Your IEP Head Start: 5 Things to Do in July

Back-to-school displays are starting to crowd the store aisles, and if you're the parent of a child with an IEP, that's your cue! The biggest difference between a smooth fall and a stressful one usually comes down to what happened in July, when the district is quiet and you actually have time. Here are the five things that matter most to get the year started right:

1. Reread Last Year's Plan — With Data in Hand

Pull last year's report cards and progress reports and read the IEP against them. Is the PLAAFP (present levels statement) still accurate? Were goals actually met — not just checked “progressing,” but backed by quarterly data? Were services delivered as written? Are accommodations specific enough to really happen? (“Time-and-a-half on tests” gets implemented; “extra time” often depends on the student asking for it.) If you're not sure services were delivered, request the service logs. You have the right to inspect them.

When it's appropriate, ask your child directly if they received their service and accommodations. Ask them to talk about what truly helped and what didn’t. Kids are often the most accurate reporters, and this is a safe way for them to start self-advocating.

2. Build One Home for All Your Documentation

Start or update a single folder — physical or digital — containing:

•      The current plan and the prior one, for comparing goal language year over year

•      The most recent evaluation, report cards, and any outside evaluations

•      Prior Written Notice (PWN) documents and last year's email correspondence

•      Behavior data or incident reports, if applicable

Tip: start digital filenames with the date in YYYYMMDD format, and everything sorts itself chronologically.

3. Diagnose What Didn't Work

Every unmet or partially met goal falls into one of two categories, and the category determines your ask in the fall. A design failure means the goal was wrong from the start — the fix is a rewritten goal with accurate baseline data and appropriate services that support meeting that goal. An implementation failure means the plan was reasonable, but the support was not delivered — the fix is accountability and possibly compensatory services. Walking into a meeting knowing which one you're dealing with turns a general complaint into a specific ask that's much harder for administration to deflect.

4. Choose One or Two Priorities and Write Them Like Goals

You can't fight every battle, and trying usually backfires. Pick the one or two things that matter most right now, and write each one the way you'd want a goal written: specific, measurable, and tied to a timeline. “More support in math” invites a vague response; “weekly progress data on the word-problem goal, shared every Friday” does not.

5. Draft — Don't Send Yet — an “About My Child” One-Pager

If your child has a new teacher, case manager, or school, July is the time to draft a simple, one-page introduction: two or three specific strengths in action, the handful of accommodations that actually move the needle, what escalation looks like before it peaks and what specifically de-escalates it, and what to avoid entirely. In the first weeks of school, this page can do more than the full IEP alone.

The Bottom Line

You don't need everything figured out by August 1st. But spending July reviewing the data, organizing your records, and writing your priorities the way you'd want them written means you'll walk into the new school year with a specific plan and not a general worry.

Not sure where your child's plan stands, or what your next move should be? That's exactly what an advocate can help you sort through. Reach out!