Plain-language guides, written gently and cited carefully — so you can understand what you're facing, and walk into any meeting informed.
Plain-language, gentle overviews of each disability category
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts attention and behavior, can look different in girls than in boys, and…
For your child to receive special education services under the 'Autism' category, the school must find that specific dev…
Deaf-blindness is a disability category for children with both hearing and vision loss whose combined needs are so uniqu…
Deafness is a disability category for a hearing loss so severe that it impacts a child's ability to process language thr…
Dyslexia is a common, brain-based learning disability that makes accurate and fluent reading, writing, and spelling diff…
Emotional Disturbance (ED) is a special education disability category for students whose emotional or behavioral challen…
Under federal law, a Hearing Impairment is a hearing loss that negatively affects a child's school performance but is no…
Intellectual Disability involves significant limitations in both intellectual functioning (like reasoning and learning) …
Multiple Disabilities is a special education category for a child with two or more significant disabilities whose combin…
Orthopedic Impairment is a disability category for a child with a severe physical impairment affecting bones, joints, or…
Other Health Impairment (OHI) is a special education category for students whose health conditions, like ADHD or diabete…
The largest IDEA eligibility category — covers dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and other disabilities of specific aca…
A Speech or Language Impairment is a communication disorder, such as stuttering, trouble making sounds, or difficulty un…
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain from an external force that can affect a child's learning, with c…
To qualify for special education for a visual impairment, your child needs more than a doctor's eye exam; the school mus…
504 vs IEP, extended school year, discipline reviews
Extended School Year (ESY) services are special education services provided beyond the normal school year, at no cost to…
An MDR is a special meeting to decide if your child's misconduct was caused by their disability before the school can im…
An IEP provides specialized instruction and services for a qualifying disability, while a 504 plan provides accommodatio…
Evaluations, independent evaluations, written notice, disputes
When you and the school disagree about your child's special education, you have several options, from informal meetings …
An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is an evaluation of your child by an outside expert, which you can request t…
You have the right to ask the school to evaluate your child for special education, and federal and state laws set specif…
A written notice the school must give you before they propose — or refuse — to change anything about your child's evalua…
Goals, services, placement, transition, present levels
Annual goals are measurable targets, required in every IEP, that outline the specific skills your child is expected to m…
Least Restrictive Environment, or LRE, is the legal requirement that schools must educate students with disabilities alo…
The Present Levels section of the IEP describes your child's current skills, struggles, and strengths using specific dat…
This part of the IEP is a grid that lists the exact help your child will get, specifying the service, who provides it, w…
Transition planning is a required part of the IEP, starting by age 16, that creates a roadmap of goals and services to h…
What each one does, when it helps, what to ask
Audio books and text-to-speech tools read text aloud, allowing students who struggle with decoding words to access grade…
This accommodation provides your child with planned opportunities to step away from instruction to manage sensory, emoti…
Additional time on tests, assignments, or assessments — given because the student needs more time to demonstrate what th…
This accommodation helps students capture key information from lessons when the physical act of writing, paying attentio…
Preferential seating is a classroom accommodation that places your child in a specific seat to help them learn, which do…
A separate testing setting is an accommodation where your child takes tests in a different location, like a quiet room, …
Speech-to-text is an accommodation that lets a student speak their ideas into a device that types the words for them, he…
A calculator can be an appropriate accommodation when a student's disability impacts basic math calculations, allowing t…
Visual schedules use pictures, words, or objects to show your child what is happening next, which helps make transitions…
Evidence-based approaches and what to ask about them
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a type of therapy that uses principles of learning to teach new skills and reduce cha…
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a practical counseling approach used in schools to help students identify and chan…
MTSS is a school-wide framework to provide academic and behavioral support to all students at different levels of intens…
Structured Literacy is a highly organized teaching approach for reading that breaks down language into its smallest part…