Truth About SPED, Inc. was set up in 2007. Our motivation for creating it was the continued frustration with obtaining necessary special educational services for our child. It became clear to us that there was no "one place" to help us figure out how to navigate through the special education bureaucracy. Having been through a very steep learning curve ourselves, we decided to create our own organization in order to help others become more aware of both the larger and smaller concerns with the special education process.

Under Federal and Massachusetts law, a child diagnosed as having "special needs" is entitled to receive certain special educational services from the public school system.

SPED is an acronym for ""special education." Thus, a child receiving such services is often referred to as a SPED child.

There are numerous layers to the SPED problem. Some of the more significant issues facing us are:

• Budgetary constraints at both the state and local district levels; 

• Lack of adequate federal funding as promised by IDEA (Federal Law) and later on by NCLB;

• Sharp increase of the number of children being diagnosed with developmental disabilities, especially those on the autism spectrum;

• Lack of adequately trained personnel at the local school district level.

This section is meant to provide a brief overview of some of the abbreviations and basic terminology for those of you who are inexperienced with the special education system.