What to Do When Your Child's IEP Is Not Being Followed

You sat through the meeting, the team agreed on services and supports, and the IEP was finalized. Then a few weeks go by and something doesn't add up. Your child mentions that the reading group "only happens sometimes." A test comes home with no sign of the extra time. If you think your child's IEP is not being followed, you don't have to choose between saying nothing and starting a fight. There is a calm order to do things in, and many problems are solved in the first two or three steps.

Before you raise anything, open the IEP and find the exact line. What matters is the wording on the page, not what you remember from the meeting.

For a service, look for how much, how often, where, and who: "30 minutes, 4 times a week, in the resource room, with the reading specialist." For an accommodation, look for when it applies: "extended time on tests and quizzes in all classes."

Federal rules say special education and related services must be made available "in accordance with the child's IEP" (34 CFR 300.323). That makes the written IEP the yardstick. If the line you find is vague, such as "as needed" or "access to," the first question to ask may be how that wording is supposed to work day to day, not whether it is being ignored.

You are not in the building, so you will rarely know for certain from one source. You can get a fair picture from four, used together.

• Your child. Ask something small and specific: "Did you work with Mr. Okafor today? What did you do?" Treat the answer as a signal, not proof. Young children lose track of days, and older ones may not mention a support they find embarrassing.
• What comes home. Tests, worksheets and schedules often show whether an accommodation was used. A timed quiz with the last third blank says something.
• The teacher or provider. One friendly question usually tells you more, and faster, than any record.
• The school's own records. Attendance for services, session notes, and service logs, where the school keeps them.

One missed session is not a broken IEP. Children are absent, providers are out sick, and there are field trips and testing weeks. What matters is a pattern, so give it two or three weeks of noticing before you decide there is one.

Start with the person closest to it, usually the teacher, the provider, or the case manager. Keep it short, specific, and in writing, so there is a date on it. Something like this is enough:

Notice what that message leaves out. It does not say the school is violating anything. It asks what is happening and gives the school room to answer. Often the reply explains it (a schedule change, a provider covering another building) and the fix follows without anything more.

If you talk by phone or in the hallway instead, send two lines afterward: "Thanks for talking with me today. My understanding is that... Please let me know if I have that wrong." That gives you a dated note of what you understood. It is not an agreement, but it is far more reliable than memory.

When the answer is vague, or your child's account and the school's don't match, numbers settle it. Ask to see the school's record of the service for a set period: the date and length of each session.

You have a federal right to inspect and review your child's education records. The school has to comply without unnecessary delay, before any IEP meeting, and in no case more than 45 days after you ask (34 CFR 300.613). Two limits are worth knowing. Federal rules do not require schools to keep a log of every session, although many do. And the right is to see the records; the school does not always have to hand over copies. If you are told no log exists, ask how the school tracks whether the service was delivered.

Then put the two numbers side by side: sessions the IEP calls for, and sessions delivered. "From November 9 to December 18 the log shows 10 of 22 sessions" is a sentence a school can act on. "She never gets her services" is not.

Accommodations tend to slip in one classroom at a time, usually after a schedule change or with a new teacher who was never told. Federal rules put that on the school: each teacher and provider must be informed of the specific accommodations, modifications and supports they are responsible for (34 CFR 300.323(d)).

So write to that teacher, copy the case manager, and be exact: which accommodation, in the IEP's words; which class; since about when; and one example. Many of these are fixed quickly once the teacher knows.

If sessions were missed, ask two questions together: when will the service be back to what the IEP says, and how will the missed time be made up?

It helps to know where you stand here. There is no automatic federal right to a make-up session for every one that was missed. Informal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education says that whether an interruption in services denies a child an appropriate education is decided case by case (Letter to Clarke, 2007). A school can agree to a make-up plan, and a clear count makes that conversation much easier. If the school agrees, get the plan in writing: how many minutes, how often, starting when, and provided by whom.

Move up one step at a time, and stay on the lowest step that works.

1. Follow up, and add one person. Reply on the same email thread about a week later, and copy the principal. If that goes unanswered, write to the district's special education office.
2. Ask the team to meet. You can ask for an IEP meeting at any time. Say what you want to discuss and bring your count. Federal rules don't set a deadline for the school to answer that request, but some states do. Our guide to requesting an IEP meeting has a sample letter, and the IEP Meeting Checklist covers how to get ready.
3. Ask for the decision in writing. If the school refuses to change your child's services or placement, it owes you a written notice explaining what it refused and why (34 CFR 300.503). That applies to decisions of that kind, not to every "no," so ask plainly: "Could I have that decision and the reasons in writing?" Our guide to prior written notice shows what that notice has to include.
4. Call your state's parent center. Every state has a federally funded Parent Training and Information Center. Its help is free, and it knows your state's rules and forms. You can find yours here.
5. Consider a formal option. A state complaint is a written, signed statement to your state education agency that the school has not followed a requirement of the law. It has to be about something that happened within the past year, and the state must issue a written decision, generally within 60 days. If the state finds services were not provided, it has to address that, which can include make-up services (34 CFR 300.151). Mediation and a due process complaint are the other two routes. Our guide to IEP parent rights explains how the three differ.

Whatever step you are on, write things down as they happen: the date, what happened, and what you have that shows it. An email, a service log, a quiz that came home, a note you made the same day. You don't need a binder. A single page with dates in order is enough, and it is one of the most useful things you can bring to a meeting, a parent center, or anyone else you ask for help. If the issue came out of a meeting, your meeting notes are the first entry. And when a progress report arrives, our guide to reading an IEP progress report shows how to check whether your child is on pace.

If you would rather not build that system yourself, the IEP Follow-Through System is our paid workbook for the year between meetings. It has one-page ledgers for what the IEP promises, a 15-minute monthly check, a session log, and 17 short letters for the situations above. It is optional. Everything in this article works with a notebook and your email.

This is general information for parents, not legal advice about your situation. It describes the federal rules in plain language and leaves out a great deal, including discipline, private placements, and how each state runs its complaint process. If the problem is serious, has gone on for months, or involves your child's safety, talk to your state's parent center, an advocate, or a special education attorney sooner rather than later.