Your Rights & The Process

The Individuals with Disabilities Act which gives rise to individual education plans and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which gives rise to 504 plans, both are built with the expectation that parents will learn and exercise their rights. Most challenges parents encounter in the IEP and 504 world can be traced back to not knowing their rights or how to exercise them. Below are links to some key documents to aim to help you avoid those pitfalls.

A Parents Guide to Special Education: https://fcsn.org/parents_guide/pgenglish.pdf

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Parents Notice of Procedural Safeguards: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/prb/pnps.pdf

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Annotated IEP Checklist: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/iep/forms/word/Form_CKL.doc

Special Education in Massachusetts (author: Children's Law Center of MA): //www.clcm.org/Special_Education_in_MA_Feb2013.pdf

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Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71b, Section 3 (which identifies that a district must obtain a diagnosis when evaluating; not just a working hypothesis): 

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71b/Section3  

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Student Records Request Sample Letter: https://massadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/sample-records-request.docx 

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10 Day Timeline for Student Records in MA: http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr23.html

A collection of articles explaining how to utilize the power of prior written notice (PWN) requirements: http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/11/nl.0315.htm

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An article providing a model for use of the PWN power: http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/pwn.throw.flag.htm#letter

PWN blank copies: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/iep/eng_toc.htm