Hundreds of Northern California parents of children with disabilities have express shared stress in the process for obtaining Individual Education Plans or IEP’s.
Comments on the ABC 10 Facebook page came following a post about New York mother, Dena Blizzard, who broke down crying in a parking lot of the stresses of going through the IEP process —The individual education plans developed by school districts to help students with special needs.
Learn more about IEP's by clicking here.
The process doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be stressful, said Cid Van Koersel with the WarmLine Family Resource Center in Sacramento, California.
“My son 28. He has disabilities. Everyone who works here is a family member of a child with a disability,” Koersel said. “And we get, we get the stress.”
The non-profit center helps families with children who have disabilities in 26 counties in Northern California navigate to trainings, support groups, and education resources.
Parents often don’t feel heard, which can be quite frustrating, Koersel says.
It’s important for parents to know their rights under the law and the steps required to obtain an IEP.
For more information visit the WarmLine Family Resource Center by clicking here.