You have the right to attend your child’s IEP meetings.  In fact, federal regulations require the school to hold your IEP meetings at a “mutually agreed on time and place.”  Also, you must be notified early enough to ensure that you have an opportunity to attend.

In a recent unpublished opinion from California, a federal court overturned an IEP.  The school invited the parents to participate by speaker phone.  That wasn’t good enough.  The parents had the right to attend their child’s IEP meeting in person.  Because they weren’t present at the meeting, the IEP was invalid.