Bill@ESEparents.org   Phone: (863) 688-3323    Fax: 863-680-1603

IEP Tips You Wish Someone Would

Have Told You Long Ago   _________________________________________

1. You will find many incredibly wonderful teachers and administrators in Exceptional Student Education (ESE).  Understandably, it can not be said for everyone in the field.  If you and your child encounter a teacher or administrator who is not qualified or does not have an ESE spirit, or has had it and lost it, the experience can be extremely detrimental to your child's future.  Act immediately to get your child's future back on track.

2.  The work that the great ESE teachers and administrators can do can be significantly limited by lack of funding and bureaucratic barriers intentionally erected to discourage parents from obtaining the needed services.  Barriers can save the district a lot of money.  It is your job to help the great ESE teachers and administrators help to get the resources they need to educate your child.

3.  ESE programs, especially in low-tax states, are under funded.  If you live in a low-tax state, it is probable that your ESE child will be offered only those services the local school district has available.  Often, the services available may not include those services your child really needs to be successful in school and in life.

4.  It is critical to get your child those services your child needs.  Many of our ESE students go on to jail.  If your child has a learning disability, they are 4 times more likely to end up in jail as the regular education student without a learning disability.  Forty percent or more of our jail population has some type of learning disability.

5.  You probably don't know what type of services your child needs unless you have had an independent evaluation of your child's needs by someone competent in the field.  Request an evaluation by your school district in writing and the school district has 60 days to make it so.  Once you receive it, unless your are very comfortable with it, request in writing an independent evaluation which the school district must pay for.  Make sure it is not done by a district-friendly evaluator.  Be suspicious of any evaluator lists a district may provide you.  Serious conflicts of interest are not uncommon. 

6.  If parents educate themselves or engage advocates and/or professionals, they can often obtain the needed services. 

7.  You have the right to a lot of information about what services are available, how your school system educates students with your child's disability, what curriculum or methods your child's teacher is going to use, and what the qualifications are of your child's teacher.  It is information that is generally considered a state secret.

8.  You have a 50 percent chance of getting the right teacher.  The wrong teacher at the wrong time in your child's development can spell disaster. 

9.  Be very aggressive early in getting your child the services and the teacher he or she may need.  Instruction for certain disabilities may require specialized knowledge and experience.  Take definitive action if you see a problem. 

10.  Always record all IEP meetings without fail.  Use a digital audio recorder (Olympus has a great one for about $100 that records for 2 and a half hours).

11.  One hour is generally not enough time for an IEP meeting.  Make sure an adequate time period is scheduled.

12.  The Advocacy Center in Tallahassee can be helpful.  They have attorneys that can assist you, but only if you do not already have an attorney engaged in the matter.

13.  It is generally important to get your child services early.  The ESE students of "nice guys"  easily finish last.  One mother told me she always got exactly what her ESE child needed.  When asked how, she said "The administrators think I am the biggest bitch in the world".  There may be some exaggeration here, but not much.

14.  Write each of your concerns you wish to discuss in the IEP meeting down.  Check them off as you cover them.  Importantly, make sure each of those concerns has been recorded in the IEP.  If they have not, ask to attach the list to the IEP and refer to the attachment within the IEP.  School district staff routinely "sanitize" and/or generalize the concerns a parent expresses in an IEP meeting.

15.  Ask for a formal written refusal from the district when you believe your child needs a service and the district will not make it available.  Be sure it tells you why the service will not be made available. 

16.  File a formal complaint with the Florida Department of Education.  Do not hesitate to do so.  Bambi Lockman is who you write.  

17.  If the FDOE says they can not do anything, ask to mediate any serious issues you may have.  If that does not work, file for a due process.  Do not accept a mediocre education for your ESE student.