There are several laws relating to children with disabilities in public school systems, but two are particularly important to understand: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act protects students from discrimination and provides a free appropriate public education relating to access. Despite the existence of these legal protections, as well as state laws and regulations, you are still likely to need to advocate for your child to secure appropriate services. To do so, you must be aware of and exercise these rights:
- Prior Written Notice: Schools must inform you, in writing, at least 10 days before the implementation of the IEP if they propose or refuse to change anything relating to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child. If you disagree with something the school proposes, ask that your disagreement be captured in the Prior Written Notice.
- Consent: You have to give permission for evaluations, services, and access to records and can revoke this permission at any time.
- Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE): If you disagree with a school’s evaluation, you can request an independent one at the school’s expense.
- Meaningful Participation: You’re an equal member of the IEP team and have the right to call meetings and voice concerns.
What If the School Refuses to Evaluate?
Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, don’t back down. Red flags are statements such as “Wait and see;” “We haven’t had enough time to provide tiered intervention;” “We don’t see that in school;” “Your child is getting good grades.” Put your concerns in writing and request an evaluation. If they refuse, ask why and have them document their reasoning. It’s vital to get any refusal in writing, and if the school doesn’t document it, you should send an email documenting it.
Having a disability doesn’t guarantee services; there also has to be an educational need, but that decision can’t be appropriately made without evaluative information.
Any evaluation conducted by the school district should include all areas of concern, including functional, academic, emotional, behavioral, language, communication, and social. Concerns for dyslexia mean that evaluations should consist of all areas of language, including oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
Understanding Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
Schools use a tiered intervention system to provide support to a student at risk, but not yet identified for special education services. Tier 1 is in the general education classroom, Tier 2 is in small groups with more targeted intervention, and Tier 3 is intensive, individualized support. Each tier requires progress monitoring and data to determine if a child is making meaningful progress, should move on to the next tier, or should be considered for evaluation for special education. Tiered intervention is a short-term process, with each tier lasting only 6-8 weeks. It cannot be used to refuse to evaluate a student. Assessment should include screening to determine at-risk students, progress monitoring to see if interventions are working, diagnostic to decide on what to teach next, and outcome-based to determine if the intervention was successful.
Setting the Right Goals
Your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) should include SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Be wary of vague goals like “Kate will read at 90 words per minute with 80% accuracy.” Instead, push for detailed goals that consider factors like passage difficulty and cold vs. warm reads. As a SMART goal, this would be “By June 2025, Kate will read an unfamiliar (cold read) 4th grade Dibels passage at 120 CWPM in 3 out of 4 trials as measured by teacher-kept data.”
Progress assessment should include both mastery-based (measuring a student’s skills against themselves), and growth outcome-based (measuring with norm referenced data compared to peers). As a parent, you are entitled to all of this data, and should request it.
The Changing Educational Landscape
Many schools are now required to use structured literacy programs for grades K-3 and conduct reading screenings on EVERY K-3 student. This is great news, but implementation varies. If your child’s school requires these programs, staying informed and engaged is key to making sure your child benefits.
At the end of the day, you are your child’s biggest advocate. Being literate is the key to many of life’s opportunities for your child. As a parent, keep learning, ask questions, document everything, and pick your battles. The goal is to make sure your child gets an appropriate education, allowing them to make meaningful progress and enabling them to pursue their future of secondary education, employment and/or independent living.
There’s a community of parents and professionals out there who can support you — so don’t do this alone! For more resources, check out:
Laura Heneghan is a Connecticut-based special education attorney and advocate for families of children with disabilities. Kate Pearce is the founder of Kate Pearce Educational Services, a Connecticut-based organization that specializes in supporting students with learning challenges.