Ten Tips for Achieving Positive Results for Your Child
By Judith Saltzman

Parents often wonder if they are doing everything they can to obtain an appropriate education for their children with special needs. Results can never be guaranteed, but following these ten pointers should help you obtain a good outcome at your IEP team meetings, and put you on solid ground if you decide you need to file due process.

1. Focus on your child’s progress
Your special needs child is entitled to an IEP that offers a reasonable opportunity to make meaningful educational progress every year. Educational progress refers not only to academics, but also to adaptive and social skills—in school, at home and in the community. Ask yourself if your child is making satisfactory progress. If he is not—if he has had essentially the same IEP for three years, focus on this, and not, for example on procedural errors that the school district has made.

2. Build a team of professionals.
Involving a team early helps you to understand all of your child’s needs and enables you to be a better advocate for your child. Should your child’s case ever end up in due process, the opinion of knowledgeable professionals will help persuade the hearing officer to rule your way. The composition of a team will be driven by your child’s disability, and may include psychologists, psychiatrists, speech/language therapists, occupational therapists, independent educators, and any other professional with specialized knowledge about your child’s issues.

3. Learn the rules, but don’t over-rely on them.
Most special education parents know that their child is entitled to a multi-factored evaluation at least every three years, but many don’t know about, or don’t take advantage of, their right of an MFE meeting to plan the evaluation. This meeting is your opportunity to ensure that your child is assessed in all areas of disability. You can come armed with a list of specific tests to request. If the MFE is more comprehensive, the resulting IEP will be better. There are other important rules that you need to learn about. Call us for help. Hickman & Lowder regularly trains parent and advocacy groups.

On the other hand, be aware that not all procedural errors deny your child a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). In Knable v. Bexley City School District, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said that procedural errors deny FAPE when they cause “substantive harm” to the parent or child. The Sixth Circuit identified three situations in which substantive harm occurs: 1) when the procedural violation seriously infringes upon the parent’s opportunity to participate in the IEP process; 2) when the procedural error deprives the student of an IEP; and 3) when the procedural error leads to a loss of educational opportunity for the student. So, for example, if the school district gives the parent no notice of an IEP team meeting and holds it without the parent, this seriously infringes upon parental participation, causing substantive harm and denial of FAPE. If, on the other hand, the school district gives a notice that informs the parent of the meeting but has a technical defect, a court would be unlikely to find substantive harm and denial of FAPE based upon the incorrect notice alone.

4. Prioritize your issues.
In negotiating your child’s IEP, think about your priorities. Ask yourself what goals and services it will take to ensure that your child makes satisfactory educational progress, and advocate for that. Remember, however, that even parents who file due process usually do not win everything they want. Parents need to develop a clear sense of where they can make compromises, and where they can not.

5. Advocate for what is “appropriate.”
Be prepared to explain to the school district how what you want for your child is “appropriate.” School districts do not believe that they are obligated to maximize your child’s potential and are not likely to respond to parental views that their children should have the “best.”

6. Share information.
It rarely is useful to withhold information about your child from the school district. The more information the school district has about your child’s needs, the better able it will be to meet them. If you don’t provide all relevant information, you will have a difficult time challenging an IEP as not providing a Free Appropriate Public Education.

7. Don’t say you agree when you don’t.
It is possible to disagree with an IEP and believe that it doesn’t provide FAPE, but be willing to try it anyway. This is an IEP “Dissent.” In the signature box on the IEP, check the box beside the statement that reads: “I give consent to initiate special education and related services specified in this IEP except for: . . .” You can add words on the blank line indicating that you are trying the IEP even though you disagree, or have concerns about certain aspects. If you wish to write a longer statement, ask to add it as an attachment to the IEP. Keep it polite and specific.

8. Document everything and keep all documents.
To the extent you are able, IEP meetings and other verbal contacts with the school district should be followed up with a letter summarizing the points of agreement and disagreement at the meeting. Letters should always be friendly and polite. If you can’t or don’t wish to write a letter, after the meeting, make your own notes of everything that happened while it is fresh in your mind. You also have the right to tape record IEP team meetings, but should give the school district advance notice if you intend to do this. Be aware that if you tape record, the school district will likely tape record as well. Make sure all documents are dated, and keep them in chronological order in a binder.

9. Avoid personality conflicts.
Try your hardest to separate the message and the messenger. Don’t confuse personality conflicts with real issues. Special education is very emotional, but the fact remains that the IEP team knows more about your child, and is probably more qualified to design an appropriate program for him, than an Impartial Hearing Officer or a federal court.

10. Consider how each step would look to an impartial hearing officer.
If you file due process, your behavior throughout the IEP process will be scrutinized. Accusations of parental non-cooperation are a common defense in due process. Angry or arrogant letters, refusals to attend IEP team meetings, failing to communicate with teachers, and similar incidents are used by school districts as excuses for not providing FAPE. Such arguments, though not legalistic, are remarkably successful. Don’t give anyone ammunition to use against you.