Being the parent of a child with special educational needs can be challenging. One of the biggest challenges might be getting the school to give your child the extra help or accommodations they need. When you meet with the school, the measures they offer may fall well short of what you feel your child deserves.
Maybe the school does not grasp the scale of your child’s learning issues. Maybe they are so set in their ways that they believe the approach they have used with others is sufficient for everyone. Or perhaps they are trying to save money by avoiding allocating extra resources to your child.
You might feel overwhelmed when faced with education professionals
You might not feel confident enough to tell the school staff they are wrong because they have education titles to their names. Or you might try your best but just feel they are ignoring you. That is where help could come in.
The law allows you to take professionals along to an IEP meeting
That could be your child’s therapist, an expert on their condition, or your lawyer. If this is news to you, then you are not alone. It’s why the Education and the Workforce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a bill to obligate schools to inform parents of their rights to third-party help ahead of the first IEP meeting of each academic year. Lawmakers realized that too many parents were failing to get their kids the help they needed because they struggled to represent themselves in those meetings.
The bill still has to pass through the full house, but at least you now know you have the option for help.