What are my rights and responsibilities as the parent of a child with disabilities?

A child becomes eligible for special education when the IEP team identifies the child as having a disability and in need of specially designed instruction. The disability must have education impact.

What are my parental rights in the special education process?

Your child’s school will provide a copy of Parental Rights: Maryland Procedural Safeguards Notice for Infants and Toddlers Early Intervention, Preschool Special Education, and Special Education (in your native language).
This document includes an explanation of your special education rights. Parents are to receive a copy of the notice one time each year and upon:

1. Initial referral or parental request for evaluation;
2. Receipt of the first State special education complaint in a school year;
3. Receipt of the first due process hearing request in a school year;
4. A decision is made to take a disciplinary action; and
5. At the parent’s request.

You are a member of your child’s IEP team. Other team members include:

1. At least one of your child’s regular education teachers;
2. At least one of your child’s special education providers;
3. A school administrator who can commit local school system resources;
4. An individual who can explain the test results and what they mean for instruction (this may be a school administrator, teacher, or another professional);
5. Other individuals that you or the school system want to attend because they know your child and have special expertise about your child; and
6. Your child, when appropriate. Your child must be invited to attend his or her IEP team meeting, beginning at age 14, to consider transition, postsecondary goals and services needed to reach his or her desired goals.

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team process encourages your full participation in the discussion and decisions made at the IEP team meetings.

1. You are to be invited to each IEP team meeting about your child.
2. You are to receive a copy of all documents that the IEP team plans to discuss, at least five (5) business days before your child’s IEP team meeting.
3. The IEP team meeting is to be at a mutually agreed upon date and place.
4. If you cannot attend a proposed IEP team meeting, you may suggest another date and time.
5. You may ask others to attend the IEP team meeting with you.
6. If your native language is not English, the school system is to provide an interpreter for you to enable you to participate in the meeting.
7. If you cannot attend in person, you and school staff may agree to use other ways to participate, such as video conferencing or conference call.
8. You have the right to excuse (or not excuse) a member of your child’s IEP team from attending an IEP team meeting.
9. The local school system cannot excuse a required team member without your permission.
10. You are to receive a copy of the proposed or final IEP five (5) business days after the completion of the IEP.
11. You may have the right to receive a written copy of your child’s IEP translated into your native language.
12. You have the right to request mediation at any time to resolve a disagreement, if you and the local school system both agree to the mediation process.
13. You may file a State complaint or request a due process hearing if you believe a student’s rights have been violated under the IDEA.

You may request an IEP team meeting at any time to review your child’s IEP. At a minimum, the IEP team must meet to:

1. Review the referral and your concerns in order to decide what tests are needed (if any) to determine if your child has a disability that requires special education.
2. Review test results to decide if your child has a disability that requires special education (Initial Evaluation).
3. Develop an IEP for your child to describe the services and support to be provided to you and/or your child (IEP Development).
4. Review your child’s progress at least annually (Step 7: Annual Review).

Resources

Maryland Procedural Safeguards Notice, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, French, Gujarati, Haitian-Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese

Building IEPs with Maryland Families: What a Great IDEA!

A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Your Individualized Education Program (IEP) Rights and Responsibilities in Maryland