If you're a parent navigating the IEP process or an advocate supporting families, 2026 is going to feel different. The ground has shifted in ways that matter. Here's the paradox: families have more legal leverage than at any point in recent memory, yet the federal agencies that traditionally enforced their rights have been gutted. Meanwhile, AI is quietly changing how IEPs get written, creating risks most people aren't equipped to spot. A Landmark Legal Victory The Supreme Court's June 2025...

Guest Post by a Highlighter parent. When Highlighter asked if I would share our family’s story, I almost said no. Not because it is not important. But because I am tired of the version of this story that always gets told. The one where the parent becomes a warrior and the system suddenly listens. That is not what happened to us. This is the messier version. My child is the kid who knows everything about planets but cannot remember to write their name on a worksheet. The kid who melts down...

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 before the first...