Questions parents ask

No. Same Team provides educational guidance — not legal advice. We help parents understand their rights under IDEA and Section 504, recognize their options, and come to the table with practical, expert-built solutions.

Our goal is to empower parents to advocate effectively, resolve disagreements collaboratively, and keep the focus on what is best for their child. We also help parents understand the procedural safeguards and protections available to them, so they can make informed decisions throughout the process.

Yes, always. Our goal is to bring parents, teachers, and administrators together as one team, with a shared understanding of the student's needs and the child's progress, success, and best interests at the center. Dysfunction among IEP team members is never productive for children.

We equip parents to be equal and active members of that team — with the knowledge, understanding, and confidence to participate meaningfully in decisions about their child's education and advocate for the support their student needs.

With three decades of public education experience, our guidance is grounded in firsthand knowledge of how schools operate and what students need. We help families come to the table with practical solutions and strategies addressing instruction, related services, behavioral supports, and accommodations.

The goal is simple: help students access the general education environment, make meaningful progress toward their goals, and reach their highest potential. When everyone is on the same team — informed, prepared, and working toward the same goal — students benefit most.

Yes. IDEA and Section 504 are federal protections that apply nationwide, and most of what helps a parent — the rights, the process, the preparation — comes from that shared federal framework. Each state runs its own procedures on top of it, so we help you understand the federal rights every family has and prepare for how your state and district typically handle them. For a question that turns on a specific state rule, the assistant says so rather than guessing.

It is built on a vetted, expert-developed knowledge base and is designed to give reliable educational guidance, not a guess. When a question needs professional judgment or falls outside what it knows, it says so instead of giving an uncertain answer. High-stakes questions (discipline, disputes, anything legal) are flagged rather than answered with a guess. Premium members can send them to Dr. Long. The assistant is designed to inform and prepare families, not give legal advice.

Yes. We take student privacy seriously and use appropriate safeguards to protect the information you choose to share with us, including encryption and access controls. We follow applicable privacy and confidentiality requirements and limit access to information to those who need it to provide services. You remain in control of what you share.

The IEP Meeting Prep Checklist, the answer library, the state evaluation-timeline pages and eight free tools — no account needed. Get the checklist and we'll email you as we add more.

Online gives you the expert tools to navigate the process yourself — Dr. Long's Assistant, the full library of expert answers, every template and guided workflow, and the Document Vault.

Premium adds Dr. Long's personal review of the documents you upload to your Document Vault, with follow-up by email.

In short: Online gives you the tools; Premium adds expert eyes on your child's real documents. See Pricing.

Yes. Same Team is open to families who want to be prepared — not left wondering what to ask for, what their child may need, or whether they're getting the support they should.

This is more than an AI tool or a library of information. It is guidance built around your child, your concerns, and your rights as a parent — backed by expertise in both parent and school-district responsibilities. You'll have access to tools and guidance designed to help you understand what your child needs, prepare for critical conversations, and confidently advocate for the services, supports, and accommodations that can make a difference.

Get started with Same Team today. Because when it comes to your child's education, you shouldn't have to walk into the room hoping you're asking the right questions — you should walk in knowing you are prepared.