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.
What happens if your child does not meet their IEP goals? Ah, progress monitoring. I find it to be one of the most difficult areas of the IEP, as it pertains to parents. First, the data you receive usually isn’t that frequent. Most IEPs say you’ll receive data 3-4 times a year, tops. Then, when…
IEP for Autism For almost 10 years, readers have been asking me questions about an IEP and autism. It’s quite common in our Facebook group to have a Mom pop in and say “We were just told we were getting an IEP for autism, what should I ask for?” For 10 years, I have resisted…
Confusing Legal IEP Terms There are some words in the IEP process that seem to create more chaos than cooperation. And darnit parents, there are just some words that are toxic to the collaborative environment and I wish you’d stop using them. Read on…. Let me ask you, is your child’s education appropriate? What?!?! Unless…
FAPE Special Education? “My district wants me to sign away FAPE! Why would I do that?!?!” I often get emails and messages with this question and quite often the moms are in a panic. I get it–I mean, after all, you fought so long and hard for your child to receive FAPE, why in the…
School Truancy I looked at the mom/client sitting next to me in at truancy court, and gave her hand a squeeze. She looked up and gave me a slight smile, our only communication since we did not speak the same language. I leaned over to the caseworker on her other side, who translated for us….
Emotional Disturbance Emotional Disturbance Category on an IEP is one of the most misunderstood categories. In my professional opinion, it is one of the most overused and abused categories. I find that school staff often look to address Emotional Disturbance Disability with the mindset of “won’t” rather than “can’t.” Or, slap the ED label on…
Special Education Transportation “It’s the bus. It’s always the bus!” My former supervisor used to say that so often. So many issues around a school bus ride. Lots of kids, no seatbelts, unstructured time, no one watching them (because we want the driver watching the road, right?). And it goes on. This post is long…
IEP Cover Page Imagine for a moment that you are a teacher and it’s the first day of class. Every child is wearing a baseball cap. On the front of each hat is a phrase or two, such as: “has a lisp,” “allergic to peanuts,” “loves to read,” and you see one that says, “emotionally…
ABA Therapy in Schools “I want my child in an ABA program.” ABA therapies are very popular (and controversial). Many parents want their child in an ABA Therapy Program at school or to receive ABA therapy during school hours. It took us over a year to get my child into an ABA therapy program at…