How to get the extra help your child needs

Registering a child for school usually means showing up with a birth certificate, proof of residence and basic medical records. Five minutes, and you’re done.

But for kids who need special education, whether they have an attention disorder, fine motor delays or a more serious medical condition, that process is much more complicated and can begin as early as age 2. Something as simple as advancing to a new grade can mean an army of specialists performing hours of tests and parent interviews in the preceding months.

That all culminates in long, sometimes contentious meetings to hammer out an individualized education plan. The IEP determines such factors as classroom placement, the number of minutes per week a child spends with a speech therapist and whether a child will get extra time on assignments. It can also address extracurricular activities.

via How to get the extra help your child needs.