The purpose of the qualitative descriptive case study was to describe the efficacy of parent-teacher collaborative educational planning methods for elementary students with autism from the perspective of the parents. The specific problem was an unknown in the efficacy of the collaborative relationship between parents and teachers of students with autism considering behavior educational planning. The participants were 35 parents of elementary students with autism in northern Virginia. Data were collected and analyzed in three sequential phases. Phase 1 was a questionnaire, phase 2 was interviews, and phase 3 was a focus group. The study included five major themes: Equality of Partnership, Parents as Advocates, Trust and Communication, Knowledge of Autism, and Extra Effort by Parents Beyond the IEP. The main conclusions of the study were that collaborative involvement was found to impact the efficacy of the IEP process, the IEP as a tool without collaboration was found to be ineffective and did not improve the efficacy of the collaborative process. Parents felt that collaborative educational planning could be improved with more consistent, open communication methods, an understanding of autism and teachers working to increase partnership with parents. The main recommendations were that teachers should treat parents as equals and that parents should continue to maintain their role as advocates. Parents and teachers should foster open communication with each other and parents should find ways to further their knowledge of the IEP and educational planning processes and services. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]