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EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This article has been updated to clarify language about educator response.<\/em><\/p>\n The individualized education program (IEP) process generates a big stack of papers, full of terminology that parents may not understand. In response, some parents have begun using artificial intelligence to better understand IEPs and prepare for teacher meetings. Kimberly Morris, who taught pre-K through the 2025-26 school year, saw this firsthand.<\/p>\n Morris would set school goals in the IEP, \u201cand some parents would then utilize AI as a way to create a home goal,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Morris, who is now a curriculum and instruction specialist supporting early childhood learning at Unlocking Children\u2019s Potential of Central Florida, didn\u2019t mind that parents were using AI to align home efforts with school goals. But as the conversation around AI use transparency grows in classrooms, some wonder whether parents should disclose if they used AI to prepare for an IEP meeting.<\/p>\n Concerned parents might use AI in several ways during the IEP process, says Elizabeth Laird, director of equity and civic technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology. \u201cA parent might turn to AI to learn more about the process and what their rights are, what their child\u2019s rights are,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n Laird thinks that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. \u201cAI can play a role in democratizing access to information about the process itself, as well as being a starting point for thinking about what types of accommodations parents may want to ask about,\u201d she reasons.<\/p>\n For many parents, \u201cjust because you\u2019re a parent of a child with a disability doesn\u2019t mean you automatically understand all of these things related to your child\u2019s IEP,\u201d says Olivia Coleman, an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education at theUniversity of Central Florida. \u201cThey\u2019re using it to translate the jargon, any acronyms. It\u2019s helping them to draft questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Parents are putting their child\u2019s IEP into AI models \u201cand then having it put it into plain language, like, \u2019What is this thing and what does it mean?\u2019\u201d says Coleman, who is also a co-principal investigator at the Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning.<\/p>\n Morris, the curriculum and instruction specialist, sees an upside to parents using AI in IEP meetings. \u201cThey can become more of a team member alongside the teacher, occupational therapist, physical therapist and speech therapist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n But there are risks. For example, when a parent\u2019s AI-generated contribution to the meeting sprawls to 20 or 30 pages, \u201cit\u2019s going to take a teacher the majority of their day just to read through a request,\u201d says Phyllis Wolfram, executive director of the Council of Administrators of Special Education. \u201cIt will slow down the process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAI is not an IEP expert,\u201d Laird adds, noting that the AI\u2019s outputs can be inaccurate. With that in mind, she counsels teachers and parents to reflect together on the AI\u2019s findings. A key aspect of the IEP process, she notes, \u201cis its emphasis on bringing different subject matters together to collaborate, to identify what is the best path forward for an individual child.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where federal law enters the picture. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act<\/a> (FERPA) provides privacy protections for parents regarding their children\u2019s education while the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act<\/a> (IDEA) offers additional privacy protections for students receiving special education. <\/p>\n With FERPA and IDEA as the legal backdrop, parents should not put identifiable personal data like medical diagnoses and legal documents into AI. The tool could potentially train on that data, which risks that information becoming publicly visible. The data also may be at risk of being exposed in a security breach, if the AI provider gets hacked.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some argue that parents need to be candid about their AI use for that collaboration to be effective. Some parents were upfront about AI when meeting with Morris. \u201cWhen I would report on a goal, they also had input and would say, \u2018Hey, I created something at home and I used AI for that.\u2019 I thought that was really cool, that parents stepped out of their own mindset to think about how to incorporate those goals at home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Even if parents don\u2019t disclose, teachers and others could spot AI-generated text. \u201cRight now, the information that parents are providing to school districts regarding their IEP meetings is much lengthier, and it carries some legal jargon that doesn\u2019t typically come from parents,\u201d Wolfram says. \u201cMost educators will know when they\u2019ve received something written by AI.\u201d<\/p>\n If teachers do want parents to disclose AI usage, they can make a strong case for that, Laird believes. After all, in schools across the country, \u201cparents are demanding from their school to know whether and how AI is being used,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The key is to avoid being defensive if AI is being used in the IEP meeting, says Coleman. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to pit anyone in the IEP team against each other. We want to work together.\u201d For the IEP process to meet its intent, she adds, participants need to trust each other, and \u201ctransparency builds trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Parents might consider using AI for a number of reasons as they prep for an IEP meeting: <\/p>\n To summarize IEP documents<\/p>\n<\/li>\n To verify their rights against local state guidelines<\/p>\n<\/li>\n To translate unfamiliar jargon or bridge a language gap<\/p>\n<\/li>\n To formulate proposed goals<\/p>\n<\/li>\n To generate questions to help guide the process<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In all these cases, educators say they\u2019d prefer parents disclose their AI use, so that everyone can align in what is supposed to be a collaborative process. Parents should also double-check with local and state rules to make sure they are allowed to use AI with their IEPs.<\/p>\n Morris counsels teachers to assume that some parents will use AI. \u201cI have created the IEP and I know my role and goals as well as those for the student and parents,\u201d she says. How the family responds is up to them, \u201cand I\u2019ve always kept an open relationship with the parents that I have worked with,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n In the spirit of collaboration, teachers can model appropriate transparency and disclosure etiquette with parents. \u201cWe can\u2019t make disclosure mandatory, but we can practice it and set an example,\u201d Coleman argues. \u201cTeachers can say up front, \u2018We\u2019re not against AI use, but we\u2019d really appreciate you also being transparent, and this is why.\u2019 We want to make sure we\u2019re all on the same page,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n With trust in place, Wolfram notes, the teacher can talk openly about the AI outputs a parent brings to a meeting. \u201cThe educator can say, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about those recommendations. Do you see those as different from what we\u2019re already doing? And if so, let\u2019s talk about why you think that\u2019s needed,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The AI discussion requires some finesse, but Morris thinks it\u2019s worth the effort. \u201cI want parents to be advocates, and to understand exactly what is being told to them on their child\u2019s IEP,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nHow Parents Use AI<\/h2>\n
Should Parents Disclose?<\/h2>\n
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Crafting a Response<\/h2>\n