Introduction

Some years ago, a parent came to my office to discuss the difficulties her teenager was having in school. The parent was a kind and thoughtful person, but looked overwhelmed. Her child had learning disabilities and increasing emotional problems, and the pain of the child was etched on the face of the parent. Her child was falling further behind, losing the confidence she once had, and missing the academic skills and emotional strength she would need for adulthood.

My client sat quietly for some time and then asked in a whisper, "What in the world can I do for my daughter?"

Whether you and your child are entering special education for the first time or the tenth time, you have probably asked the same question. You have a dozen concerns and a hundred fears. You don't know where to begin. The problems seem insurmountable. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are more than 6,600,000 children with disabilities in the United States -- that's one out of every twelve children and teenagers. At some point, their parents have felt the same way my client did -- and you probably have, too.

Fortunately, Congress enacted a law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, to evaluate children with disabilities and to provide special education programs and services to help them succeed in school. Before IDEA was enacted in 1975, public schools frequently ignored children with disabilities or shunted them off to inferior or distant programs. IDEA represents a long-overdue recognition that individuals with disabilities have the right to access public institutions and be served appropriately, with dignity and respect.

The detail and reach of IDEA are remarkable -- no other law in this nation provides such clear and unique legal protection for children. Everything you do to help your child secure an appropriate education is connected to, and determined by, the legal requirements of IDEA.

What Is Special Education?

"Special Education" is the broad term used to describe the educational system for children with disabilities. The term is used in this book to describe that portion of your child's school system that provides special services and programs for children with disabilities. There are three fundamental questions to consider as you begin the special education process:

• Where is your child now?
• Where do you want your child to be?
• What do you need to get your child there?

IDEA entitles your child to an "appropriate" education that meets his or her unique needs. You'll likely have a good sense of what is meant by an appropriate education as you read this book. Broadly speaking, an appropriate education involves the following educational components:

• The specific program or class (called "placement") for your child. Placement is more than just a classroom; it also includes characteristics such as location, class size, teacher experience, and peer makeup.
• The specific services (called "related services") provided your child, as well as the amount and frequency of those services and who provides them.
• Other educational components, such as curricula and teaching methods.

Special education provides a process for evaluating your child and developing an individualized education program, or IEP. the acronym IEP refers to several interrelated things:

• the meeting where the school district determines whether your child is eligible for special education (called the IEP eligibility meeting)
• the yearly meeting where you and school representatives develop your child's educational plan (called the IEP program meeting), and
• the actual detailed written description of your child's educational program.

Special education laws give children with disabilities and their parents important rights not available to children in regular education and their parents. These include the right to:

• have the child evaluated
• secure information about the child
• attend an IEP meeting
• develop a written IEP plan, and
• resolve disputes with the school district through an impartial administrative and legal process.

While the specifics of any one child's special education needs may vary -- one child may need placement in a private school while another needs a one-to-one aide for full-time participation in a regular class (called "mainstreaming") -- mastering the IEP process is central to securing an appropriate education for your child. But equally important, the IEP process is entirely individual. The program developed by you and the school district must fit your child, not the other way around. What works for other students is irrelevant if it won't work for your child. IDEA does not tell you or the school district specifically how your child will be educated. Rather, IDEA provides rules to govern the process the IEP team uses to decide what is appropriate for your child.

Being Your Child's Advocate

Advocating for your child is easy: All of us want the best for our kids. Still, there will be bumps along the way. The IEP process is maze-like, involving a good deal of technical information, intimidating professionals, and confusing choices. For some families, it goes smoothly, with no disagreements; for others, it is a terrible encounter in which you and your school district cannot even agree on the time of day. For most people, the experience is somewhere in between.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that teachers, school administrators, and experts know everything and that you know nothing. Right now, you may not have all the information you need, and you may not know where to look for it. But the law states that you and your school district are equal decision makers, and that the school district must provide you with a good deal of information along the way.

You do not need to be a special education expert or a lawyer to be an effective advocate for your child. The general strategies for helping a child in the IEP process are not complex and can easily be mastered. The cliché that knowledge is power is absolutely true in the world of special education.

New Rules for Special Education

Congress has reviewed and changed IDEA several times since the law was enacted in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. In 2004, Congress changed the rules again when it passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, which made important modifications to IDEA. These changes became effective on July 1, 2005. (You can find the text of key provisions of the new statute in Appendix A.) While most special education rights and procedures remain the same under this new law, there have also been numerous and significant changes, all discussed fully in this book.

In August 2006, the United States Department of Education issued regulations for IDEA. These regulations clarify, explain, and provide details about the rules and procedures in IDEA. Many of the new regulations are identical to the old ones; however, there are important changes.

Watch out for new numbering. The 2006 regulations are numbered differently than the old regulations. You can find the 2006 regulations in Appendix A. Be careful: if you continue to use pre-2006 regulations, you won't be using the right number.

The new statutes and regulations include changes to:

• how a learning disability is determined
• rules about non-public schools
• how goals are measured
• the time line for initial assessments
• the age transition services start (16 rather than 14)
• who can attend the IEP meeting
• whether or not an IEP needs to be held in person
• which children can transfer from one district to another, and
• due process rights, including:
  • how much time a parent has to file for due process
  • when the school district must hold a resolution meeting
  • what issues the parties can raise in a due process hearing
  • when parents will be responsible for the school district's attorney's fees, and
  • how long parents have to appeal to court if they lose the administrative due process hearing.

All of these changes are discussed in detail in this book.

If you have questions about the new regulations you might contact a special education advocacy group (Appendix C) or your state department of education (Appendix B).

Using This Book

The purpose of this book is to help parents effectively proceed on their own through the IEP process, whether it's their first time or their fifth time. The book is for parents whose child has emotional difficulties, is deaf or blind, has other physical conditions, or has a multitude of disabilities. In other words, it's for the parents of every child with disabilities.

Specifically, this book can help you:

• develop an understanding of special education law
• understand eligibility rules and the role of evaluations
• gather current material and develop new information about your child
• determine your child's specific goals and educational needs
• gather current material and develop new information about various school programs, as well as options outside the school district
• prepare for the IEP meeting
• attend the IEP meeting and develop your child's IEP plan, and
• resolve disputes with the school district.

Mastering these tasks will require you to be generally organized (but not fanatically so), willing to ask questions, and make use of resources that are widely available. The suggestions and forms in this book will help you get -- and stay -- organized throughout the IEP process.

Detailed appendixes provide invaluable information, including:

• copies of key federal special education laws
• addresses and websites of federal and state special education agencies
• addresses and websites of national and state advocacy, parent, and disability organizations
• a bibliography of other helpful books, and
• two dozen tear-out forms, letters, and checklists to help you through every stage of the IEP process.

Some of the material will be very familiar to parents who have been through many IEPs -- for example, you may already know too well the cast of characters and the basic legal requirements. Still, you should review each chapter, even the ones that cover familiar topics. You may find new insights or angles on old problems, and you will learn how the rules that went into effect in July 2005 (IDEA 2004) have changed the special education landscape. Of course, you can skip material clearly not relevant -- for example, if your child is already in special education, you don't need to prepare for an eligibility meeting.

If you are new to special education, very little in this book will be familiar to you. You might want to start by taking a quick look at the chapter titles and table of contents to become familiar with key ideas and how they relate to each other before you start reading. As you read, check the index and jump among chapters if that makes sense. Highlight points you want to remember.

The special education process has a discernible beginning and end. In general, it takes a year. There are similarities and differences between the first IEP year and subsequent years. For example, each year you will gather information and prepare for the yearly IEP program meeting, at which time you and the school district will determine placement and related services. But the first year always includes evaluating your child's eligibility for special education. In subsequent years, your child may or may not be evaluated. Eligibility is rarely addressed after the first year, unless you or the school district feels a change is justified -- for example, if your child no longer needs special education or may qualify under a different eligibility category.

There is a certain chicken-or-egg quality to the order of some of the chapters. For example, the chapter on evaluations comes before the chapter on eligibility. You will soon learn that your child must be evaluated to be found eligible, but you need to know how a child becomes eligible before you arrange an evaluation. Which chapter do you read first? It really doesn't matter, as long as you read both.

If your child has learning disabilities: Nolo publishes a specialized version of this book just for parents of children with learning disabilities. Nolo's IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities, by Lawrence Siegel, addresses issues of particular concern for children with learning disabilities, including commonly used evaluations, special eligibility requirements, teaching methodologies, and more. If your child has learning disabilities, you'll want to use this more specific resource. Nolo will be happy to exchange this book for a copy of Nolo's IEP Guide: Learning Disabilities. Simply call 1-800-728-3555 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST, and one of our customer service representatives will be happy to help.

Getting Help From Others

Other parents, local groups, and regional or national organizations can be of great help as you wend your way through special education. The amount of information these folks have can be amazing. Other parents and parent groups can be your best resource and certainly a source of support to help you through hard times. Others who have been through the process before can help you avoid making mistakes or undertaking unnecessary tasks. Most important, they can be a source of real encouragement. Chapter 15 provides further thoughts on making use of your local special education community.

Note: Reference is made throughout this book to parents, but the term is used to include foster parents and legal guardians.