by Alison Stone | Jun 4, 2026 | Advocacy
The Arizona Department of Education is rolling out a standardized IEP template across school districts statewide as part of a multi-year effort to improve consistency and quality of special education programs. Until now, every Arizona district has used its own IEP...
by Alison Stone | Jun 4, 2026 | Advocacy
Summer is the quietest stretch of the special education year, and the most valuable. Between the end-of-year IEP and the back-to-school season, you have eight to ten weeks where the school is largely off the clock, your child is not in the daily grind of school, and...
by Alison Stone | May 11, 2026 | Advocacy
You already know that the first few weeks of a school year set the tone. If your child’s IEP is being implemented from day one, with the right supports in place and a team that understands the plan, the year starts from a position of strength. If there is...
by Alison Stone | May 11, 2026 | Advocacy
The anger comes through even in the emails I get from parents about this. “The school said my child’s IEP was no longer needed and offered a 504 plan instead. They made it sound like a step forward. Now I realize we lost services.” Or the opposite:...
by Alison Stone | May 10, 2026 | Advocacy
Your child has a disability. The school is trying to suspend or expel them, or is threatening a change of placement, because of a behavioral incident. And you have been told there will be something called a “manifestation determination review.” You have...
by Alison Stone | May 10, 2026 | Advocacy
If your child with a disability is entering middle school or approaching high school, and the transition conversation hasn’t started yet, you are not behind, but you are about to be unless you act now. I have worked with families whose children arrived at 18...
