I am very happy to share with you a guest post from Alison W regarding what a parent needs to know about the IEP process. Lots of useful information here! Enjoy!
IEP Team Members
As a parent you are the first member of your child's IEP
team. But there are other members who come and go depending on the needs of
your child. As you child moves from Part C with an IFSP to Part B with an IEP
the core team members may change.
The New Players on the
Field
While there are array of people who will move onto and off
of the IEP field, two players will probably do the largest amount of
ball-carrying for students with special needs. They're the ones who will send
you letters announcing scheduled meetings, and the ones who will hand you the
5,000 copies of the booklets on knowing your rights. They'll be responsible for
evaluating your child on arrival in the system and periodically thereafter. One
of these individuals will probably be assigned as your child's case manager.
This team may change year from year without notice.
Special Education Teacher: The special education
teacher is the person who will give your child tests that assess level of
educational achievement and ability. The special education teacher may make
observations during the meeting about the appropriate educational placement for
your child. Should your child need special learning techniques, modifications
and accommodations in the classroom, the special education teacher will be able
to strategize those with you and the teacher, and help monitor progress. This
teacher will be charged with outlining your child's educational progress and
prognosis for the IEP, and with gathering opinions from all other teachers as
appropriate. What you hear from the teacher at the meeting should be consistent
with what you've been hearing throughout the year. If not, ask why. If you
haven't been talking with the teacher throughout the year ... well, then I'll
ask, why not? Don't be a stranger.
The Regular Education Teacher: From the school's
point of view, nobody knows your child better than the teacher. So it's natural
for the teacher to be involved in the planning of the IEP. Your child's regular
education teacher will ALWAYS be at
the meeting. That's good news for you if you've built a rapport with a teacher,
or if a teacher has a particularly good feel for your child's abilities and
needs.
Other players may include: Speech-Language Pathology, School
Social Worker or School Psychologist, Physical Therapist (PT), and Occupational
Therapist (OT) depending on your child’s needs. Remember services can only be
added or taken away with your permission. Don’t be afraid to tell the team what
you think should be done and why. They too, will tell you why these players may
be needed or no longer needed.
Be sure that all team members are present. While you can
call an IEP meeting any time you wish, sometimes the annual review is the only
one you need. Attendance is important!
Don’t forget you are the most important member of the IEP
team. Yeah, you, the parent! You are the most important member of your child's IEP
team, far and away. You are the expert on your child, and your child is the
reason all those people are sitting there. You are the only one to have seen
your child in multiple settings, in multiple school years, in multiple moods.
You are the only one who has talked to the doctors and the specialists. You are
the only one who has traced your child's development from early days until
right now. And you are the only one who will still be involved in your child's
care years from now, when the decisions made at this table will bear fruit.
The IEP
What’s an Individualized
Education Program (IEP)?
Each public school child who receives special education and
related services must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). IEP
creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related
services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve
educational results for children with disabilities. IEPs are required under Part B of IDEA and
cover ages 3 to 21. The IEP focuses on
how to help students be successful in the education setting. Sound educational
decision-making includes observations by people who know the child well and
objective information from various tests and assessments.
The IEP includes information about the child's present
levels of performance on various tests and measures and how they are
functioning in an educational setting compared to their peers. The IEP also
includes information about goals and objectives for the child, specifically how
educational problems will be addressed. The IEP should also include ways for
parents and educators to measure the child's progress toward the goals and
objectives.
What should be in my
child's IEP?
The IEP should accurately describe your child's learning
problems and how these problems are going to be dealt with. One of the best and
clearest ways to describe your child's unique problems is to include
information from the evaluations. The IEP document should contain a statement
of the child's present levels of educational performance. If your child has
reading problems, the IEP should include reading subtest scores. If your child
has problems in math calculation, the IEP should include the math calculation
subtest scores.
Goals and objectives
The IEP should also include a statement of measurable annual
goals, including benchmarks and short- term objectives. The goals and
objectives should be related to your child's needs that result from the
disability and should enable your child to be involved in and progress in the
general curriculum. The goals and objectives should meet other educational
needs that result from your child's disability. Goals are written for 364 days
because at day 365 is when your next meeting will be.
The IEP goals should focus on reducing or eliminating the
child's problems. The short term objectives should provide you and the teacher
with ways to measure educational progress. They should be written to close the
educational, behavioral, or speech/language gap-getting your child to their
same aged peers. Are reading decoding skills being mastered? How do you know
this? An IEP should include ways for you and the teacher to objectively measure
your child's progress or lack of progress (regression) in the special education
program.
Data Based
Everything in an IEP is driven by DATA. This is important because
it is how you and the team will know if the goal has been mastered or not. If
you don’t understand how they will know this ask. Data is needed to know 1)
where they are when compared to their peer group (same aged peers not grade
level); 2) if they are making progress. If
your child is not learning and making progress – with progress measured
objectively – the IEP should be revised.
The Meeting
Bring your ideas about goals and objectives. Don’t be afraid
to speak up about what you think. All of the people at the table at your
child's IEP meeting are going to have ideas about what your child should be
learning in the upcoming year. You have
every right to speak up about the goals and objectives (and placement) they
write into your child's IEP for the year, and schools will WANT to hear your
thoughts and ideas. If you don’t
understand what’s being shared-TELL the team. The IEP team will do their best
to schedule it when everyone can make it. This is many cases is before or after
school. Please show up to your child's IEP meeting! It's important!
So first, your state code is thick, and you're never going
to be able to read it all but take some time and read your parent rights and
responsibilities BEFORE the meeting. Ask
your IEP team if you have questions about your rights.
All schools prepare a "draft copy" of your child's
IEP. You have the right to see it before the meeting! Request a copy! This
draft should ONLY include reports with data. Nothing else! Everything else is
talked about at the meeting. (As a
special education teacher, I make changes right there during the meeting on my
draft copy.) You also have input in classroom accommodations, modifications, and services. As a Case Manager, I take the last couple of
minutes before closing the meeting to summarize what was said, any changes and
any agreements. I also tell parents that I will send home a “final” copy of the
IEP within 7 business days. Why seven? This gives parents time to think about
what was talked about and ask for a meeting to readdress something they forgot or
to add or change pieces. Deadlines are different from state to state on when
final copies have to be to parents-mine is 10 business days.
An IEP is NEVER final. It is a living document--that can be
changed as any point in time by any member of the IEP team. This means three
weeks after the meeting, a new one can be created or six months from the
meeting. You don’t have to go a whole year with it. Your child’s success in the
general education classroom in VERY important. if they aren’t making it-something
needs change. Don’t be afraid to ask for a meeting if you think something isn’t
working.
What is Least
Restrictive Environment? (aka LRE)
The IEP team will recommend services in the least
restrictive environment (LRE) appropriate to your child’s needs. This means
that the team will consider how your child can be educated with children who do
not have disabilities, to the maximum extent possible. If means that services
can be provided in the general education classroom, pull out to a resource
room, or to a center based placement.
Children fluidly move through their least restrictive environment
depending on what they NEED to be successful. This can change throughout a year
or your child’s education. As an example: they might start out with all the
services being provided out of the classroom and as they master the skills move
to services being provided both in and out of the classroom. Teams tend to be
more conservative and services are provided outside of the class to start with so
the student experience success verse being in the class and experience failure.
My name is Alison Whiteley. I write for Toad-ally
Exceptional Learners Blog. Thanks so much to JCs Mom for having me guest blog. It’s
been so much fun. The freebie has information on transition and ideas for what
you can do to help get the school year off to a great start. If you would like
to know more about me please visit my blog.
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