Educational professionals (e.g., special educators, general educators, administrators, related service providers) play an important role in promoting engagement with parents during the development of individualized education programs (IEPs). For this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews to evaluate parents' (n = 16) perceptions of…

Annual individualized education program (IEP) meetings are a time for a student's IEP team to review data, discuss student progress, and set goals for the year. For those students who attend their meetings, simply being in the room is not enough. Why don't students take an active role in their IEP meeting? Davis and Cumming (2019) posited that…

Many refugee students with disabilities are entering their American classrooms for the first time after experiencing adversity and trauma. They may have experienced famine, war, displacement, forced migration and abuse. One can also presume that their special education needs were neglected due to the limited resources that were available to them.…

This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

This guide was developed by the Louisiana Department of Education to help parents navigate the complex system that oversees special education in Louisiana's public schools. Each school year, local education agencies (LEAs) are required to provide parents a copy of the procedural safeguards. These safeguards are used to inform parents of the…

This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

This practicum addressed educators' concerns that relatively few parents involve themselves in the reevaluation process of high school-level students with mild disabilities. The practicum sought to increase parent involvement in the development of 10 students' academic and career/vocational programs. The practicum involved encouraging parents to…

Thirty-six parents of students with disabilities who had exited high school 6 to 12 months earlier, were interviewed to examine perceptions of their participation in their child's final Individualized Education Program/transition planning meeting. A majority reported they participated in a variety of ways and were satisfied with their…

This booklet is intended to facilitate the full participation of Minnesota parents of children with disabilities in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. The booklet begins with a brief discussion of what an IEP is, when IEPs must be in effect, IEP meetings, the IEP team, and parent participation. It next stresses the necessity of…