Highlighter's
Special Education Blog

I have a 14 year old who has had an IEP since kindergarten. By now, special education is not something new or dramatic in our house. It is part of the background of our lives. Meetings. Plans. Accommodations that are supposed to smooth the rough edges of school so she can actually show what she knows. Lately, though, something has shifted. At the beginning of this school year, I asked for an IEP meeting. My daughter was starting an AP class, and I could feel the stakes rising

I've said it before - I'm tired.   But not just from the meetings, the paperwork, the emails. I'm tired of walking into rooms where I am expected to trust a process I am not allowed to verify. The Meeting That Broke Something in Me It was a routine IEP review. Fifteen minutes in, the case manager said my daughter was "making great progress" on her reading goals. I asked what that meant. What was her baseline? What is she at now? Silence. Then: "Well, she's engaging more with

A mother in Ohio told me she waited months for her son’s evaluation results, even though the law says it should take far less time. A father in Maryland shared that his district kept asking for "more time" because they were behind on paperwork. A family in Texas said they had to follow up six times before anyone confirmed their child’s services would start. In the past year, I have spoken with families across the country who describe the same troubling pattern: not confusion

In 1975, a seven-year-old boy in Pennsylvania watched other children walk into the public school across the street. He had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair. Even though he lived closer to the building than almost any other student, his school district said he did not belong there. He was one of more than a million children with disabilities who were denied access to public education. Before the federal special education law, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities

Parents of children with disabilities know this moment well. You open an IEP progress report hoping to understand how your child is really doing. You read the same line you’ve seen for years: “making adequate progress toward goals.” But at home, reading is still a struggle. Writing still takes forever. Tasks that should be getting easier still feel impossible. That mismatch is not in your head. And it has a name: false IEP growth . A new 10-year report from Be A Learning Her

How It All Began A few months ago, I met a mom who reminded me why we built Highlighter in the first place. We were talking over a video call — she was sitting at her kitchen table with papers spread out everywhere — and she told me she felt like she was failing her daughter. Not because she didn’t care. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get a clear picture of what was really happening at school. The reports all said her child was “making progress,” but every tim

Federal oversight is the backbone of accountability in special education. Under the IDEA, the U.S. Department of Education is responsible for making sure states identify, evaluate, and serve students with disabilities fairly. But recent reports of federal layoffs and funding cuts in special education oversight have raised alarm among advocates who remember what happens when those guardrails fail.

For parents raising kids with disabilities, passive support often isn’t enough. These families are navigating broken systems, inaccessible spaces, and invisible assumptions every single day. What they need isn’t just agreement. They need people willing to use their power—however big or small—to shift the weight.

Here’s a tough question for every parent navigating special education:  is your child’s IEP helping them soar — or quietly clipping their...

Outrage travels fast. A Supreme Court ruling, a budget cut, a political fight—these are the stories that light up feeds and get read five...

When Mrs. Rivera walked into her daughter Sofia’s IEP meeting, she was the only family member at the table. Across from her sat five...

Last week’s Supreme Court decision shook us deeply. At Highlighter, we are parents first—and like so many of you, we know what it feels...

The first weeks of school set the tone for everything that follows. For students with IEPs, that tone matters even more. New teachers, new schedules, sometimes even a new school—big changes can shake up routines that kids with disabilities rely on. That’s why a back-to-school IEP meeting is one of the smartest moves you can make as a parent. It’s not about rehashing the entire plan. It’s about making sure the plan works in real life—from the very first bell.

Last year, New York City public schools spent nearly $400 million on special education settlements — a 31% jump from the year before. These settlement costs covered tuition reimbursements, private therapies, and attorney fees, often because parents had to fight to get the services their children were legally entitled to. And it’s not just a New York story. Across the U.S., public schools are spending hundreds of millions each year on special education settlements, with the to

If you’re feeling the weight of it all, the logistics, the uncertainty, the quiet exhaustion of carrying so much that others never see,...

The one thing most parents forget to send before school starts—and why it matters You’re packing backpacks, labeling water bottles, and...

We often hear about the school-to-prison pipeline once the damage is done — after a child has been suspended, expelled, or even arrested....

Families navigating special education know this reality all too well: securing your child's rights often feels like a battle. Recently,...