Everybody Wins: How to be an Effective Member of Your Child's IEP Team: For Parents of Children with Disabilities, Your Child's School Years have a Common Denominator from Year to Year, Your Child's Individualized Education Program, Or IEP. As Parents Prepare for the Spring IEP Season, This Article Offers Assistance on Making the IEP Process As Effective As Possible (School, Camps and Residences) (Individualized Education Program‪)‬

As a pediatric specialist and could-owner of a large therapy services company, parents of children with disabilities often ask me, "How do I approach my child's IEP (individualized education program) team so that my child gets what is needed?" Too often, parents come with negative expectations about the intentions of the teachers and administrators who are proposing an education plan for their son or daughter. In preparation, they arm themselves with advocates, lawyers, and a myriad of outside evaluations in preparation for the "battle" ahead. In my 15 years working with the special education system, it has been exceedingly rare that I have come across professionals who do not genuinely want the very best for the children they serve. In today's world of shrinking budgets, increasing demand for services, and a shortage of qualified pediatric specialists, the current climate of opposition between parents and IEP teams is creating a lose-lose situation for everyone except attorneys, who may profit from special education litigation. On a global scale, this results in less and less special education dollars available to help students as school districts pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into defending against due process lawsuits. The majority of families and students, who are not involved in the litigation, are left with far less resources available to meet their own special education needs. Alternatively, when families and IEP teams work collaboratively, the possibilities for programming and potential are limitless and valuable special education dollars go to the kids, where they belong.