Believing the professionals are the only experts. It can be very intimidating to sit at a table with several educators and professionals. Though most parents do not have a background or degree in education, they have a great deal of knowledge and experience regarding their child. Parents are experts in their own right, they also provide historical information and the big picture from year to year. They know what works and does not work with their child and can be a great asset to the IEP team.
Parents also have an intuitive sense as to what is appropriate for their child.
After working with parents for nine years, we are still amazed at how parents are usually intuitively correct about what will work for their child. We encourage parents to follow their hunches, if something does not sound right, check it out. Usually after some research parents will discover their hunch was correct. Not making requests in writing. Any request a parent makes needs to be in writing.