What to do when you disagree with the other members of the IEP team?
S. L. Crum, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.

Select the most important issue and educate yourself

Select the most important issue to address first. Do your research on this issue. Know the current literature and recent court cases on this issue. It may be a hard pill to swallow when you have to work, take care of a home, and raise children, but you cannot expect to be taken seriously as an equal member of your IEP team unless you know your stuff. Set aside time each week to learn about your child’s disability, relevant treatments, their pros and cons, educational law and educational procedures. One of the major benefits of educating yourself is that you will self-correct any unreasonable expectations for unrealistic levels of progress and be more appropriate in requests that you make of the school.

Get a thorough independent evaluation

Find a good independent evaluator to conduct a thorough evaluation of your child. Don’t select the first evaluator you come across. You want someone who specializes in the issues your child is coping with and with your child’s age group. You also need someone who is not only current on the newest literature in the field, but who knows how to translate that literature and any test data into meaningful IEP goals and methodologies. You will need this person or a special needs coach to evaluate and integrate all the data you have from all sources (school teachers, school evaluators, school related service providers, private therapists and so forth). This needs to be a person you feel really comfortable with because when they describe your child, you instantly recognize your child. Moreover, it needs to be a person who will give specific, practical suggestions about how to help your child succeed in school.

Discuss the issue with all significant people in your child’s life

Gather all relevant evaluations that you have, review them with significant others in your child life – older siblings, grandparents, youth leader, scout leader, aunts and uncles, pediatrician. Ask them to accompany you to the IEP meeting so that you have more people to hear what you might have missed or misunderstood, to remember what you might forget, to share information about how they see your child functioning in another setting, to help you keep things in perspective and avoid over reacting due to your emotional investment, as well as to serve witnesses to what transpires. If they can’t accompany you to an IEP meeting, ask them to prepare a written statement regarding their knowledge of your child and your child’s needs. But, never go to an IEP meeting without at least two or three other concerned adults who know your child and whom can speak to your child’s needs.

Put the items your disagree with in writing

Some parents feel that putting their concerns in writing will alienate school personnel. In reality, it is beneficial for school personnel because then they can understand specifically what your issues are and have time to think about them and do any needed research or preparation prior to the IEP meeting at which you plan to discuss your concerns. So, write a letter to the IEP team on this single issue stating what your disagree with, why, the scientific research or reference articles that have influenced your reasoning, how you believe the current or proposed plan is detrimental to your child and the nature of the harm it is causing, ask for an IEP meeting to work collaboratively with the team to resolve this issue.

To be most helpful to school staff, be specific in your objections. For example, “I object to the fact that Joey is only receiving 5 hours a week of ABA instruction, because my own review of the literature reveals that 25-40 hours per week are necessary for progress. Moreover, Joey has not made any documentable progress this quarter, and the research also indicates a very narrow window of opportunity for benefit between the ages of 5 and 8. As Joey is already six and a half, we have a limited amount of time to implement and IEP that is reasonably calculated to insure meaningful progress”.

Do not be rude, but do let the school know that your expect action

Your child is one of thousands the school district is educating, as a result you child does not have the priority in school personnel’s mind that s/he does in your mind. If you consider the issue significant, you need to help make this a priority for the school. To do so, indicate that if the special education director doesn’t address this issue within ten calendar days, it will be deliberate indifference to your child’s unique needs resulting from his/her disability. This letter should be printed on bright pink paper with a second copy printed on pale yellow paper. Hand deliver the pink copy to the director of your special education department and ask that they sign, date and time stamp the pale yellow copy to confirm receipt. Should they refuse to do so, go home, print out a second copy on pink paper and send this certified mail return receipt requested along with a cover letter stating to whom, when and where your hand delivered the original letter and name of the person who refused to cooperate with a request to sign to verify receipt. Documentation of this sort benefits everyone because it notify everyone what was requested of whom and when, and thereby avoids future confusion where a parents claims they asked something of someone, but that request is not recollected, and the parent becomes frustrated and angry; which causes the school personnel involved to become defensive. Clear written communications with deliver documented is a standard business practice and helps avoid these problems. Bye the way, I recommend correspondence from the parent to the school be sent on bright yellow paper because it makes it easier to locate parent communications in what are often massive files of educational records.

Prepare for the meeting

In preparation for this meeting, develop what you believe are appropriate goals, criteria for mastery, methodology and related services related to the specific issue you are addressing. This doesn’t mean the remainder of the IEP will automatically provide what you are requesting. But, it does mean that you will have everything you want to discuss in an organized presentation ready to share. Then, either you or your special needs coach/advocate should write the team five to ten days prior to the IEP meeting stating that you wish to share some ideas for the team’s consideration (attach an agenda and any relevant articles) in order to make the IEP meeting as productive as possible.

The Meeting

When you go to the meeting, I recommend that you let your special needs coach/advocate present the issues and try to negotiate an IEP reasonably calculated to ensure your child’s progress. The reason I suggest that you permit your coach/advocate do most of the talking is that they are likely to be much calmer than you, and therefore, to make a more reasonable presentation of your concerns and wishes. If you make requests to the district that are denied, ask for a written notice of refusal outlining the reasoning of the other team members. This gives you something concrete to review at home so you can rethink your position and decide whether it should be modified. In any event, follow up the meeting with your own letter confirming what you have understood the team to deny and why, as well as your continued request for these items and why. Then, conclude with a request for another IEP meeting to investigate this issue further and come to a mutually beneficial agreement. This letter is important because it will give the IEP team director an opportunity to correct anything your misunderstood and will set the stage for a productive follow up meeting on just those issues that remain unresolved.

Mediation

If the district fails to schedule another meeting with in ten calendar days or this meeting is also non productive, it is time to ask for a mediation, so that there is no longer a delay in developing an appropriate IEP than necessary. I realize that many advocates will encourage parents to pursue due process at this point. In my opinion, however, due process is non productive in terms of the financial cost involved, the stress it places on parents and staff, and the damage it does to the working relationship between parents and other members of the IEP team. For this reason, I strongly urge mediation in an attempt to avoid due process.

Timing

One final note, try to time this process so that your child will have an appropriate IEP that you are comfortable with in place for the first day of school. In some cases, it may mean that you need to work with the IEP over the summer in order to accomplish this. If at all possible, however, as the school may not have all relevant members of the IEP team available during the summer try to initiate this process early enough to avoid summer meetings.


Presented as a community service by,

Susan L. Crum, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Special Needs Coach
Able2Learn
Email: Able2learn@live.com
Voice and Fax: 863-471-0281
Website: specialeducationsupport.org