IEP Parent Playbook

It's 11pm. You just got the email: "Annual IEP meeting scheduled for March 3rd." You have three weeks.

You know what you're supposed to do in those three weeks. Review the current IEP. Request evaluations. Draft your concerns. Research your state's timelines. Figure out if you need an advocate. Prepare questions about why your child is still two grade levels behind despite the "specially designed instruction."

You don't know how to do any of that. You don't know what questions to ask. You don't know what your rights actually are beyond "you have rights." You don't know if the school is following the law or if this is just how it works.

Everyone at that table will know more than you. That's what it feels like, anyway.

Most parents Google frantically the week before. Join Facebook groups. Print pages from Wrightslaw they don't fully understand. Write "ASK ABOUT ESY" in a notebook but aren't sure what happens if the school says no. The information exists—scattered across advocacy sites, state PDFs, parent training centers—but there's no single place that says "Here's everything you need, in order, for your state, for your situation."

This playbook is that place. State-specific timelines so you know when to request what. Letter templates for evaluation requests and prior written notice. Meeting prep tools that organize your evidence. Dispute escalation guides if the school won't budge. Advocacy tracking so you can see patterns across years.

The IEP process has 47 days of federally mandated timelines. Miss one and you lose leverage. Know them and you have power.

6.7 million children in the U.S. have IEPs. Most of their parents feel exactly like you do right now—underprepared, outmatched, hoping they don't miss something critical. This playbook is what you hand yourself at 11pm so you don't have to figure it out alone.