Parent Advocate Quarterly Volume 18, Issue 4

You prepared thoroughly. You reviewed your child’s progress. You gallantly advocated for your child as an equal member of the IEP team. You left the ARD meeting with a great IEP designed to meet the unique educational needs of your child. A few months go by and you discover that several of the services listed in your child’s IEP have not been provided. What do you do?

First, make sure that you document all the times and types of services that are not being provided to your child. It is very important that you have documentation to support your position. If you do not have documentation, the easiest way to obtain documentation is to set up a home school notebook with your child’s teacher and service providers. Ask that they write in the book every time they work with your child and what they work on. Some people will balk at this. However you can simply tell them that you want to know what they are working on at school so that you can reinforce their work at home. You could also ask them to give you suggestions as to what things you could be doing at home to help your child. This is a good practice to get into anyway for the benefit of your child.

The next step is to meet with your child’s teacher and try to find out why your child’s IEP is not being implemented as written. What pieces are missing? Is the speech therapist too busy to see your child? Is the teacher in the pull-out program for math not working on the math goals in the IEP? Is the special seating equipment written in the IEP not being provided? What does the teacher know about these problems? Remember, your child’s teacher is usually your ally but may not have all of the answers. If the teacher is unable to help you, talk to the people who are designated as the particular service providers. If they are unable to help you, talk to the principal. It is best to set up a meeting with the principal and bring all of your documentation and information regarding the problems with the IEP including a copy of the IEP and what steps you have taken to remedy the situation. Keep a log of the different people that you meet with, the dates that you met with them and a brief description of your discussion.

If you are still unable to resolve the problem, the next step would be to contact one of the school district administrators such as the Special Education Director. Again set up a meeting with this person and bring all of your documentation regarding the problems with implementing the IEP. The more organized you are and the more documentation that you have, the greater the likelihood that you will be able to resolve this problem without resorting to legal action.

Finally, if you are still are not able to resolve the problems after meeting with all of the school district personnel, you can look to your state department of education. Every state that receives federal funds pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is required to maintain a procedure whereby a parent can file a complaint if they believe that their local school district has violated a provision of IDEA.

For information regarding procedural safeguards , ARD guidelines, and state board of education rules and regulations, visit the following web site in Texas: www.tea.state.tx.us/special/ed/rules

For information regarding IDEA, please visit the following web site: www.ideapractices.org

To download a current copy of the procedural safeguards, see Resources at www.PartnersTx.org