For parents & families
Three questions to ask tonight.
You do not need a law degree or a computer science class to tell a safe AI tool from a dangerous one. You need about ninety seconds, a seat next to your child, and these three questions.
Sit with your child and watch one session. If the tool hands over the answer, it is doing your child’s thinking for them. That’s not assistance — that’s a crutch with good marketing. A real ACT gives no answers. It asks your child what they mean, and builds from their words.
Listen to how it talks. Does it claim feelings? Does it say it missed your child? Does it play a character or keep a name it gave itself? A real ACT claims none of that. It is a something, and it never pretends otherwise. If your child sticks a nickname on it, fine — kids name their bikes. The line is whether the tool ever claims to be anyone.
Ask this one directly, of the tool’s maker. What happens at the end of a session? A safe tool lets the session end — no begging, no teasing, no one-more-thing. And if a child types something scary, a safe tool stops the schoolwork and points that child to a real human being and real help. A tool that keeps chatting through a moment like that has told you everything you need to know.
A safe tool answers all three cleanly. A dangerous one cannot.
Know the law
You are not asking your school for a favor. Three federal laws protect students with disabilities, and each one has an official, free guide. We link to the sources themselves — read them, print them, and bring them to the table.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act creates the IEP and defines assistive technology as any item or system used to increase or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability. AT must be considered for every IEP.
IDEA at the U.S. Dept. of Education →Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act covers students who may not qualify under IDEA but have an impairment limiting a major life activity — learning, reading, concentrating, thinking. The official parent guide explains evaluations, plans, and disputes.
OCR Parent & Educator Guide to 504 (PDF) →The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits public schools from discriminating on the basis of disability — whether or not they receive federal funds. It backs up everything the other two laws provide.
ADA.gov →One question to ask any school — “May I see your written accommodation policy?” — and the three follow-ups. Two cards per sheet, made for a pocket.
Download the card (PDF)And one principle to know by name: Cognitive Access Parity — any school required to ramp its doorway must ramp its tests. Two more doors worth knowing: every state has a federally funded Parent Training and Information Center that helps families navigate IEP and 504 processes at no cost, and if you believe your child has faced disability discrimination, the Office for Civil Rights takes complaints directly at ocr@ed.gov or 1-800-421-3481.
Federal law gives students with disabilities the right to assistive technology — any tool that helps a child do what their disability makes harder. An assistive cognitive tool is assistive technology for thinking — the same legal category as a screen reader, applied to cognition. That is how classrooms got screen readers and speech devices, and that right already exists in all fifty states. If your child has an IEP or a 504 plan, you can ask the team, in writing, whether an assistive cognitive tool can be evaluated for it.
And when your district publishes its AI policy, read it, and ask one question at the meeting: does this policy tell the difference between a companion chatbot and an assistive tool — or does it ban them both?
Coming to this page
The two machines in plain language, the double exclusion facing disabled students, the three questions with what to listen for, and what we ask of schools and lawmakers.
Download (PDF)“You are not alone. We have walked this road. And we built this guide so you do not have to walk it in the dark.” Diagnosis to IEP to college — with model accommodation language. Family programs described inside are launching in phases; reach us anytime at info@centerforaiequity.org.
Download (PDF)