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that you are the most important advocate and teacher for your child, period.

By this I do not mean to find fault with special or regular education teachers. Matter of fact, I am a special education teacher. I am stating that the children that receive the best education are those whose parents are involved and educated. The parents who have read the IEP (Individual Education Plan) before attending the meeting and know what the terms mean will receive the most attention and the best opportunities for their child. Just like your child, you must do your homework.

Here very briefly, is the process of how a child is identified to receive special services. The teachers sense a problem in learning exists, and ask for some special attention, which involve alternative education methods and at this do not include special education. If the alternative methods do not show improvement, then a decision is made to do testing to determine if indeed an identifiable disability is present. Before this can occur, permission is needed from you as parent. From this process, an MFE (Multi-factored Evaluation) is written and discussed in a meeting to which you are invited. This details the results of tests, both formal done by a psychologist and other specialists and teachers and informal done mainly by teachers. If a disability is shown to be present, then another meeting is scheduled to write the IEP. Again, your input is needed to help write the IEP. Then the IEP is implemented within the regular classroom and with intervention services as needed.

After having said all that, I can suggest ways in which you can be an involved parent. Here are some suggestions:
1. Read anything that is sent home.
2. If you do not understand, ask to have it explained to you.
3. Get educated, if you understand then you can be assured that your hild will have the best education possible.
4. Find resources to help you understand, some websites that can provide information are:
http://www.specialchild.com/fa mily.html
http://www.workingfamilies.org .uk/asp/family_zone/f_disabili ty.asp
http://www.parentsjournal.com/ section_two/BeingYourChildsAdv ocate.html
5. Become part of the team, being adversarial will only work against your purposes. Ask about what you can do at home to help your student.
6. Do your homework before you attend a meeting, so that when you are with the teachers, you are not overwhelmed by the terminology.

Finally, a word of caution: be realistic. A school has several hundred students and an intervention specialist often has a caseload of close to 20 students. So, while some modifications can be made, realize that other students need attention. And express appreciation for what the teachers and others are doing, a thank you goes a long way.

Learn more about this author, J Bennett.
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