The problem investigated by this study limited collaboration between parents of students with IDD and school personnel, limiting the quality of special education services delivered to students. A qualitative interpretive descriptive study was used to investigate strategies school personnel used resulting in positive collaborative experiences for parents of students with IDD in Grades K-12. To gain insight into parental involvement as it relates to collaboration, Joyce Epstein's theory of Overlapping spheres, which explains parental involvement, collaboration, and decision-making as well as the impact these constructs have on student achievement, was used as the conceptual framework to support this study. Purposive sampling was used to select eight parents of students with IDD in grades K-12 enrolled in a special education program in Central Texas to participate in this study. Interviews and focus groups were used to collect data and NVivo12 was used to isolate codes that were then refined to themes related to the research questions. Six themes were revealed from the coded data. These were (a) the importance of parental involvement, (b) communication, (c) openness and flexibility, (d) teamwork, and (e) respect. The findings of this study are consistent with the current literature and suggest that: parental involvement is essential to parents of students with IDD; school personnel should communicate with parents often, be open to collaboration, be flexible in their collaborative efforts, and be respectful when engaging parents. This study can expand current knowledge of family/school collaboration and inform education policy about strategies to increase positive collaborative experiences for parents and parental involvement. Future research should focus on including the perspectives of school personnel, investigating students with special needs, not just IDD, exploring strategies that resulted in negative collaborative experiences, and researching the development of a more family-oriented approach to collaboration. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]