You Belong at This Table: The Complete IEP Companion for Special Needs Parents from First Evaluation to Future Planning

Everything you wish someone had told you before your child's first IEP meeting.

IEP meetings are routine for the school. They are anything but routine for you. And yet most parents walk into that room without knowing who's required to be there, what the terms mean, what they have the right to ask, or what to do when something goes wrong.

You Belong at This Table: The Complete IEP Companion for Special Needs Parents from First Evaluation to Future Planning was written by Jaunanisa Jordan — a mother with over twenty-one years of lived experience at the IEP table. She has never missed a meeting. She has stopped meetings that weren't going the right direction. She has requested files, challenged decisions, and advocated her way through a system that doesn't always make room for parents.

This companion was written so you don't have to figure it out alone.

Inside you'll find:

• How to request an initial evaluation and what happens after you do
• The difference between a 504 Plan and an IEP — and which one your child actually needs
• A complete glossary of IEP terms explained in plain language
• Who is required to be at every IEP meeting and what each person's role is
• The questions to ask before, during, and after every meeting
• How to disagree respectfully — and when to stop a meeting entirely
• How to read progress reports and use them to inform annual goals
• What to do when the school doesn't follow through
• Your formal options: mediation, state complaints, and due process explained clearly
• Four prayers — one for each stage of this journey — for the parent who needs more than strategy
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This is not just an IEP guide. It is a companion for the whole journey — from the first evaluation to transition planning, from the parking lot before the meeting to the car ride home afterward.

You belong at this table. This book will help you believe it.

Rooted in Faith. Empowered with Support. Growing Together.

rootedandempowered.org

Format: Instant download PDF