Explore Our Services:
IEP & 504 Collaboration
Collaborative support for families navigating IEPs, 504 plans, and educational decision-making with confidence, clarity, and meaningful partnership with their child's educational team.
IEP & 504 Collaboration is a service designed to help families confidently navigate the educational support process.
Whether you're preparing for your child's first evaluation, developing or reviewing an IEP or 504 plan, preparing for an upcoming meeting, or feeling unsure about your options, we'll work together to better understand your child's strengths, needs, and educational goals while helping you navigate the process with clarity and confidence.
Every collaboration plan is individualized. Depending on your family's needs, services may include reviewing educational records and evaluations, preparing for meetings, explaining procedures and parent rights, developing questions and priorities, collaborating with school teams, attending meetings as a support person, and providing ongoing guidance as you advocate for meaningful educational supports for your child.
What We Offer
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A brief conversation to learn about your concerns, answer questions, and determine whether Tidepool is the right fit.
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Review of any existing evaluations, previous IEPs and 504 Plans, therapy reports, behavior plans, school documentation, or medical records to better understand your child's strengths and needs.
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A collaborative conversation to better understand your child's history, your family's priorities, what's working well, and the challenges you're experiencing.
This helps ensure our recommendations reflect your values and goals.
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We will coordinate an observation of your child in their natural educational environment to better understand their strengths, learning style, classroom participation, and how current supports are working within the school setting.
Observations provide meaningful context that helps guide collaborative planning and informed educational decision-making.
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Prepare for upcoming IEP and 504 meetings through collaborative planning.
This may include reviewing proposed documents, discussing goals and accommodations, identifying priorities, developing questions, and ensuring you feel informed and confident before the meeting.
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Attend meetings alongside you to provide guidance, clarify information, take notes, and support productive, collaborative discussions with the educational team.
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After the meeting, we'll reflect on the discussion, review any decisions that were made, answer remaining questions, identify any needed follow-up with the school team, and create a plan with next steps so you feel confident moving forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is IEP & 504 Collaboration for?
We support families of students from preschool through elementary school who are navigating special education services, IEPs, or 504 plans.
Whether your child already has an IEP or 504 plan, has recently been referred for an evaluation by their school, you're considering requesting an evaluation yourself, or you've been navigating the process for years and simply want additional guidance.
Can you attend my child's IEP or 504 meeting?
Yes. You have the right to invite a collaborative support person to meetings. We will help you understand the discussion, communicate your priorities, ask questions, and feel confident throughout the meeting.
Our goal is to foster productive, child-centered collaboration between families and school teams.
Does my child need to have an IEP or 504 plan already?
Not at all. We can support families throughout the process, whether you're considering an evaluation, preparing for an eligibility meeting, reviewing evaluation results, developing a new plan, or navigating an existing IEP or 504.
Can you help if I disagree with the school's recommendations?
Disagreements can happen. It’s frustrating, but you have options.
We can help you understand the information presented, navigate available next steps, prepare for follow-up conversations, and work to understand processes such as requesting additional meetings, reevaluations, or an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE), when appropriate.
Ready to get started?
If you're interested in working with us, please complete this form, and we'll reach out to learn more about your family, answer any questions you may have, and discuss how parent coaching can support your goals.