Your legal rights for the IEP meeting

  • Updated

The IDEA law gives you certain rights as you go through the IEP process.

You will get a Written Notice about the IEP Meeting:

  • It will tell you the date, time and place of the meeting. It will also tell you who will be there.

  • This should be in your native language!

You have a right to ask for changes to make it easier for you!

For example, you can ask for:

  • A different date or time

  • A different place

  • A phone or Skype meeting

  • An interpreter in your own language

You can also ask to record the meeting if you have a disability that requires a recording in order to participate.

 

Do you speak a different language? Know your rights. You have the right to get all the information in your own language. This means paperwork and meetings. Ask for an interpreter or translated notices if you need them!

Learn more:

Procedural Safeguards are specific procedures that are required by law to protect the rights of students and parents.  They include timelines, consent processes, and specific rules for getting the evaluation and creating the IEP.  Click this to find the document that describes these in Massachusetts: Parents' Notice of Procedural Safeguards. (It comes in 11 languages.)

 

Sources: Mass Education Laws and Regulations, IDEA