The Complete Special Education Advocacy Guide: IEPs, 504 Plans, and Transition P

In an IEP meeting, the school team sits together on one side of the table. They speak the language, they know the process, and they do this every week. You do it for one child, and that child is yours. The power differential in that room is real. It is also fixable. Dr. Stacey Lynn Lederberg has sat at that table three ways: as a special education teacher, as an advocate, and as a parent. This is the complete reference she wishes someone had handed her on day one. It covers the IEP and 504 systems end to end: which plan your child needs and what to do when the school steers you toward the wrong one, how evaluations work and what the scores actually mean, every required IEP component and what to question in each, your rights under IDEA and Section 504 and the language that puts them to work, how to prepare for the meeting and document what was decided, and what to do when the informal path runs out. The final chapters carry you through transition planning, from age fourteen to the first semester of college. Twenty-two worksheets, checklists, and templates are included, along with a plain-language glossary and model goal language. Coil bound so it lays flat on the table you are about to sit at.