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You?re grappling with the emotions of discovering your kid has a learning disability and suddenly find yourself trying to decode the foreign language of IEPs. You might also worry that your school isn?t doing enough, or doing the right things, for your child. But your experience can be influenced by how you present yourself and your kid?s needs. Here?s some encouragement from the experts.
1. Get to know the system and work with it

When I learned that a potentially beneficial reading program wasn?t available at my daughter?s school, my instinct was to march into a meeting and demand it be offered. But a special-education specialist working for the school board advised me to ask: ?What do you have"? rather than insisting this other program was what my kid needed. ?I?ve watched parents take both routes?some go in yelling, while others work with the system,? says André Deschênes, executive director of the Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick. With 35 years? experience behind him (he worked as a methods and resource teacher for 20 years), he says the key is to do your research so you?re getting as much as you can out of the existing system. ?Don?t go into meetings ignorant,? Deschênes says. Use the online workshops available through learning-disability associations, get to know common terminology from the education ministry?s website, and find out what rights and options your kid has.
2. Don?t play the blame game

?Most teachers know?and wi...