S.,
I am an educational advocate for children with special needs, I go to IEP meetings and help parents sort out what thier children need and how to ask for it (and get it without fighting, if that is possible.)
First, if you have been fighting with the school district over what category of IDEA to serve her under, please stop. Once she qualifies, she qualifies and ALL of her educational needs must be served under the IEP. IEP's are written on the basis of need, not category. This fight only slows down the service delivery. ADHD and dyslexia are comorbid so often that it is quite possible that they are right (the H is in there, even if they are inatentive type.)
Take a long hard look at the MFE and find her educational needs, then make sure that she gets a reading program that is Orton Gillingham based, sometimes known as alphabet phonics programs, dyslexia intervention programs, etc. You have NO CHOICE concerning the method that they choose to use, but you can see that the IEP calls for a cumulative, sequential, and synthetic-analytic (meaning that they take apart the words and put them back together). If she has what they call a "fluency" problem, and she might have this too, beware of programs that are fluency based, these produce results but are not what she needs right now. Most of these programs will consist of her reading along with a tape recording, over and over again, until she can "read" the book from memory. While this has it's place, it will not teach her to manipulate the phonems of speech and transfer those to code (letters on a page) which is what she needs now. While you cannot object to the specific program they put her in, you can object to the issue that is being addressed by the program they choose. As what the name of the programs the will use will be, then look it all up before you sign.
ADHD and dyslexia is so often comorbid that it really makes little difference which one the school selects to use, and if you let them have thier way, you still have input into the IEP. You should know that the schools have to answer to how many kids are in each category and if they exceed certain numbers, they are in danger of loosing thier funding. It is not necesarily right, but as long as you have her needs addressed on the IEP, having a good relationship with the school district is also important for good outcomes. (please don't worry that I said ADHD, what is commonly refered to as ADD is in the DSM as ADHD inatentive type-you may see this on the IEP, so don't panic about the H)
A good place to start is on the Wrightslaw web site. (www.wrightslaw.com) Look up an ariticle "Tests and Measurments for Parents and Advocates" and read this several times until you understand the testing forward and backward. You then need to come up with the areas of need, her present levels of academic perfomance in that area, and what you want them to do for that one area of need. Read about what "measurable" really means on wrightslaw, and make sure that you have measurable goals written into the IEP.
All of her services must be based on need, need has to be evaluated, and you need a specific starting point. If she needs speech therapy, you must have an evaluation, if she needs OT, you must have an evaluation, if she needs reading intervention, you must have an evaluation, and so on.
The latest revision of IDEA removed the necessity for a severe discrepancy between IQ and performance to qualify kids as LD, and also freed up schools to offer services before kids fail, this new modle is called "Response to Intervention" or RTI. You can read about RTI on wrightslaw too. Be aware that RTI is not an intervention program, it is a service delivery modle.
If you have state assessments, these can be very helpful, because they will show educational need that is right where it hurts the school district. You will need both criterion referenced (academic areas based on the information itself) and normed referenced evaluations (the ones that show her IQ, and academic performance in relation to her peer standings). You should know fore each measure if she has been compaired to her age group, her grade group, or the grade/state based educational standards and be sure that the measure you use to get a starting point for each IEP goal and the measure you use to reflect her progress on each IEP goal are the same. I mean, if they say that she is 7th percentile in decoding consonate blends, you do not want to have her progress measurement be anything other than percentile rank, and stipulate what test they will use to measure that, never depend on "teacher observation" because this is a subjective measure.
You should also spell out modifications and accomodations very specifically in the IEP. Beware of word smithing! If a total stranger could not pick up the IEP and know what to do, then it is not a good IEP. "access to a comupter with spell checker" is not good enough. If it is not plugged in, she still has access! You want to say: Student will have an electronic spell checker on her desk for all writing assingments. Word banks for tests, hard copy of notes provided prior to class, home set of books and work books, extra time on tests, small group administration of tests, scribes! (spell out who and when!) Instructions read to her, books on tape...there are many accomodations that will help her to continue at grade level while she learns to read. A cation here, be sure that you know the difference between a modifcation and an accomodation. Modifications are provided to alter the class instruction or content. Accomodations are provided to make the class or instruction accessable to someone with a disablity. You should know the difference, and be sure that you never modify ciriculum beyond a point that would produce an acceptable outcome for her.
Somthing called "Prior Written Notice" PWN is one of the best tools you have. The school is required to notify you in writing of any action they propose or refuse. This is NOT your invitation to the IEP meeting. If you request a program for instance, and they refuse, request prior written notice for that refusal. They must provide it within 30 days and explain why they refused and what evaluations they used to make that refusal. You should not have to request it, but if you always need to have thier refusals in writing.
If you need any assistance, let me know.
M.