An IEP, or Individualized Education Plan, is a complex document with many different parts. Understanding each part will help you be a better IEP advocate for your child.
But, you don’t have to do this alone. I’ve spent over a decade as a Special Education Advocate, attended hundreds of IEP meetings and more conferences and workshops than I can count. Now, I explain it to you.
Become an IEP Special Education Advocate I never intended to become a Special Education Advocate. I merely took a course because my son was a toddler and I thought that the information would be good to have. Then, the 2008 recession hit, and I found myself unemployed. For me, it definitely was one of those …
How to Become a Special Education Advocate | IEP Advocacy Training Read More »
School, IEPs And Moving To A Different School/State Families move. It happens. Jobs, marriage, divorce, lots of reasons. The most important takeaways from this article are: Just because a child moves, does not mean that their needs have changed. So why should their IEP change? The new school district MUST PROVIDE you with any proposed …
Getting Started in the World of IEPs IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. It is just what it says. Children with disabilities are entitled to a “free and appropriate education” but what that looks like for each child is Individual. The concept of Special Education has only been around at the national level since 1975. …
How to Get Started with an IEP For Your Child. Read More »
Important items that must be on your child’s IEP. “I got a call to pick up my daughter today because she put a child in a choke hold.” And of course this child with an IEP was on her way to a suspension. That’s what one of our group members posted recently. Sounds awful, right? …
Advocate’s Tip: These Few Short Sentences on your Child’s IEP Could Prevent Suspensions. Read More »
Interpreting IEP Evaluations For me, both as a Special Education Advocate and a Parent, I find the hardest part of the IEP process to be the IEP eligibility evaluations. For each re-evaluation, my son (or my clients) may receive upward of 10-12 assessments. That’s a dozen protocols I have to look up, read and understand. …
ESY Extended School Year What is ESY? ESY (extended school year) is anything that extends beyond the normal six hours a day, 180 days a year. It is a provision of IDEA and is not just summer school. See ESY booklet below, IDEA regs on page 4. It can be anything (as long as the …
ESY | Extended School Year | ESY Eligibility Criteria | ESY Services Read More »
