With the school year having come to a close, now is a good time to take stock of what worked or what didn’t for the past school year.
THE QUESTIONS
• Did your child feel supported or frustrated at school?
• Did your student show progress in reading, writing, math, or another subject at school?
• Were accommodations like audiobooks or extra time on tests consistently provided?
• Was there a significant gap between what was promised in an IEP or 504 and what your child received?
See if you can get any input from others, like last year’s teacher or a tutor or other specialist.
THE CHALLENGES
There can be many reasons why some IEP plans fail. Many students may not have had comprehensive testing, so the sources of challenges and strength areas may be unknown. Educational goals may lack specificity, and plans may be inconsistently applied across many school subjects and teachers.
It’s also possible that some classes will have many students on IEP-s, making it essentially impossible to keep all the specific needs of all students in mind when assigning activities or considering subject-level accommodations.
Communication may also break down between team members – especially at the higher grades when students have multiple teachers.
LOOKING AHEAD
The upcoming school year may be unpredictable for some districts because of budget losses and changes due to the newly pass OBBBA or One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• Review your student’s plan now and don’t wait until the fall.
• Check in with your Decoding Dyslexia group to see how funding shifts may affect IEP services or dyslexia-specific programs.
• Look for a copy of your state’s Dyslexia Handbook if your state has one – and learn about your state’s resources for students with dyslexia. Usually you can find more information and programs and accommodations.
• If your students struggled last year and failed to meet progress, gather up resources, review your student’s intervention logs, progress reports, and emails as well as notes from meetings, and consider requesting an IEP meeting now, before the school year begins.
Sample script for a request:
“Given the many changes in the district this year, I wanted to connect early to ensure (student name) continues to receive the support required in their IEP.Could we schedule a brief meeting or call before school starts?”
HOW WILL OBBBA AFFECT MY SCHOOL?
You may be able to find out the big picture of your school district by searching online for “OBBBA impact and (state or school district)”. When I searched our home district, I could not find specific information, but a search for our state said that Washington state is facing a projected $10-12 billion shortfall over the next 4 years.
It also added that Washington has underfunded special education, forcing districts to use local levy dollars to close the gap. Brave search added, “The cumulative effect of these cuts could include larger class sizes, reduced access to specialized services, and fewer resources of special education teachers.”
If you can’t seem to find specific information about your school district, try reaching out to your school principal or special education director. You could ask, “Do you think there will be cuts or changes to special education or literacy programs?”
But the OBBBA provisions also support some non-public school support that including specialized curricula and tutoring, but the soonest it would take effect would be January 1, 2027, so not this upcoming school year, but half of the next.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If your student isn’t formally on a IEP or 504 yet, then request an assessment in writing.
Support your request with for an assessment. To get an IEP, you need to have 1 of 13 disability categories. The most common category is specific learning disability (35%). Students with ADHD or dyspraxia can qualify under “Other Health Impairment” or OHI. Students with a 504 qualify with a disability impacting one or more major life activities like reading, writing, or attention.
IEPs can be helpful when pull out reading remediation is necessary; 504s are often chosen when mainly accommodations like extra time or an option to keyboard or option to use other assistive technology are needed.
If your dyslexic student has been formally identified, then look to make sure that the support plan is airtight. This is especially important before services are cut or diluted.
Some schools have IEP teams that meet over the summer. Some may not have the funds to do this, but still others may call team members together if a new student is transitioning to the school or another needs a change in services. Dyslexia IEPs
Especially if your student is struggling to decode, try to ensure that some mention of “dyslexia-specific” or “specially designed instruction” is in the plan instead of “general RTI” or general terms like “tiered” support. Many schools may suggest that RTI be tried first, but RTI should not be used to delay evaluation under the IDEA.
Dyslexia-specific reading intervention implies reading instruction that is structured, systematic, and explicit. It includes phonology, sound-symbol association, syllables, morphology, semantics, syntax, and orthography (for more on this, visit here.
Because the OBBBA scholarships won’t begin until 2027, ask your school whether any “high impact tutoring” may be available for your student in2025-2026. You can also ask if tutors receive any dyslexia-specific training or are available outside of school hours.
If your student’s tutoring was critical to showing progress in reading, it can be considered a required service through an IEP.
To learn about possible tax deductions for special education check here.
If your student is not on an IEP or 504, you may be wondering if payment for tutoring can be deducted on your taxes – check with your tax professional and also refer to the 502 publication from the IRS, especially the section on Special Education.
