What you need to know before you meet with the representatives of your school district.

If you're a parent to one of the six million children with disabilities in the U.S., you're undoubtedly well aware of the individualized education program (IEP) meeting. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), parents of a special ed child meet at least once a year with representatives of the local school district to prepare their child's IEP -- a detailed, written description of your child's educational program.

For many parents, the annual IEP meeting is a difficult and stressful encounter. You may have trouble making your child's case because you feel intimidated by school administrators and experts. There may be obstacles beyond your control, such as a teacher shortage, insufficient funds or awful program options. While the process can seem overwhelming to a parent, it doesn't need to be this way.

Do Your Homework

You do not need to be a special education expert or a lawyer to be an effective advocate for your child in the IEP process. What you must do is be prepared and plan ahead. Every parent -- whether it's their first or their tenth IEP -- will benefit from taking the following steps well in advance of the IEP meeting.

Obtain a copy of your school district's IEP form. Become familiar with the sections you will be filling out at the IEP meeting. These typically include:

• Program or class -- the appropriate learning environment for your child, such as a regular classroom for all or part of the school day, a special class for children with learning disabilities, or a private school for deaf children.
• Goals and objectives -- the general academic, linguistic, social, vocational, cognitive, self-help, and other goals you have for your child; for example, reading or math skills, healthy peer relationships, or independent living skills. Consider the specific steps your child will have to take to reach these goals.
• Related services -- the developmental, corrective, and other supportive services necessary to facilitate your child's placement in a regular class or to allow your child to benefit from special education. Examples include a one-to-one aide in the classroom, speech therapy, or transportation to and from school.
• Transition services -- any supportive services addressing the vocational and advanced placement needs of children ages 16 years and older. (In some states these services may begin earlier, at age 14 years.)
• Other educational components -- anything else your child needs to succeed, such as particular curricula and teaching methods.

Become an expert about your child's educational performance and needs. Keep in regular contact with your child's teacher and other school representatives, and gather opinions from professionals who know your child. Get a copy of everything in your child's school file, including assessments, testing data, and written teacher comments. Figure out what each item means and think about whether you can use it to demonstrate your child's need for a particular program, service or methodology.

Develop your child's ideal IEP. While IDEA says that you and the school district must develop the IEP together, it is still a good idea for you to put together a clearly expressed blueprint of the educational program and services you want beforehand. This will not only help you learn your material, but it will also get you to think about how to prove that your child really needs the educational help you want for him or her.

Gather all available information -- and develop new material -- that supports your position and your child's ideal IEP. This may be a statement from your child's teacher, an independent assessment of your child (an evaluation by someone outside the school district), or a statement from your child's pediatrician or other professional.

Find out who will attend the IEP meeting on behalf of the school district. If you can, try to find out what position these folks will take at the meeting. Usually your child's teacher, the school administrator responsible for special education and specialists, such as a school psychologist, attend the IEP meeting. Be especially clear about the position of your child's teacher-- the teacher is potentially the best ally or worst enemy you have in the IEP process. Either way, because the teacher has had lots of contact with your child, he or she will probably be the most convincing member of the IEP team.

Invite appropriate allies to speak at the IEP meeting on your child's behalf. This may be your child's physician, an independent assessor who's evaluated your child, or a specialist who supports the program, service or other IEP component you want for your child. If key people can't attend (or it's too costly for them to do so), have them prepare a written statement for you to read at the meeting.