The Evaluation Request Letter Kit

You have been noticing something, and you are ready to ask the school to take a closer look. The single most useful thing you can do is put that request in writing, with a date on it - and this kit makes that a one-evening job instead of a research project. It was written for parents (it speaks to the mother at the kitchen table, though it works for anyone in her chair) navigating the US special education evaluation process for the first time, and for parents who already know the process and want the letters ready.

Inside the 49-page PDF: six fill-in letter templates in plain, everyday language - the initial evaluation request, the follow-up when nothing comes back, the reevaluation request, the independent educational evaluation (IEE) request, the school-records request, and the short note that turns a verbal no into prior written notice. Around the letters sits the map most free templates skip: the two clocks your letter starts, what the district is required to send back, all seven things a written refusal must contain, and a state-by-state timeline table verified against ten states' own statutes and regulations - with their citations, their day-counting units, and what happens to the clock over summer. Five worksheets and five checklists keep the dates and the paper trail straight, and every legal claim in the guide carries its citation in the sentence where you read it.

An honest note: free sample letters exist, and good ones - this guide points you to them, and to your state's free, federally funded Parent Training and Information Center. What you are buying is the complete, current, organized version: every letter, the verified numbers, and the calm explanation of what each reply means, in one document you can act on this week. This edition is version 1.0, reviewed against primary sources in August 2026.