Two books that help parents understand both the principles of special education and the procedures for writing the educational program for a child with a disability are available free of charge from PACER Center: Parents Can Be the Key and A Guide for Minnesota Parents to the Individualized Education Program (to order, visit http://www.pacer.org/publications/specedrights.asp).
The word "parent" means surrogate parent too. By law, surrogate parent rights in the special education process are the same as for natural and adoptive parents.
A surrogate parent assigned to a certain child may need more specialized information about early intervention, transition, emotional and behavioral disorders, and other special topics.