The Problem

I am researching the aid that students with learning and physical disabilities are given within the public school system. Individualized Education Programs, IEP’s, are legal agreements for specialized education specific to each student with special needs in the public school system. IEP’s are administered at all public schools across the nation, but with them come many confusions and complications. In many cases, IEPs are not followed through on, to get an IEP takes a very long time, or people don’t know that they should be getting an IEP for their child. The process is difficult to maneuver, and there is a lot of learning about special needs laws connected with the process of getting an IEP for a student. I want to see if there are any advocacy groups for these situations that help parents and students advocate for their rights through a somewhat bureaucratic system. I will be studying this specifically in Los Angeles because it is home to a very large and diverse population; this will allow me to see how different racial and ethnic groups are affected differently through the special education system.