For parents of kids with IEPs · Annual review season
You know what your child needs. Rehearse what happens when they say “we don’t see that at school.”
The parent input statement is written. You still don’t know what you’ll say when six people are watching.
You’ve read the draft IEP. You’ve noted where goals look too low and services don’t match what you see at home. The annual review is Thursday. What you can’t picture is asking for 30 weekly speech minutes and then sitting there while the team lead says your child is “making adequate progress with current supports” and the room goes quiet. Kommi puts you in that meeting first — with a team that pushes back the way real IEP teams do — so Thursday isn’t your first take.
The parent input statement isn’t the hard part.
Every advocacy blog has the same checklist: review the draft IEP, write your concerns, bring a support person, ask for data on each goal. You have the highlights. What you don’t have is muscle memory for when the team lead says “we don’t observe that behavior in the classroom” and you have to decide in real time whether to push back, request documentation, or accept a vague “let’s monitor and revisit in the fall.”
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What’s at stake
Accepting reduced speech minutes or a placement that doesn’t fit shapes your child’s entire school year — and the next annual review builds on whatever you sign today.
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Why you freeze
You’re outnumbered. You don’t want to seem difficult. You keep rehearsing your opening in your head but skip the part where they say no and you have to respond without getting emotional.
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What scripts can’t do
Advocacy phrase lists give you the words. They can’t simulate the team going quiet for six seconds while you wonder if you asked for too much.
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What an advocate costs
One hour with a parent advocate runs $150–300. You need three reps across the weekend — Saturday night, Sunday morning, Wednesday lunch — not one polished monologue.
Sample roleplay · 3 minutes
“We’re seeing adequate progress with current supports.”
You’re Casey. You’ve shared your parent concerns and asked for increased speech services. Now the team lead pushes back.
You (Casey)
“At home, he’s still struggling to express needs without melting down. His outside speech therapist recommends 30 minutes twice a week. The current 20 minutes isn’t enough. I’d like us to increase to 60 minutes weekly.”
IEP team lead
“We hear your concerns. From what we’re seeing in the classroom, he’s making adequate progress toward his communication goal. We don’t have data that shows he needs additional minutes beyond what’s in the current IEP. We’d recommend monitoring through the fall and revisiting at the next review.”
Your move
- → Ask for the specific data: “Can you show me progress on the current goal?”
- → Request documentation: “I’d like my request and your rationale noted in the meeting minutes”
- → Bridge home and school: “Help me understand the gap between what you see and what we see at home”
Each choice changes how the team responds. The room gets uncomfortable. You practice staying curious instead of defensive — or catching yourself when you’re about to accept “let’s revisit” without a date or written follow-up.
Then the coach reads you back to yourself.
Not a rights checklist. Not a list of tactics from an advocacy book. One observation about what you did, one adjustment for next time, one sentence you can carry into Thursday’s meeting.
Sample coach debrief
“You stated your request clearly and backed it with your outside therapist’s recommendation — strong opening. When the team lead offered ‘monitor through fall,’ you immediately said ‘okay, I guess that makes sense’ and dropped your ask. That signals you didn’t believe your own observations.
Try next time: Pause after the refusal. Ask one clarifying question: ‘Can you walk me through the data you’re using to measure progress on the current goal? I want to make sure I understand before we move on.’
Carry into Thursday: ‘I hear the team’s position. I’d like my request for 60 weekly speech minutes documented in the meeting notes, along with the data supporting the decision not to increase at this time.’”
Questions before your IEP meeting
- Is this legal advice or a substitute for a parent advocate?
- No. Kommi helps you rehearse the conversation — how you ask, how you respond when the team pushes back, how you stay calm under pressure. It doesn’t replace an advocate, attorney, or your state’s parent training center for legal strategy.
- I already have scripts from advocacy blogs. Why practice?
- Scripts tell you what to say. They don’t prepare you for the moment the team goes quiet, offers a vague accommodation, or slides a signature line across the table. Kommi is where you hear yourself respond under pressure — and fix the backtrack before it costs your child a year of services.
- What if the team is supportive but says they need more data?
- That’s one of the most common paths in the roleplay. You practice partnering with the team on what data they need, what timeline they use, and what a concrete “yes if” looks like instead of an open-ended maybe.
- Is $11.99/mo worth it for one IEP meeting a year?
- One hour with a parent advocate costs more than a year of Kommi. And IEP season isn’t the only hard conversation — you also get unlimited sessions across every scenario we ship: salary talks, performance reviews, hard talks outside work.
$11.99 a month.
A coach with a calendar runs two hundred dollars an hour. Kommi runs roughly forty cents a day — and is awake when you can't sleep, which is when most of these conversations are actually being rehearsed anyway.
We don't have a free tier, a team plan, or a premium upsell. One price, no pricing page riddle. If we add tiers later, we'll do it because users asked — not because a growth deck did.
About forty cents a day.
- Two free sessions before billing starts
- Then $11.99 a month — about forty cents a day
- Unlimited sessions — any conversation you can describe
- A coaching read after every session, and your progress over time
- Cancel in two taps; 7-day refund if you change your mind
One conversation you’d have talked yourself out of is worth years of this. Or just sleep better on Wednesday. Either way.
Run your first rehearsal — free →US only at launch. We'll get to the rest of the world.
The conversation is on Thursday. Begin tonight.
Three minutes. Two free. 7-day money back after that.