EPIC IEP

On Monday we shared the email to send your child's new teacher. Before you send it, do this first.

Read your child's IEP goals. In plain language. So when you write that you know their strengths and what helps in the classroom, you're speaking from specific knowledge, not a general feeling.

This is what an IEP goal looks like:
❌ 'Student will produce grammatically correct complex sentences with embedded clauses in structured language tasks with 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive data sessions.'

This is what EPIC IEP translates it to:
✅ 'Your child is working on using longer, more complex sentences when they speak or write, like combining two ideas into one sentence. The goal is for them to do this correctly 8 out of 10 times, three sessions in a row.'

Same goal. Same child. Completely different experience for the parent writing that email.

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What part of your child's IEP have you never fully understood?

New Jersey IEP families, a new law changed your rights as of July 1.

P.L. 2025, c.107 is now in effect for the 2026–27 school year. At least two business days before your child's annual review IEP meeting, your district is now required to send you, by mail AND email, four specific things:

What will be discussed at the meeting

Your child's current present levels of academic and functional performance

A list of any team members who have been requested to be excused from the meeting, along with their input

An invitation for YOU to provide feedback on proposed programs and services before the meeting

This means you have the right to review and respond BEFORE you walk into the room.

If your annual review is coming up and you haven't received these four things at least two business days before, you can ask your district about it.

Source: NJDOE Guidance, August 2025

Are you in New Jersey? Did you know about this change?

IEP or 504 plan, what's the difference? Most parents don't know until they're already in a meeting about it.

IEP (Individualized Education Program)
→ Governed by IDEA (federal special education law)
→ For students who need SPECIALIZED INSTRUCTION to access education
→ Includes specific goals, services, and supports written into a legal document
→ Requires annual review and regular progress reporting

504 Plan
→ Governed by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (civil rights law)
→ For students who need ACCOMMODATIONS to access the same education as peers
→ No specialized instruction required, removing barriers like extra time, different seating
→ Less formal process, fewer federal requirements

KEY DIFFERENCE: An IEP changes HOW the student is taught. A 504 changes the CONDITIONS under which they learn.

Save this. Share it with a parent who's about to walk into their first meeting.

Does your child have an IEP, a 504, or both?

Nearly 60% of special education teachers used AI to help write an IEP or 504 plan last year.

That statistic comes from a new K-12 Dive report, and it raises a question every IEP parent and educator should be asking: who reviewed it?

The concern isn't AI itself. It's that an IEP generated with limited student-specific input and insufficient human review may not actually meet the federal requirement for an individualized plan. And entering your child's personal information into a general-purpose AI tool is a privacy risk that about 12 states now explicitly warn against.

The fix isn't banning AI. It's districts writing clear guidelines, what's allowed, what data stays out of the tool, and what human review looks like, before the school year starts, not after a complaint.

As an IEP parent, you have the right to ask: was this IEP written with my child specifically in mind? That question is always worth asking.

How do you feel about AI being used to help write IEPs?

Sources: K-12 Dive • Ed Week

IEP parent vocabulary that other school parents just don't understand

PLAAFP — 'Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance.' Also known as, the first 8 pages you skip because you don't know what they mean.

LRE — 'Least Restrictive Environment.' Not a vibe. An actual legal requirement.

Prior Written Notice — 'A document the school must give you before changing anything in the IEP.' Also known as: the thing you've never received.

Annual Review — 'The meeting you spend 3 weeks preparing for and 45 minutes getting through while nodding at things you don't fully understand.'

Procedural Safeguards — 'A 40-page document about your rights given to you once a year.' Also known as: filed directly in the binder you haven't opened.

EPIC IEP translates all of this. Plain language. Free.

Which term did YOU have to Google first?

New York City just invested $67.5 million in preschool special education.

City officials are opening preschool special education programs in every borough, targeting children with IEPs earlier, before needs escalate in elementary school. The goal: catch what's there early instead of playing catch-up for years.

It's the right instinct. Early intervention is the highest-leverage moment in a child's IEP journey. The earlier support begins, the better the outcomes, and the less intensive the services need to be later on.

As federal resources shift, cities and states are stepping in. This is one of the largest city-level commitments to preschool special education in years.

Did early intervention make a difference for your child?

Source: Spectrum News NY1, July 28, 2026

Most IEP parents never send this email. The ones who do say it changes the whole year.

Here's a real example of what it looks like:

Subject: About Emma, IEP Overview

Hi Ms. Johnson,

My name is Sarah and I'm Emma's mom. She's joining your class this year and has an active IEP. I wanted to reach out before we meet formally so you have a sense of her beyond what her IEP shares.

Emma does really well when instructions are given both verbally and in writing, she has the ideas, getting them to paper takes more effort than it looks from the outside. She does her best thinking when she has a few extra seconds to process before she's expected to respond. She loves science, she's genuinely funny, and she works really hard.

The IEP captures the academic picture. I wanted you to have the human one.

I'm an engaged parent and I want us to be a team this year. Please reach out any time, I respond quickly.

Thank you for what you do.

Sarah

Read it. Adapt it to your child. Send something like it this week.

Save this and send something like it this week. Has your child's teacher ever reached out to YOU first about the IEP?

Big news in special education funding, and it matters whether you're a parent or an educator.

On July 9, California Governor Newsom signed AB 126, increasing special education funding by 43% and raising the per-student rate to $1,340. The investment covers reading specialists, behavioral health aides, one-on-one support staff, inclusive practice grants, and alternative diploma pathways.

As federal resources shift, states and cities are stepping in with their own commitments to IEP students. California's move is one of the most significant state-level special education investments in years.

For IEP families in other states: this is the kind of investment that changes what 'appropriate' support actually looks like in practice.

What would extra special education funding change most for your child or your school? 👇

Source: Governor Newsom's office, July 9, 2026

Print this. Bring it to your child's first IEP meeting of the year.

5 questions to ask at your back-to-school IEP meeting:

1. 'Have all staff working with my child read the current IEP?'
2. 'Are there any goals from last year we didn't make progress on, and why?'
3. 'Are the accommodations in this document the same ones actually happening in the classroom?'
4. 'What does a successful first semester look like for my child specifically?'
5. 'When and how will I hear from you if something isn't working before the next review?'

These questions don't require you to know the law. They require you to know your child, and you already do.

Save this. Share it. Someone needs it today.

This is what's in your child's IEP:

Student will increase expressive vocabulary to use 200+ words spontaneously during structured communication tasks with 80% accuracy across 4 consecutive sessions as measured by speech-language pathologist data.

This is what it means:

Your child is working on using more words when they talk, building up to using 200 or more different words during activities where talking is encouraged. The speech therapist will track this, and the goal is for your child to do this correctly 8 out of 10 times, four sessions in a row.'

Same goal. Same child. Completely different experience for the parent in that meeting.

What part of your child's IEP has been hardest to understand?