{"id":8706,"date":"2013-09-12T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=8706"},"modified":"2015-06-09T09:20:11","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:20:11","slug":"paper-trails-your-word-against-theirs-not-a-good-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/paper-trails-your-word-against-theirs-not-a-good-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper Trails: Your Word Against Theirs &#8211; Not a Good Position!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Paper%20Trails%3A%20Your%20Word%20Against%20Theirs%20-%20Not%20a%20Good%20Position%21\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>A parent writes,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/bs\/mtg.difficult.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"120\" \/><em>The IEP has been ongoing for a year now. There have been endless problems:\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8211; IEP is still unsigned<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8211; procedural errors by the team<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8211; no response to requested evaluation<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8211; reevaluation committee met, the teacher was not there<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8211; two new people attended the meeting, neither knew my child<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>How can I explain what&#8217;s happening?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Many parents don&#8217;t realize that it&#8217;s essential to create a paper trail of all contacts with school personnel. We repeat this often, but will happily share the links to information and articles again.<\/p>\n<p>If you <strong>don&#8217;t<\/strong> create a paper trail, the school <strong>won&#8217;t<\/strong> fix the problem.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just your word against theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Not a good position to be in.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Put it in Writing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your issues and concerns have not happened suddenly.<!--more-->\u00a0 Problems have occurred throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Do you have letters that you&#8217;ve written over the last year that document the problems you&#8217;ve encountered?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You say you requested evaluations for your child.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Did you write a letter requesting an evaluation?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have you documented your efforts to get an appropriate IEP for a year?<\/li>\n<li>Have you documented who attended meetings? Who did not?<\/li>\n<li>Have you documented the fact that your son&#8217;s teacher did not attend the last meeting?<\/li>\n<li>Did you explain there were people attending who did not know your child?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Learn to write things down, <em>when they happen<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Note your concerns and the school&#8217;s response (or lack of response) to your concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Ask the school to confirm your understanding of the issues &#8211; problems, concerns, proposed solutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Learn How to Create a Paper Trail<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/feta2.sm.store.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; float: right;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/feta2\/feta2.100.sm.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"119\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/feta2.sm.store.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2d Edition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Chapters 22 &#8211; 24<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/lite-scripts\/sb\/order.cgi?storeid=*20aac74c4c1e675145f41900744786a5ab5d&amp;dbname=products&amp;itemnum=72&amp;function=add\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/buy.now.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"95\" height=\"22\" \/><\/a>Print Book &amp; PDF<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/lite-scripts\/sb\/order.cgi?storeid=*221d5cbaf9c4ad79b40b611400d7857c4f5454&amp;dbname=products&amp;itemnum=7&amp;function=add\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/buy.now.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"95\" height=\"22\" \/><\/a>Print Book<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/lite-scripts\/sb\/order.cgi?storeid=*240402f914cc34a5a3ecb551f0af7814754c057f&amp;dbname=products&amp;itemnum=81&amp;function=add\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/buy.now.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"95\" height=\"22\" \/><\/a>Kindle Edition (mobi)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/lite-scripts\/sb\/order.cgi?storeid=*24da5d2934c7e4274408b651f0af7814754c0533&amp;dbname=products&amp;itemnum=84&amp;function=add\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/buy.now.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"95\" height=\"22\" \/><\/a>E-Pub Edition<\/p>\n<p>If you can produce a letter that describes what the school agreed to do, failed to do, or refused to do &#8211; your position will be stronger.<\/p>\n<p>If you need help writing letters, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/nltr\/11\/ss.short.course.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Create a paper trail by documenting contacts with the school &#8211; conversations, meetings, and other events.<\/p>\n<p>You can do this easily using low-tech tools like logs, journals, and calendars. To find out how, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/advo.create.trails.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Please go to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/ltrs.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Letter Writing,\u00a0 Paper Trails, &amp; Documentation<\/span> <\/a>page.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll find sample letters, and much more here: <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/ltrs.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/ltrs.index.htm<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A parent writes, The IEP has been ongoing for a year now. There have been endless problems:\u00a0 &#8211; IEP is still unsigned &#8211; procedural errors by the team &#8211; no <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/paper-trails-your-word-against-theirs-not-a-good-position\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,529,1376,136],"tags":[1303,560,273,153,201,1088],"class_list":["post-8706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters","category-parent-rights-responsibilities","category-parent-school-disagreement-disputes","category-strategies","tag-documentation","tag-letter-writing","tag-paper-trails","tag-parent-involvement","tag-parent-participation","tag-parent-school-relationships"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8706"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12871,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8706\/revisions\/12871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}