The special education process can feel overwhelming. Many parents reach out to us at All Needs Planning concerned about their child’s progress, services, and wanting information on how to best navigate the special needs process.
A first step is to understand special education. The process starts with eligibility, which is how a school determines whether your child meets requirements for services. Although we could write endlessly about the eligibility process, let’s focus on the two types of supports most families reach out to us about: The 504 Plan and the IEP
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination based on a person’s disability in any program receiving federal funding. The Section 504 regulations require schools to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each qualified person, regardless of the nature and severity of their disability. Some of the supports you might find in a 504 Plan include testing in an alternative environment, teacher check-ins for certain assignments, and copies of lesson plans, as a few examples. This link to the US Department of Education provides detailed information on 504 Plans or you can visit your state’s Department of Education or Special Education for more information.
An IEP is a document designed to meet the child’s unique needs. A designated team including the parent, develops the child’s IEP and works toward consensus (agreement) on the document. Because the IEP cannot be implemented without the parent’s consent, the team, if in disagreement, needs to continue to work toward consensus. The school must implement the child’s IEP, as it is written, and must also ensure that the child’s IEP is available to all of the child’s teachers and service providers, and to other school personnel who may be responsible for implementing the child’s IEP. The child’s teachers and service providers must be told of their specific responsibilities for implementing the IEP and about the IEP’s content. The IEP may contain individualized goals, services, and accommodations, to name a few examples. This link to the US Department of Education provides detailed information or you can visit your state’s Department of Education or Special Education for more information.
In order to determine whether a 504 Plan or an IEP will be in place, the schools follow defined procedures to determine eligibility. The procedures themselves can be overwhelming as they require a number of steps, processes, forms, consents, and multiple meetings. These procedures are defined for every state and should be provided and explained to the family at every IEP meeting. With all of that said, you may be thinking, this is getting even more overwhelming. We get it! What we feel is most important throughout every step is that you should expect that the process is positive, supportive, collaborative, and comfortable. It is okay to ask questions, to let others know you need more time to consider the information, and to have a friend, family member, or advocate with you to help you at every step.
Whether you are starting out on this journey or already have a 504 Plan or IEP in place, you may find that there is a continued need for advocacy and assistance. This can occur if a child is not making progress or if the school is suspending a child or repeatedly asking the family to voluntarily pick them up from school for behavioral issues. There may also be concerns about services, curriculum, and the type of program or classroom the child is participating in. Whatever the question, the following recommendations are important to keep in mind:
- It is important to document everything. If documentation doesn’t exist, it may be harder to draw attention to your concern. You can summarize phone calls and in-person discussions via a follow up email and be sure to maintain (by scanning or filing) all documents (daily communication notes, progress reports, and any other relevant information). Keep track of everything!
- It is important to ask questions. Try not to make assumptions. If you think your child had a tough day, reach out and ask and get all the information you need. If you aren’t sure whether your child’s teacher has been using the communication device, ask. Don’t assume. When we ask questions, we get information that we can act on.
- If something occurs at school that is concerning, ask for a meeting. If something has occurred that causes concern, you not only need to address it and get information, but you also may need to create a plan to avoid a similar situation happening in the future. For example, a parent shared with us that she was told she had to join the class field trip because they did not have a staff member to accompany her daughter who needed a 1:1. The parent did so, but called a meeting afterwards to address the staffing issue in order to put a better plan in place for the next trip.
Sometimes as we work to collaborate with our child’s team, we can feel or experience difficulty. We’ve had parents ask us, is it better to be collaborative or combative? This is very tricky. Being a parent advocate requires people to wear many hats they’re not necessarily comfortable wearing. In these times, you may need help navigating those tricky situations. Advocacy is what we provide to our families and this is what makes our model so different here at All Needs Planning. We want parents to feel that at the end of the day they can have moments and seasons of life where they can just be parents.
