A special education coach teaches parents how the IEP process really works so you can speak up for your child with confidence. At The IEP Coach, coaching comes with something most coaches cannot offer: real advocacy. Founder Alan Driggers is a former special education teacher and campus leader who has sat on the school's side of the IEP table. We do not just explain the process. When you need it, we step in, attend meetings with you, and push for the services your child is owed.
Request a ConsultationCoaching is for parents who want to understand the system, not just survive it. Working together, you will learn how to read your child's records the way school teams read them, and what the evaluation scores and present levels actually say about your child's needs. We walk through your child's current IEP or 504 plan line by line and flag goals that are vague, services that are thin, and accommodations that exist on paper but not in the classroom.
You will also learn how to put requests in writing so they trigger the school's legal obligations, how to prepare for an IEP or ARD meeting so you are not caught off guard, and what terms like FAPE, LRE, Child Find, and prior written notice mean in plain language. If behavior is part of your child's story, we cover functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans, and what to do when discipline enters the picture. Behavior support is a special focus of our practice.
The titles get used interchangeably, but they are not the same. A coach educates you and prepares you to handle meetings yourself. An advocate reviews records, communicates with the school, and sits beside you at the table. Many families start with coaching and find it is all they need. Others hit a wall: the school stalls, denies an evaluation, or holds a meeting where nothing changes. That is when you want an advocate in the room.
You do not have to choose in advance. Because we do both, your support can scale up when the situation does, without starting over with someone new. You can read more about what full representation looks like on our special education advocate page.
Coaching makes the most sense when your child is new to special education and the paperwork feels like a foreign language, when a meeting is coming up and you want to walk in prepared instead of anxious, or when the plan looks fine on paper but your gut says your child is not making progress. It is also the right fit when you want to handle meetings yourself but need an expert to pressure-test your strategy first.
If the school is actively refusing evaluations or not delivering the services already written into the IEP, coaching alone is usually not enough. Those situations call for advocacy, and we handle them too. If that is where you are, start with our guide on what to do when the school is not following the IEP.
Tell us about your child, the school, and what has happened so far, so your first session is productive from minute one.
We review your situation together, identify what the records show, and agree on a plan: coaching, advocacy, or a mix of both.
We build your strategy, rehearse the meeting, and if you want us at the table, we attend with you and pursue results.
A special education attorney handles litigation: due process hearings, court filings, and legal disputes. That is the right tool for a small number of cases, and it is expensive. A coach and advocate works earlier and more collaboratively, getting evaluations ordered, goals rewritten, and services delivered without turning the relationship with the school into a lawsuit. Most families get what their child needs at this level. If a case genuinely requires an attorney, we will tell you directly and help you prepare for that handoff, so nothing you have built with us is wasted.
All coaching and advocacy is virtual, which means your location does not limit your options. The IDEA is a federal law, and every public school district that accepts federal education funding must follow it, in every state. We support families across the country by video, phone, and email, and we attend IEP meetings remotely, which most districts now accommodate as a routine matter. Texas families get an extra layer of depth: Alan knows the ARD process, TEA complaint procedures, and Texas evaluation timelines firsthand.
Alan Driggers is a former special education teacher who specialized in behavior, a former campus leader and 504 coordinator, and holds master's degrees in Special Education and Educational Leadership. He has written IEPs, run the meetings, and managed the district side of the process. That insider knowledge is now on your side of the table.
Or call (512) 865-1937. Start with a short intake so we can understand your situation before we talk.
A special education coach teaches parents how the IEP process works: how to read records and evaluations, how to make requests in writing, and how to prepare for meetings. The goal is a parent who can hold their own at the IEP table.
A coach prepares you to handle the process yourself. An advocate works the case with you, communicating with the school and attending meetings. We offer both, so your support can scale up if the school does not cooperate.
No. We work with families nationwide through virtual sessions and remote meeting attendance. IDEA is federal law, so children's core rights are the same in every state. We do have particular depth in the Texas ARD system.
Yes. We review 504 plans, help you strengthen accommodations, and help you decide whether to request a full special education evaluation, which we can guide you through step by step.
Yes, and it is our specialty. We help with functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans, suspensions, and manifestation determination reviews, where a former behavior teacher's perspective matters most.
Complete the short intake form on our contact page, then we will schedule your consultation and map out whether coaching, advocacy, or both fits your situation.