[Excerpt]
"If trust is born in strong relationships, then first encounters are critical. Parents of students with disabilities undergo a great deal of stress and come to us--the educational professionals--for help with vital specialized tasks, including assessment, placement, progress monitoring, and maintenance of their child's ongoing needs.
Often, parents arrive at our school door-steps with apprehension. Some parents are seeking a cure. Some don't believe their child has a disability. Some parents are angry with themselves or even the system itself and look to us for answers.
Special education is a framework where the very foundation is built on adversarial relations--where parents hire attorneys and advocates to fight against districts. We need to lead the way in changing this culture and move from conflict to collaboration.
Collaboration between schools and parents is the foremost approach to accurate educational planning and rests primarily on two principles of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: parent participation and procedural due process. IDEA requires parents to be included in the educational process."