You are sitting in your child's classroom at the beginning of the years open school night when your child's teacher asks for a moment of your time. This usually signals that there may be something wrong. Your child's teacher advises you that in the first few weeks of school they have noticed a few areas in your child's performance that concerns them. At this time the teacher more than likely will advise you that they will watch this and get back to you if they do not see improvement. Two weeks later you get the call from your child's teacher that you were hoping not to get. The teacher informs you that they have not seen any improvement in fact there are significant areas of concern that they feel need to be addressed as soon as possible.

The teacher explains that there are areas in your child's learning abilities and style that may need to be evaluated by the school's principal and psychologist. Most parents' first reaction to this is disbelief. Once the initial shock is over most parents realize that it is their responsibility to find out what their child's learning issues are and they start to take a proactive role in insuring their child's success.

So where do you start and what do you need to know, about the evaluation process? Well in many cases each state has their own Procedural Safeguards that a parent should try to familiarize themselves with. These safeguards are usually written with many terminologies that parents find intimidating so it is always wise to seek the help of those who understand the process and your rights as a parent to get the most interventions and services for your child.

Most school districts will advise that you meet with your pediatrician or family doctor first. Most of the time your doctor will be familiar with the evaluation process that the schools use and the safeguards they are required to follow. This is actually in most states a requirement since before an evaluation can be done a referral by a doctor is absolutely necessary. Most doctors will ask to see samples of the child's work and any letters that the teachers provide detailing the concerns that they have for your child. after reviewing the work and discussing what they see in the work and the letters they will give you a referral to submit to the school for an evaluation.

The school district will also require that a request for an evaluation be written up by the teacher. In some cases you will be asked to meet with the teacher prior to

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