- Many parents of children with disabilities are not sufficiently informed about their rights and responsibilities under IDEA and, therefore, are not able to effectively advocate for their children.
- Under IDEA, parents are IEP team members, full partners and equal participants with school personnel in decision-making about their child's educational program.
- Parents should have an important role in ensuring that the IEP goals and objectives are measurable and measured.
- The information parents receive prior to the first IEP meeting, including the invitiation, is crucial in setting an appropriate tone for the meeting.
- Services written into the IEP must be based on what the child needs, not on what is available. What is needed must be made available.
- Neither lack of funds or personnel is a legitimate defense for failure to provide FAPE.
- A child with a disability is entitled to those related services which are necessary to enable him or her to benefit from special education.
- IEP meetings should be held in a physically comfortable and pleasant setting.
- Under IDEA, the evaluation of the child has two purposes: (1) to assess the child's eligibility for special education and related services, and (2) to determine all of the child's unique educational needs.
- In the initial stage of IEP development, the IEP team members should move from their determination of the child's unique needs to expressing, in measurable terms, the child's present levels of performance in those areas of need.
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