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Home > Topics > Advocacy > Preparing for IEP Meetings: Organizing Your Child's Special Education File by Pete Wright, Esq. |
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Prepare for an IEP Meeting: Organize Your Child's Special Education File Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. – Dale Carnegie.
As the parent of a child with special education needs, you know the special education system generates mountains of paper. Because some information is important, you are afraid to throw anything away. The mountain of paper grows higher every year. What should you do with it? How can you organize all this information? You need a simple, foolproof document management system. In this article, you will learn how to organize your child’s file. After you organize the information about your child into a file, you will have a clearer understanding of your child’s disability and needs.
Think about the last school meeting. Did the IEP team members have a complete copy of your child's file? Did you have a complete copy of your child's file? How can the IEP team make decisions about your child's special education program if they do not have complete, accurate information about your child?
Schools keep records in different places. Information and reports are misplaced. When you organize your child's file, you will have all the information about your child in one place. With our document management system, you can track your child's educational history. When you use this parent-tested system, you can quickly locate any document in your child's file.
Gather Information About Your Child
Follow these steps to get information about your child.
Make a Master Provider List
Make a list of all individuals and agencies that may have information or records about your child. Your list should include the names and titles of all professionals who have provided medical or mental health treatment services, including doctors, therapists, and other health care providers.
Master Provider List - Download in pdf or Word.
Request Your Child's Records
Wrightslaw Tip: See Chapter 23 in Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy for sample letters to request information and records.
Wrightslaw Tip: Make copies of all letters for your file.
Request Your Child's Educational Records
Wrightslaw Tip: See more sample letters at the end of Chapters 23 and 24 in Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy.
Step 1: Date All Documents
Before long, mail will roll in from your requests. Using a pencil, lightly date each document in the lower right hand corner. Date everything- evaluations, reports, correspondence, report cards, and medical reports. When you find duplicate documents, compare the duplicates, decide which document has the best photocopy quality, and use this as your master. Put the duplicates in a box. You will not need them for your notebook. Do not throw them away. You may need to provide copies to other people later. Tip: Do not write on original documents. You may need these documents later. Do not stop to read the documents. Many parents say that when they organize documents, they begin to read and are sidetracked. Force yourself to stick with this job until you finish. Just date and organize! Lightly pencil the date on the bottom right corner of the first page. Tip: Work samples provide useful information about your child's skills. Include a few samples of your child's schoolwork. Step 2: File All Documents in a large Binder File all dated documents in a large binder. Sometimes you might have two or three binders. When documents are formatted horizontally, date and place them in a portrait vertical style. File all documents in chronological order, oldest document on top and newest document at the end. Some parents use the child's birth certificate as the first document in the file. The last document is the most recent piece of information. This may be a report card, IEP, or letter from the school. Tip: Do not put documents in clear plastic envelopes. If you are in a meeting and need to find a document in the file, removing documents from plastic envelopes takes too long. Do not file documents by category (i.e., IEPs, psychological evaluations, correspondence, etc.). If you file documents by category, your system will fail. Assume you have a comprehensive letter written by a child psychologist three years ago. The Eligibility Committee and the IEP team used the psychologist's letter. Is this document a letter? A report? An evaluation? If your system is confusing and difficult, it will fail. Trying to figure out categories is confusing and time-consuming. Use our parent-tested system. You have better things to do with your time! Step 3: Read the Master File for the "Big Picture" After you complete Step 2, read your child's Master File from beginning to end. When you read the information chronologically, you will see the big picture At the beginning of this article, I mentioned the mountains of paper generated by the special education system. After reports are written, they are filed away. Few people will read or review this information again. Because there is no master plan, no one looks at the big picture. Instead of looking at the forest, parents and school staff focus on the bark of the trees. When you organize your child's file, you will see the forest. You will understand. Many parents say that making a neat, organized, chronological Master File is a powerful educational experience. You have dated the documents and filed them in chronological order, oldest document on top, most recent on the bottom. Now you need to create your Master Document List. When you organize documents chronologically and generate your Master Document List, you can compress your child's history into a few pages. You can locate any document in seconds. To create your Master Document List, make a table with four columns. If you are using a word processing program, insert a four-column table. Tip: If you use a word processing program, the program can sort the list by date, author, or type of document. If you are not using a computer, draw a table with four columns on several sheets of paper. Label the columns: Date, Author, Type, and Significance. Enter each document by date, author, and type. You can leave the "Significance" column blank for now. When you use a word processing program, you can change the font to highlight test data and other important information. This makes it easier to find important information. Tip: When you use a word processing program, you can change the font to highlight test data and other important information. You make it easier to find important information. Download Sample Document List in pdf. Tip: If you want to make a note on a document in your Master File, write on a sticky note that you attach to the document. Attach sticky notes to all pages in your Master File that have test scores (i.e., the Wechsler Intelligence Test and Woodcock Johnson Tests.) Download a Master Document List with information. When you organize your child's file, you will learn about your child's disability and educational history. This is an important step in becoming an expert. When you finish this job, you will have a clearer understanding of your child's educational needs. You do not need to complete the "Significance" column yet. When you learn more about evaluations and test scores, you will recognize important information in documents. Tip: See how a Master Document List is used to create an Exhibit List for a due process hearing. As you organize your child's file, you will learn about your child's disability and educational history. You will have a clearer understanding of your child's academic and functional needs. After you create your Master Document List, you will be able to find a specific document quickly and easily. These are important steps in becoming an effective advocate for your child. More Articles About Documents and Organizing Information The Paper Chase: Managing Your Child's Documents Under the IDEA by Bob Crabtree, Esq. If you have kids with special educational needs, you can be overwhelmed by paperwork in no time. This article teaches you about the importance of different documents and how to organize them. You learn about documents that are keepers; education records; documents you should create and how; tips for consulting with an attorney. Paper Trails: Documents, Exhibit Lists and Due Process Hearings by Pete Wright. This is one of several articles about documents that was published in the Fall 2001 issue of The Beacon. Paper Trails, Letter Writing and Documentation. When you advocate for a child, you use logs, calendars, and journals to create paper trails. Revised: 11/10/16 |
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