clickable chart on educating children with disabilities - navigating the maze 

Administrative Procedures

State and federal agencies expect you to make a serious effort to resolve differences at a lower level before they become involved. You should try to resolve your differences first with school and then with school district officials. Keep good records and notes of all conversations, meetings, and correspondence. Having an advocate who knows the law will help you to be taken seriously by school and district officials. When you get to administrative proceedings, be careful to frame your complaints or arguments under the correct legal standards, and include relevant information, but not a lot of extraneous information. Although the agencies do try to be receptive to pro se filings (where you do it yourself), expressing the law or the facts incorrectly may cause you to lose, and the ruling against you may be binding in other proceedings.

clickable chart on educating children with disabilities