R. has also shown some hearing loss (which has since stabilized and to compensate for which she uses hearing aids), stiffening of her joints, curling of her hands and feet, sleep disorders, and hyperactivity. The Connecticut Children's Medical Center conducted a multidisciplinary Program for Evaluation of Development and Learning ("PEDAL evaluation") on R. in the fall of 2000 (around the time of her eighth birthday); that evaluation concluded that R.'s overall mental functioning was at the level of a ten-month-old child. In regard to daily living skills such as dressing and grooming, she functioned at approximately a seventeen-month-old level. At the time of the evaluation, R. displayed limited fine motor skills and compromised gross motor skills: although she could walk independently on a flat surface, she could notget up and down from the floor or maneuver curbs without assistance, and she required supervision when climbing stairs.
Once R. entered the Plainville public schools, her yearly educational program was coordinated by a Planning and Placement Team (PPT).[5] The current dispute between the parties stems from a June 15, 2001 PPT meeting convened to write R.'s IEP for the school year beginning in September 2001 (when she was slated to enter the third grade). At the time of the June 2001 meeting, the PPT included as members Mr. & Mrs. L; Maureen Schiffer, Plainville's Director of Special Education; Susan Steele, the teacher for the regular third grade class to which R. was assigned; Gloria Marshall and Ann Sullivan, R.'s special education teachers; Danielle King, R.'s supplementary speech and