraprofessional as a less restrictive support than a placement change — which is often the most effective framing in an IEP meeting where the district is suggesting a more restrictive placement instead of providing individual support.

The process for getting a paraprofessional added to an IEP requires the same discipline as any other IEP advocacy: written requests, documented data, and formal escalation when the school refuses without proper justification.

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