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Help at school for your child
For parents and carers in the United States whose child is struggling at school, or who learns, moves, speaks or behaves differently. How to ask for an evaluation. What an IEP is and what happens at the meeting. A 504 plan. Suspensions. Bullying. What to do when you and the school disagree. Help before age 5. And the words to put in the letter. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Scared for your child tonight, or worn through yourself? Call or text 988, at any hour. The 988 Lifeline says it is there for emotional distress, or if you just need someone to talk to. In danger: 911.
- You can ask the school to evaluate your child. The Center for Parent Information and Resources says a request may be spoken, but it is best to put it in writing.
- Under 5? The CDC says you do not need a doctor’s referral or a diagnosis to ask for a free evaluation.
- Not alone in this: there are nearly 100 Parent Centers across the U.S. and its territories, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Find yours.
More help
- Reading, writing or math much harder for your child (or for you)? When reading, writing or math has always been harder.
- Worried about what your child said or did? When you’re worried about someone.
- A hard meeting coming? Appointment prep, Speak for me and Make peace.
- Need a lawyer and can’t pay? When you need a lawyer and can’t pay.
- Caring for a disabled child wears you down? When you’re caring for someone.
- A baby or toddler at home? Pregnant, or a new baby.
- The same rights, grown up: accommodations at work and in housing.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When someone you love is in jail or prison: for the family and friends outside: finding where they are, calls, letters, sending money, visiting, and what to tell the children.
- If a child is being hurt: a child who is being hurt: the signs, what to say when a child tells you, how to report in your state, and free people to talk to first.
- When you’re raising a relative’s child: raising a grandchild, niece, nephew, brother, sister or a friend’s child: legal custody, school and medical consent, money for the child, and help for you.
- When you’re leaving foster care: aging out of foster care: your transition plan, your papers, Medicaid until 26, staying or coming back, housing and money for school.
- When you need child care: child care: finding it, help paying for it, what a license means, and where to report a problem.
- When you’re young and have nowhere safe to stay: who answers at any hour, where you can walk in, youth shelters, and staying in school.
- If someone is threatening to share your pictures: someone threatening to share your pictures: what to do in the first hour, getting pictures taken down, reporting it, and how to tell someone.
- When it’s sickle cell: sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait: the symptoms that are emergencies, a pain crisis, testing, the treatments, and pregnancy.
- When it’s bullying: bullying: what a child can do, the signs, what to say when a child tells you, and how to bring the school in.
- LGBTQ+: coming out, staying safe, and people to talk to: LGBTQ+: not sure yet, coming out, when home or school isn’t safe, people to talk to, and how family can help.
- Finishing high school as an adult: the GED, the HiSET, free classes, and diploma scams: finishing high school as an adult: which test your state uses, free classes, the GED test and the HiSET exam, accommodations, and the signs of a diploma scam.
- Head lice in a child: how to check, how to treat, and what school can ask: a child who has head lice or may have them: how to check, how to treat, and what school can ask.
- Helping a child live with kidney disease: school, IEPs and 504 plans, self-esteem, friends, sports, the treatment plan, and growing up: helping a child or teenager live with chronic kidney disease (CKD): how it can affect learning, mood and friendships; school, IEPs, 504 plans and missed days; self-esteem, friends, camps and bladder control; sports; the treatment plan; college and work; and who can help.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR), which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and whose pages say its views are not necessarily the Department’s; from USAGov; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine; and the 988 Lifeline. Their pages were read on October 1, 2026. CPIR dates its own pages between 2017 and 2023. The U.S. Department of Education’s own sites (ed.gov, including the Office for Civil Rights) and StopBullying.gov refused our connection that day and again on October 14, 2026, so nothing here comes from them. On October 14, 2026 we read the federal regulations themselves instead, on the government’s eCFR site (34 CFR parts 300, 104 and 100), for who Section 504 covers and what it requires, the civil rights complaint deadline, the IDEA disability categories, summer services, meeting by phone or video, and when rights pass to a teenager and services end; the page names the section each time. It still says where a gap is left: how to file with the Office for Civil Rights, what a written 504 plan usually holds, and what the law requires of a school when a child is bullied. States add their own rules and timelines, and we did not read any state’s. A few lines are our own suggestions, and the page marks them as ours. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a school, a law firm or a Parent Center, is not part of any government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].