Negotiating For Special Education Rights
...wire, and the conversation seemingly can go no further, you can tell the IEP team that you will be submitting a formal request for a due process hearing, as you are convinced that Stefanie is in need of special education services that they are either unwilling to provide at all or to the fullest extent necessary. JoAnn, realize the power and options available to you and your daughter. Being firm on your BATNA will stem from truly grasping your own personal core terms. Terms are the fundamental beliefs and standards you base all action on; I assume a term for you includes giving your daughter the best the world has to offer, at any cost. But, please do realize, that the minute your BATNA is revealed and acted upon, you have officially put yourself in adversarial mode against the school district, and ultimately, Stefanie will have to wait longer for the proper educational assistance. Hopefully however, with the strategies I am about to give you, settling at your BATNA will be far from realistic. There are two realms of negotiation you can choose to enter: Distributive Bargaining and Integrative Bargaining. Distributive Bargaining requires dropping your positional anchor, digging you feet in, and remaining competitively unyielding. If the school’s available resources are like a pie of special education assistance, you and the school district will be fighting to grab as much as possible. There are indeed aspects of distributive bargaining that you may retain a tight grasp on. Stefanie is your world, and you have every right to maintain certain standards regarding the educational treatment she receives. However, I believe that integrative bargaining will prove more valuable and more advantageous to your goals. Integrative, or principle bargaining, takes this pie of available assistance for Stefanie and enlarges it. It allows for a joint search which avoids pure competitive measures and provides for a discussion lacking the obstructions of unfair tactics or intimidations. With this type of strategy, both you and the IEP team will be problem solving together, for a more effective “win-win” situation. Before we get into actual negotiation techniques, the bottom line rule prior to entering the IEP meeting is to, above all, be prepared. Preparation cannot be strongly enough advised and will never prove overrated. As Stefanie’s mother, you are in the position to be the most informed individual as to her exact needs and problems. Do not be afraid to question assessments or suggestions regarding the placement of your daughter. Make sure to have all the necessary documentation with you, and if necessary, have an expert with current statistics ready to accompany you. Create a list of all you problems and concerns regarding Stefanie’s education that you wish to have addressed. Outline these concerns and grievances and review them many times over to increase your comfort level, and be sure to eliminate any modifiers, adjectives, and four letter utterances. Include the pertinent facts that apply, as specifics will aid in your discussion more than a general working knowledge of past events. The proper organization of files, evaluation of records, theorizing, and presentation to the IEP team will, in essence, lay out Stefanie’s case. The handwriting on the will be that if the IEP team does not comply as they are mandated, and the case goes to litigation, this is what the school district will have to contend with. Exemplary preparation may renders threats and accusations completely unnecessary. An extremely important negotiation technique for you to conquer before the IEP is something called CPR. CPR stands for Context, Purpose, and Results; these three concepts create your focus and set the stage for you to walk into the IEP upon, with hopeful consistency throughout the negotiation’s duration. The context is your basic approach that will enable you to be grounded and constantly aware of the manner or stance you wish to outwardly portray. Remember during this meeting that you have been given much power as well as strong voice that is legislatively recognized. Knowledgeable and confident are two main sentiments to keep within your context. Your context will assist you in accomplishing a higher goal, known as the purpose. The purpose represents the utmost in what you wish to attain, and may be structured like the following: “I want for Stefanie to have the special education she requires, so that…” It is during this step that you must remain realistic concerning Stefanie’s bounds, and keep her true functioning levels in mind. The results you want to achieve here are the concrete objectives with which you hope to take away from the IEP. JoAnn, this aspect is two-fold for you, because although you want to prepare a list of results for any negotiation, objectively measured aims are crucial to a sufficient IEP. Earlier I spoke of integrative bargaining, which will help create fewer impasses within the IEP context. This type of negotiation has four basic component rules, which if you choose to utilize, will allow for a more efficient exchange of information between yourself and the IEP team. First, be hard on the problem, and soft on the people. Though you may be frustrated with the people with you in the IEP conference room with you, try and remember that you are all there for a common goal. In fact, bring in an 8x10 photograph of Stefanie and place it on the table; the picture will serve as a helpful reminder that everyone in the negotiation is there for the best interest of but one individual. Being soft on the people allows for a more calm and objective outlook, and cooperatively honest approaches to the issues will be encouraged. It is important to steer clear of leading or loaded questions that may be viewed as a personal attack; impasse may result when a member of the team feels offended and becomes aggressive. Do not walk into an IEP meeting, look at a teacher, and accuse them of educational incompetence in front of their administrator and expect them to agree with you. Keep in mind to focus on Stefanie’s needs, not on unrealistic expectations of either you or the school district’s. Because you will not be focusing your emotions on how you feel about the others in the room with you, perception will become more accurate, clearer communications will be established, and more appropriate passions will be elicited. Second, focus on the interests at hand rather than the perception being taken. JoAnn, try to understand why Stefanie’s teachers have their personal perspectives about which education path your daughter should be placed. This is called “going below the line” of mere positions taken on the issue. In your discussions, truly attempt to understand the daily interaction each member of the IEP team has with Stefanie. Just as you rightfully ignore suggestions by others whom have no idea what the realities of living with your child are, this team will ignore you unless you understand the realities of what they do on everyday. During this discussion, an effective way to learn about the people that spend the most time with Stefanie second only to you, is to use what is called the question funnel. Starting with broad, open-ended questions, this line of questioning will allow the IEP team to share with you a great deal of information. Limiting the possible responses to your questions to mere “yes” or “no” replies will leave you with an answer, but nowhere closer to an actual solution. For example, before asking if Stefanie can be afforded a one-on-one aide, inquire as to what type of support the school district has been able to offer in the past. Because everything you address will rightfully be focused on Stefanie, it may be difficult to find a completely open question. The next step is to perhaps move to a more narrowed, quasi-closed question; an example of this type would be, “How do you believe things are going in class with Stefanie?” When this has been done, reframe the dialogue and remind the committee of the problems that have been identified. Using the terms, “Let’s review…” or “As I understand it…” will help reiterate the points that you have gone over. With the answers to these questions in mind, entertain the priorities of the IEP team, and while maintaining concrete goals, remember flexibility will open more doors for everyone. Third, brainstorm options that create potential for mutual gain. During this process, b a bit more willing to concede certain points, in an order to discover as many alternatives as possible for Stefanie’s placements. Try to let go of any resentment that you may have if a particular suggestion of yours is merely an idea which jump starts the group down several different paths of choices. Under no circumstances should you be afraid to propose any number of ideas that you believe may help your daughter achieve the highest of accomplishments. When the team appears frustrated with the underlying reasons why Stefanie acts in a particular way, suggest that you both you and the team create a log to monitor a pattern of triggering actions, predictors, or re-inforcers for her behavior. Just as you feel that your voice should be heard, so does the entire IEP team; further, when people in a group have all contributed to the generation of solutions, they will feel more bound and committed to them. Finally, evaluate potential solutions based on objective criteria. When you have reached this point of the negotiation, be sure to focus...