Special Ed Advocacy: Nine Rules of Thumb

Rule six

Rule Six: Document Everything and Keep All Documents
You should document every important communication or event. This means:

1. Follow up an important conversation or meeting with a letter saying, for example: "Thank you for talking/meeting with me today about my son/daughter's needs. I understand you have agreed to [whatever] by [date]. Please let me know right away if my understanding is not accurate."

2. Keep a log (a spiral notebook works well) of all telephone and face-to-face conversations and other key events that say something about your child's needs or service/program options or demonstrate something about the school's response to those needs.

3. Take excellent notes at any key meeting, particularly at TEAM meetings. It is best to have someone with you whose only job is to do this so that neither you nor anyone who needs to play an active role at the meeting will be distracted by having to take notes. Meetings can be tape-recorded, but with the difficulty of transcribing tapes, notes are usually the best record.

4. Be sure that you have everything the school system has. Periodically examine your child's student records kept by the school system and obtain copies of any documents you don't already have.

5. Keep all documents in chronological order. Don't write notes on them, since they may be used as exhibits at a due process hearing someday. Use stick-on notes if you want to highlight something.