Dear Friends and Family Caregivers,
The July 2009 DREDF Special EDition has tips to manage paperwork in order to advocate for students with disabilities. Organization helps!
Families have a big job providing a voice for their children in an IEP or 504 planning meeting. We are experts on our children's needs and strengths and must be equal members of any team making decisions for a child's education. Educational decisions made today prepare our children for a meaningful future beyond school.
Documents back up what the team decides your child needs. Documents paint a "picture" of your child that is "worth a thousand words." Advocates ask: if you could not say one word on behalf of your child, what evidence would you show to convince a team of your child's needs? Documentation is important.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS to deal with important papers and to help you locate what you need when you need it.
Keep Paper Documents in Binders
-
Get a 3-ring binder and label it by school year (Child Name: 2009-10).
-
Make tabs of the suggested categories below (or make categories that make sense for you).
-
Put the date in the upper right corner of every document.
-
File documents into your binder, by category and in date order.
-
Start a new binder at a point when your binder gets too big to flip through easily.
Use these tabs to organize your binders:
1. Plans. File your child's Individualized Educational Programs (IEP), 504 Plans, Individualized Transition Plans (ITP), and/or outside agency service plans such as Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSP), or foster care Independent Living Plans (ILP).
2. Medical records. Include all medical records such as doctor and specialist reports, Mental Health treatment plans, or CA Children Services therapy treatment plans that might be delivered through, or in addition to, inter-agency agreements with the school district under CA law AB 3632.
3. Forms. File, for example, copies of "Assessment Plans" or "Consent to Release Information" forms that you have been asked to sign.
4. Evaluations/Assessments. Keep all assessments done by your school district and by independent evaluators, regional center/DDS, or County Mental Health (AB 3632).
5. Progress reports and report cards.
6. State standardized test results such as the STAR test scores mailed to you each year.
7. Samples of schoolwork, quizzes, and teacher-made tests. Collect a few examples each year that demonstrate the work your child can do at present, her strengths, and also her needs.
8. Formal notices of meetings. Keep track of meetings scheduled to discuss your child, such as a Notice of IEP Meeting.
9. Notes. Save notes on your child's progress, conversations, and meetings with your child's educational team, and on your child's program or needs. Take notes from conversations of who said what and when.
10. Correspondence. Save any communications between you and your child's educational team. It is VERY important to save copies of your formal written requests for assessments, IEP meetings, or school records, because these requests require that important timelines in IDEA law must be met by school officials.
11. Discipline and behavior concerns. Keep notices about any disciplinary actions, detentions, suspensions (both in and out of school suspensions), "time-outs," and Behavioral Emergency Reports. Keep notes of staff or administrator concerns about behavior. Keep any behavior assessments and plans for addressing behavior, such as a Behavior Support Plan (BSP) or Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). If you were called to pick up your child or come to school because of a behavior issue, write down who called, the date and time, and what happened. Remember: Whenever your child is not getting instruction, this should be documented!
12. Invoices and cancelled checks. Save what you paid out-of-pocket to provide for your child's educational needs, such as tutors, social skills classes, behavior support, therapies, or transportation.
Tips about Electronic Documents
If you email regularly, understand that school district staff will not print emails and put them in your child's record. In important matters, send real "snail mail" letters to document your concerns and your attempts to resolve a situation. Or, print your email exchange and send the email collection to the top special education administrator requesting that the emails be included in your child's record.
If you save electronic documents on your computer, set up a series of folders that match the binder categories above. Use a system to name documents by date so that they reflect the date they were created, not the date you decided to save them.
ALWAYS back-up your electronic documents regularly.
If you do not have a laptop computer, print your electronic documents and save them in a binder that you can bring with you to IEP meetings.
Tips about Documents and Proof of Delivery
The law contains important timeline requirements for some written requests, and some written communications can show how long you have been trying to resolve a particular issue. If mailing, send important requests and correspondence "return-receipt" from the post office. This will give you a signed receipt of when your letter was delivered. If faxing, print your successful fax transmission report and follow-up by phone, noting who received your fax and when. If hand-delivering: ask the person receiving your letter or document to date-stamp it and give you a copy of this before you leave.
Tips about Document Trails
When you write to create a "paper trail" for your child, always be respectful and always tell the truth. Write as though you are writing a formal business letter. Have a friend or advocate read your letter to help you. Write your issue as briefly as possible—just enough so that the person understands. Write what you have done to correct the issue. Write what your understanding is if someone from the district promised to take action. Ask for what you need. Ask for a response by a reasonable but firm time. Give the best way to reach you and when.
UPCOMING DREDF WORKSHOPS
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. SPACE IS LIMITED.
UNDERSTANDING THE SPECIAL EDUCATION PROCESS
An overview of the special education process, Section 504, and IDEA laws.
Date: Second Monday of the month except August and December
Next Offered: September 14, 2009
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 pm (Pizza included!)
Where: DREDF, 2212 Sixth St, Berkeley, CA
IEP CLINIC APPOINTMENTS - Third Tuesday of Every Month
Call to schedule a 30-minute appointment with a DREDF Education Advocate to discuss an issue around your child's IEP or 504 Plan. Bring IEP or 504 Plan and pertinent paperwork. You must attend a DREDF special education workshop first (above) to qualify for this service.
Date: Third Tuesday of the month except July, August and December
Next Offered: September 15, 2009
Time: Between 10:00 am - 2:00 pm (30 minute appointments)
Where: DREDF, 2212 Sixth St, Berkeley, CA
To Register: Email iephelp@dredf.org or call 510-644-2555 X227
Resources on Record-Keeping
For a more detailed discussion of paperwork, see "The Paper Chase: Managing Your Child's Documents under the IDEA" by Robert K. Crabtree, available at
http://www.fetaweb.com/03/paperchase.crabtree.htm
DREDF is a non-profit law and policy center for adults and children with disabilities. We operate a Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center to help families and others in the community get the information, training, and resources they need to advocate effectively for the education rights of children with all types of disabilities. Our Foster Youth Resources for Education (FYRE) program is dedicated to the educational needs of foster children and youth with disabilities, their caregivers, and others who support the needs of foster youth.
We offer our services free of charge.
Call 510-644-2555 or 800-348-4232, or email iephelp@dredf.org to contact an Education Advocate. |
