Families who do not speak or write English as their primary language have the right to participate fully in special education proceedings. These rights include:

1. The right to a copy of the IEP document in the primary language of the parent/guardian/other education rights holder at the parent’s/guardian’s/other education rights holder’s request.^[1]
2. The right to be fully informed in one’s native language or other mode of communication of all information relevant to an activity of the school district for which a parent’s/guardian’/other education rights holder’s consent is being requested.^[2]
3. The right to have assessments administered to a child of limited English proficiency in their native language or other mode of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, functionally, and developmentally unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.^[3]
4. The right to have an interpreter at IEP meetings for parents/guardians/other education rights holders with deafness or whose native language is other than English.^[4]
5. The right to written notice in one’s native language or other mode of communication, a reasonable time before a school district proposes (or refuses) to initiate or change the special education student’s identifying category, their evaluation data, their placement, or anything about the way the district is providing FAPE unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.^[5]
6. The right to have assessment plans presented to parents/guardians/other education rights holders in their native language or other mode of communication unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.^[6]
7. The right to have an interpreter at a due process hearing.^[7] Although not specifically stated, interpreters should be provided at mediation conferences as well.^[8]
8. The right to a Procedural Safeguards Notice provided in one’s native language.^[9]
9. The right to receive, upon request, information in one’s native language regarding the procedures for filing a complaint with local child protective agencies against a school employee or other person who commits an act of child abuse against a child at a school site. If the information is communicated orally, an interpreter must be provided.^[10]

1. 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3040(a).[↩]
2. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.9; Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56021.1.[↩]
3. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.304(c)(1); Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56320.[↩]
4. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.322(e).[↩]
5. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.503(c)(1).[↩]
6. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56321(b)(2).[↩]
7. 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3082(d).[↩]
8. 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3086(b)(3).[↩]
9. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.504(d).[↩]
10. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 48987.[↩]