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
Parents Notice of Procedural Safeguards: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/prb/pnps.pdf
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
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
Student Records Request Sample Letter: https://massadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/sample-records-request.docx
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
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