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.
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.
If you are looking for the Don’t IEP Alone Academy, you can click that link.
Refused IEP Evaluations Let me be blunt–If your child’s IEP evaluations suck, the rest of your IEP will be garbage. Without good evals, the IEP present levels, the eligibility, the goals, the baselines, supports and services–all of it will be worthless. That’s why it’s so essential that you pay close attention to this part of…
Extended Time on Tests Back when I was in high school (and no, not leaning on my cane and wagging my finger) we did not have cell phones. We did the “call collect and hang up” thing. And, when we got our driver’s licenses, most of us got jalopies as cars. They were old, rusty,…
Sample Letter to Request IEP Evaluations You will definitely want to bookmark or pin this post. I have often said that one of the biggest IEP mistakes that parents make is not doing everything in writing. The worst case scenario is that you end up in a Due Process Hearing. And then, what will matter…
IEP Evaluations Different variations of questions come up about IEP evaluations all the time. Parents are unclear about timelines, what tests to ask for and sometimes get confused with the IEP re-evaluation process. As a result, after 8 years of this blog, at one point I had a dozen posts about IEP evaluations, IEP re-evaluations,…
IEP Re-evaluations Ok, so here we go. I used to have IEP re-evaluation information in my post about IEP evaluations. But, I’ve since decided that IEP re-evals are worthy of their own post. Initial evals are sort of their own beast, since that is what gets the IEP process started. But, with re-evaluations, parents have…
Become an IEP Special Education Advocate I never intended to become a Special Education Advocate. I took some IEP training because my disabled 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…
Communication Plan for Parents I remember I was working with this client one time. We had held an IEP meeting, and we were wrapping up a few loose ends. Together we drafted an email to send to the IEP team, and she (parent) sent it from her email. She then forwarded it to me. I…
My son keeps getting sent home from school! We all know the feeling. Your phone rings. You look. It’s the school phone number. A zillion thoughts run through your head as you answer. “Hi, Mrs. Smith? This is ‘school personnel’ and we need you to come pick up Jacob. Yes, he had quite a tantrum…
IEP Negativity Recently there was a lively discussion in our Facebook group. A teacher said something inappropriate to a student. Not sexual or anything like that, just unprofessional. But I took a lot of grief from members because I presented the teacher’s side. After all, she had been criticized on social media by the parents….