10 OSEP Dear Colleague and Guidance Letters every IEP Parent should Read

OSEP Dear Colleague Letters

Parents, here is another great tool for your advocacy toolkit. And yes, another issue that was brought to my attention in our Facebook group. Sometimes I forget what it is like to be an IEP newbie. So when a parent asked, “What’s an OSEP guidance letter?” I knew I had to do this!

OSEP vs. OSERS Letters

When working with school personnel, you may hear these referred to by different names. First there is:

OSEP-Office of Special Education Programs
OSERS-Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
OCR-Office of Civil Rights

Each of these Federal departments publish things, all the time. These publications address trends that they are noticing, or to address an inquiry that they receive.

Guidance and Dear Colleague Letters

To address an issue, they publish what is called a “Guidance Letter.” When responding to an individual, it is a “Dear Colleague Letter.” What they do is answer the inquiry to the person, however they publish it on their website for all to see. There also are Q&A Documents if a SCOTUS case or something else new comes up.

In any event, if you hear one of these terms, that is what it is referring to–a document from the Federal Agency explaining an issue. There are literally thousands of them online from different agencies. Keep in mind that IDEA was revised in 2004, so any letter dated before that may not be applicable.

Again, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of these. I find it easiest to do a Google search of “OSEP letter topic” to find what I need. The search bars on the individual websites aren’t that great.

How to Use These Resources

Dear Colleague and Guidance letters are great to know about. Unfortunately, none is a slam dunk if you are having IEP troubles. Most of them just reiterate or explain what is best practice, but schools can (and do!) still say no.

When I am having an issue with a client, we dig up a Dear Colleague letter if appropriate. At a certain point in the process, Mom will send an email to her IEP team lead outlining the issue. Then we will include relevant portions of the letter. Such as, “According to the OSEP Letter to Clinton, ……”

Sometimes a reminder like this is all it takes to get the team to change their minds. Other times, they are not fazed at all and dig their heels is. However, if you are gaslighted at an IEP meeting, sometimes there is a Guidance or Dear Colleague letter to support and validate you. Like when schools say, “We can’t say ‘dyslexia!’ ” See below, they actually can!

So, here are some common and interesting Dear Colleague and Guidance letters you should know about.

Click the bolded hyperlinks to see the PDF letters.