Every spring, families begin hearing the same phrase: “Your child doesn’t qualify for ESY because they didn’t regress.”

But what actually counts as regression? And what does the data really need to show?

Extended School Year services are not about summer enrichment. They are about preventing significant loss of skills that a child cannot reasonably recoup within a short period of time. Understanding what regression truly means can change the entire conversation.

March is one of the most strategic times of the school year to request a Functional Behavioral Assessment or update a Behavior Intervention Plan. Many families wait until behaviors escalate or until the end of the year, but by then valuable instructional time has already been lost.

When a child is struggling in school, evaluations play a critical role in determining what supports are needed. Sometimes a school evaluation answers those questions clearly. Other times, families are left with incomplete information, unclear conclusions, or recommendations that do not match what they see day to day. This is when private evaluations or an Independent Educational Evaluation, often called an IEE, become important tools.

Parents often hear the terms private evaluation and IEE used as if they mean the same thing, but under special education law they are different. Understanding how they differ, and when each makes sense, can help families advocate more confidently and effectively for their child.

Across the country, testing season is about to begin. For many families, state assessments can bring on stress, questions, and uncertainty for both parents and their children, especially when your child has an IEP or 504 Plan. You may wonder: Will the school actually follow my child’s accommodations? Will the testing environment support them? What happens if something goes wrong?

When a child is struggling in school, evaluations play a critical role in determining what supports are needed. Sometimes a school evaluation answers those questions clearly. Other times, families are left with incomplete information, unclear conclusions, or recommendations that do not match what they see day to day. This is when private evaluations or an Independent Educational Evaluation, often called an IEE, become important tools.

By the time February rolls around, the school year is no longer “new” to you or to your child. Routines are clearly established, data has been collected and you’ve received progress reports, and IEP goals should be well underway. As both a former special education teacher and now a parent educational advocate, I see February as a great ‘checkpoint month’, as a time when as parents you can step back and reflect on the question: Is my child actually making meaningful progress, or are we just moving through the motions?

Valentine’s Day at school is meant to be about kindness, connection, and belonging. For many children, it is exactly that. For others, it can quietly highlight how different their school experience really is. Difficulty with social cues, sensory overload, rigid routines, or feeling left out can turn a day meant to celebrate love into one filled with stress.

The middle of the school year is often when executive function challenges become most visible. The novelty of a new routine has worn off, expectations remain high, and supports that were helping earlier in the year may no longer be enough. For students with disabilities, this mid year slump can show up as missing work, disorganization, emotional outbursts, or increased avoidance.

Spring conferences often focus on grades and academic progress, but for many students, behavior and regulation are the real barriers to learning. Waiting until behavior escalates or discipline increases makes it harder to address concerns effectively. Requesting an FBA or a BIP update before spring conferences gives the team time to review data, adjust supports, and make meaningful changes before the end of the school year.

February is often when behavior challenges peak for students, even those who seemed settled earlier in the school year. The structure of fall has worn off, winter fatigue sets in, and expectations remain high while motivation and regulation are often at their lowest. For students with disabilities, this combination can quickly lead to increased behaviors, discipline referrals, and emotional shutdown.

Many parents hear the phrase “they’re doing fine” from schools and feel immediate confusion. Grades are passing. Behavior is manageable. Test scores are not alarming. But at home, you see something very different. Exhaustion after school. Meltdowns over homework. Anxiety before class. Tears that seem to come out of nowhere. This disconnect is one of the hardest places to advocate from because the struggle is real but not always visible on paper.

February is a helpful checkpoint for speech and language development in younger learners. By this point in the school year, routines are established and expectations are clearer, which makes it easier to notice whether a child is developing skills as expected or continuing to struggle. Paying attention to specific speech and language skills can help parents identify concerns early and advocate for support if needed.

When a child is struggling to read, schools often reassure parents that an intervention is in place. But having an intervention is not the same as having an effective or intensive one. One of the most important questions parents can ask is whether the reading intervention their child is receiving is actually intensive enough to close the gap.

Spring IEP meetings often come with higher stakes. Annual reviews, reevaluations, service changes, and placement discussions tend to cluster in this season, which can make meetings feel tense or rushed. Building stronger relationships with the IEP team before spring meetings can make a meaningful difference in how productive those conversations are.

When parents raise concerns about their child’s progress, schools often respond with “we’re not seeing that here.” One of the most effective ways to bridge that gap is by tracking data at home. Home data does not replace school data, but it can strongly support an IEP request, a reevaluation, or the need for additional services when patterns are clear and documented.

For many families and parents, there are a few things you hear that may trigger anxiety instantly and one of those may be “Your child has a substitute teacher.” Your immediate wonderings may be: Will my child still receive their special education services? If their provider is absent, what happens with the service minutes in their IEP? How will a substitute who doesn’t know my child’s needs or accommodations support them?

General education teachers are often the first line of support for students with disabilities. They implement accommodations, collect data, manage classroom behavior, and support students with IEPs and 504 plans—often while teaching full classrooms with widely varying needs. When teachers lack sufficient training, however, students are the ones who feel the impact.

As a formal special education teacher and now parent educational advocate, a question I hear often, especially on consultation calls with parents is, “Should my child have a 504 Plan or an IEP?”. Often parents know that both offer support but aren’t exactly sure what the difference is and which they should advocate for. If you’ve ever sat in a school meeting feeling overwhelmed by acronyms, vague explanations, or pressure to “try a 504 first,” you are not alone. While both 504 Plans and IEPs are designed to support students with disabilities, they are not the same, and the level of protection they offer is very different. So let’s start by breaking them down…

Many parents notice the same pattern every year: January arrives, school resumes after winter break, and suddenly behavior concerns spike. Phone calls increase, behavior charts reappear, and teams begin talking about discipline, shortened days, or “regression.” While this can feel sudden or alarming, January behavior spikes are common—and often predictable.