18 Tips For Getting Quality
Special Education Services
For Your Child

Your child can be assessed in any area of suspected disability and for any services
needed for him to benefit from school. For example: assessments may be done of reading or
math levels; on the modifications needed to fully include your child; for therapy services (OT,
PT, speech, mental health) and to identify assistive technology like a communication device.
If you disagree with the school district's assessment, you can obtain an independent
assessment at public expense. Always request assessments in writing. An assessment plan
must come in 15 days, once you sign the assessment must be completed and the IEP held in
50 days (with some exceptions).

Whether you or the school district requested the assessments, ask the school early on to
provide you with copies of the written assessment reports a week before the IEP meeting.
This is very important so that you can read the reports, discuss them and plan for the meeting.

Your child's Regional Center Service Coordinator should be trained in Special Education
advocacy and should assist you to plan for the IEP meeting. There are also other local
parent advocacy groups including Family Resource Centers. Or buddy up with another
family and assist each other to plan for IEPs.

Review any assessment reports with this person, identify your aims for the meeting, think
about what your child accomplished last year and what you hope they will learn next year.
Identify the special difficulties or strengths of your child that you want to bring to the school's
attention. If you are seeking full inclusion or increased integration, identify how your child
interacts with non-disabled children outside of school and what makes it successful.

The law says that to the maximum extent appropriate, as decided by the IEP team,
children with disabilities shall be educated in their neighborhood schools and attend regular
classes (with supplemental aids and services). These placements are called "full inclusion."
Today many researchers and parents believe all children with disabilities can and should be
fully included. You should definitely consider before the IEP meeting whether you want your
child fully included or simply want to increase her integration opportunities in classroom
and/or extracurricular activities (clubs, field trips, etc.) at her school.

However well you plan you may get nervous or distracted at a meeting with several
professionals. Thus it is good to make a list of points and questions in advance so you won't
forget. You can check off points as they are discussed and jot down the answers to your
questions.

You can invite anyone you want to your child's IEP. It is always a good idea to have
someone with you. Regional Center Service Coordinators should be available to attend but
you need to schedule the date with them in advance. If there is a day-care operator,
grandparent, tutor, behavior specialist or other person who knows your child and her learning
style, it can be helpful to bring them to the meeting.

Schools are required to explain all findings and recommendations in easily understandable
language. District staff use the same terms every day, and may forget that the world doesn't
know what they mean. Some parents don't ask questions because they feel it makes them
appear unintelligent or unsophisticated. The fact is that the most intelligent and sophisticated
parents often ask the most questions.

Discuss reports, assessments, yours and the teacher's observations of your child's
performance and record his abilities and issues.

Review progress on prior goals, then formulate new goals and objectives. If you want
your child to have greater integration or full inclusion, then you should request objectives that
include interaction with non-disabled students, e.g. "Molly will learn to take turns by playing a
game with non-disabled peers."