to TechMom Re: IEP - Illegal?

November 12, 2008

TechMom - I missed your original post but parents are members of the IEP team by

federal law. They cannot hold an IEP meeting without you, can't institute an IEP

without your consent. Can't extend an IEP unless you agree to it. You should go

to the slaw.com website or your state Dept of Education and get a copy of

Whose IDEA is it? which has the rules and regs governing the development and

implementation of IEPs.

Your state will have various programs of parent mentors around the state to help

you with questions about the IEP process and to make sure that the legal process

is followed. Your district is in violation of federal law if it happened the way

you explained it. Do not have verbal conversations, only work in writing, then

you have a paper trail. As a legal member of the IEP team all you need to do to

start the whole IEP process again is write a letter stating that the IEP was

developed and implemented without your input or consent and you want to convene

an IEP meeting to work on the goals. There is no need to say more than that. In

my state I could call the following organizations to ask for help with wording

my written correspondence - this may give you some ideas of who to contact.

1. ARC of my state

2. Learning Disabilities Association of my County

3. State Dept of Education, Dept of Children w Special Needs, or in my state

called Office for Exceptional Children

4. County Job and Family Services organization contained in the County offices,

and ask for help in finding a free parent mentor to assist you

5. Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities. In Ohio they have

the OCECD, and there are 13 other states that participate in this non-profit

educational coalition that seeks to help parents effectively advocate for their

child.

6. One of the zillion local, state and national Autism or Downs associations.

They are all run by parents who have advocated for their kids and know who to

call locally. Even if your child doesn't have these diagnoses, those 2

organizations are the best organized advocacy groups out there.

7. s Law website has some directories for parent assistance state by

state

8. Call your Superintendents office and ask if there is a parent group for the

special needs kids that meets in your district. Call the other districts around

you and ask the same thing - some are more developed than others but the parents

know more about whats going on than the professionals usually.

Hope that helps

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