Special Education and Regional Center Blog

Guest Post: Shannon Liu Shair is a fellow heart mom and estate planning attorney. It is very important for families with special needs children to plan for their futher. Below is an explaination about what this planning entails. For more information visit www.liushairlaw.com.

About 20 days before the IEP meeting (or as soon as possible after you get notice of the meeting) you should send a letter/email to the entire IEP team with the following information:

I think this issue can be viewed from two different angles: educational records and parent participation.

Educational Records

California law states that a district must priovide parents with a student’s records within five business (not school days) days after parents’ request. A draft IEP would be considered a student record, and the district must provide a draft IEP within five days from the request by a parent.

In a “Dear Colleague Letter” dated January 9, 2017, the United States Department of Education clarified that preschool children should have access to “inclusive high-quality early childhood programs where they are provided with individual and appropriate supports to enable them to meet high expectorations.”

Can a District have an IEP without Parents?

A client called me last week and said that the district set an IEP for a certain date, but the parent was unavailable on that date. The parent asked the district to reschedule and the district said that was the only date they had available. The parent asked me what to do.