Have you ever felt as if your IEP meeting was like a form of “psychological warfare” used to confuse and coerce you by causing you fear and emotional distress?
Well I’m here to tell you that you are not crazy and you are not alone if you have this opinion!
Your Local School District is an “Institutional Bureaucracy” established by a clear hierarchical order managed by political agendas with the purpose of maintaining power and control.
Parents are not an employee of the hierarchical order and therefore, parents are outsiders. Even though IDEA clearly endows parents with the right to be equal participants in the development of their child’s special education program, this right does not coincide with a successful and orderly bureaucracy. District administrators will do everything they can to secure their power and control over parents. School staff members believe that parents are experts in parenting and they should just go home and allow the educators to do the educating. This includes handling the IEP. It is their opinion that they know best about your child’s educational needs and parents should agree to the teams recommendations and educational plan they are offering in the IEP.
School officials know if you are educated about your rights after your very first IEP meeting by probing and testing you. They “size you up” regarding your knowledge of the IEP process and will treat you accordingly.
Parents are given misinformation and even disinformation as long as the parent will allow district staff members to do so. This is why it is so important for parents to educate themselves on their parental rights and learn how to play the political game of special education.
Every parent experiences a specific “moment in time” when they have an epiphany in which they realize their child’s IEP team is not going to help them to meet the needs of their child or address their concerns by coming to a reasonable resolution.
When I work with parents, sometime during our first meeting together they will eventually tell me, “I wish I knew about you years ago…I wouldn’t have wasted so much time but I just didn’t know how much I didn’t know!”
Have you experienced your Aha moment yet?
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Schedule a consultation with me to get the answers you need regarding your child’s Individualized Special Education program.
Parents are not an employee of the hierarchical order and therefore, parents are outsiders. Even though IDEA clearly endows parents with the right to be equal participants in the development of their child’s special education program, this right does not coincide with a successful and orderly bureaucracy. District administrators will do everything they can to secure their power and control over parents. School staff members believe that parents are experts in parenting and they should just go home and allow the educators to do the educating. This includes handling the IEP. It is their opinion that they know best about your child’s educational needs and parents should agree to the teams recommendations and educational plan they are offering in the IEP.
