Educating Your Child with Special Needs

If you have a child who has special needs, educating them can produce challenges, not only at home but at school as well. Many parents give up or are deterred by participating fully in their child's education for many reasons. One of the major reasons why a parent may become deterred is because of the challenges of finding a suitable placement for their child in public schools. What the parents do not realize and the schools fail to emphasize is that parental involvement is key to ensuring that your child receives a proper education for the simple fact that no one knows your child like you.

I have been through the whole process myself and the acronyms in themselves can be confusing.

An I.E.P. is an Individual Education Plan constructed for one child. Teachers, parents, and other school officials will come together to improve the education of a special needs child who has been found eligible for special education services. I.E.P.'s are a requirement set forth by the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the school must follow the guidelines set forth by the government. Every child in the U.S. that has special education must have an I.E.P. While the I.E.P.'s may vary from state to state, they must still have elements that adhere to the requirements of IDEA or they can be found in federal violation; which threatens the funds that they are allotted.

There are many steps to an I.E.P., and the process can seem long, exhausting, and confusing. However, I will attempt to walk you through the process.

The first step is to have a child study (refer to previous article) done which can be requested by a school official or parent who feels like their child is struggling. In a child study, the child will be evaluated to see if they are eligible for special education. The evaluations will assess the child in all areas that are related to the possible disability of a child. If a child is denied or the parent disagrees with the findings of the child study team the parent is within their rights to ask for a Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at the schools expense.

After the results come back, the team will decide if the child has a disability that is defined by the IDEA. Again, if the parent disagrees with the assessment, the parent can challenge the findings. If the child is found eligible for services than the school has 30 days to write an IEP for the child.

Despite what school officials may or may not tell a parent, when the school system constructs an IEP, they must include the input of the parent. The law requires that the parent and all participants be contacted in enough time to ensure parental participation. In addition, they must schedule the meeting at a time and place that is agreeable to all participants.

On the meeting notice, or invitation to meeting, it must contain the purpose of the meeting (which at this point would be to develop an IEP), the time,location, and who will be attending the meeting. In addition, the notice must advise the parents that they can also invite people to the meeting who may have extensive knowledge of the child (such as a caregiver).

Upon walking into the first meeting, a parent may feel overwhelmed by the amount of participants but, do not let them intimidate you. They are all there for your child and to discuss what is best for your child. When the meeting takes place, the team will talk about what is best to suit the needs of the child. In order to implement the IEP, the parent must give their consent through their signature. Without the parent's signature, no special education services can be given. Despite this fact, it does not mean that a parent has to sign if they do not agree with any aspect of the IEP. If a parent disagrees with the teams findings, placements, or services and cannot come to an agreement with the team than the parent can ask for mediation, or they can file a complaint with the state education board which will initiate a due process hearing.

After the IEP is implemented, the school must make sure the IEP is carried out exactly as it is written. Any one who has access to the child will be provided with the IEP, including the parent to ensure that everyone knows their responsibilities in carrying out the child's educational needs.

In the IEP, the child's progress will be tracked through annual goals and benchmarks that are drawn up during the construction of the document. These goals and benchmarks progress reports must be given to the parent with any progress report or report card that a regular education child would receive.

The IEP is reviewed one time a year, unless the parent or school official believes that a modification needs to be made before the year is up. A parent, as a member of the IEP team, must be invited to every single meeting, it is their right.
Every three years a triennial meeting will be held where the child will be reevaluated for services but again, can be initiated by a parent or school official if they feel that the child needs to be reevaluated previous to the three years.

While the process seems tedious, and it is, parents need to know that despite what the schools may tell you, they are not in total control. While they may know the system and how special education works, it is the duty of the parent to educate themselves on the process and all that it involved. Often times parents are walked all over or convinced of things that a parent would not originally agree to. However, because this is for your child, a parent needs to ensure that they can stand strong and firm concerning educational decisions because as the child grows, if the IEP is not appropriate to the childs individual needs that they can possibly fall behind and end up becoming frustrated and disturbed by their education. Where special needs children already have many obstacles to overcome, where the parent does have control over how the child is educated, parental participation is imperative to ensure that the child succeeds in their education which will enable them to succeed in life.