IEPs

At a Glance: Anatomy of an IEP - A handy visual aid from Understood.org to boost your understanding of your child’s IEP.
IEP Process Guide - A guide for parents and educators from the Massachusetts Department of Education outlining eligibility determination, IEP development, and placement.
A Parent's Guide to Special Education - Written by the Federation for Children with Special Needs in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Education, this guide contains important information about the IEP process.
How to Access Special Education Services - An online, interactive guide from the non-profit group Exceptional Lives.
Wrightslaw - IEP FAQs and resources - Articles, law and regulations, and tips about how to get quality services in your child's IEP.
Article: "How to create an effective IEP & build a strong team" - Tips from Exceptional Lives on preparing for an IEP meeting.
Article: "Understanding Your Child's IEP: What Parents Should Know"
- Book Excerpt: "SMART IEPs" (pdf)
- Chapter 12 from Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, by Pam & Pete Wright.
Online preparation tool - Answer a series of yes/no questions to generate a personalized pre-meeting checklist.
Disability & Special Education Acronyms - The disability community is full of acronyms that people constantly use in writing and in conversation, and it’s important to know what those acronyms stand for.

IEP Meeting Do's and Don'ts - A list of tips for before, during, after your IEP meeting by Attorney Eileen Hagerty and Advocate Tina Roy Lynde.
25+ letter templates for requesting evaluations, IEP meetings, records, etc. - Links to an assortment of sample written requests. Helpful if writing is not your strong suit...copy, paste, edit, then send!
Article: "Advocacy: How to Get Services by Asking Questions" - Your goal is to get the services your child needs without being a "Yappy Parent." You'll find out how not to shoot yourself in the foot by being the know-it-all parent. If you take over the role of "expert," you leave no role for the educators.
CADRE (The National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education) - This website offers a number of articles and webinars around how to improve communication between parents and educators.
Brochure: "Communicating with Your Child's School" - This brochure offers specific communication skills that may be helpful to parents as they develop and maintain partnerships with their child's school. Developed in partnership with the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) and The National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE).
Brochure: "Engaging Parents in Productive Partnerships" - An easy-to-read brochure of suggestions on how educators and service providers can effectively collaborate with parents including specific recommendations for IEP meetings.

Wrightslaw - Article: "Game Plan: SMART IEPs" - Advice on how to write good IEP Goals and Objectives.
Wrightslaw - Article: "SMART IEPs: A Tactics and Strategy Session" - Learn how to ensure that your child's IEP goals are specific, comprehensive - and measurable.
Progress Monitoring in Kids with LD - Effective progress monitoring allows you and the team to make meaningful changes in a timely manner.
- Book Excerpt: Writing Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives (pdf)
- Contains some samples of Present Levels of Performance, Goals, and Objectives for IEPs. The full book can be purchased from Attainment Company.

IEP Goals and Objectives Bank (pdf) - A comprehensive list of specific goals
IEP Goals - Speech and Language - A list of IEP goals related to language skills.
IEP Goals - Behavior - Information about writing measurable goals for behavior problems.
IEP Goals - Self-Determination - 35 measurable self advocacy and self determination goals for an IEP.
IEP Goals - Executive Function - Implementing Executive Functioning strategies in your IEP.

IDEA Dispute Resolution Parent Guides (pdf) - Following OSEP’s release of a Q&A on IDEA Part B Dispute Resolution in July 2013, CADRE was asked to create a set of companion resources for parents and families: