As a parent of a child with LD or ADHD, it is your responsibility to partner with your child’s school in planning their education. In fact, the law empowers you to be a vital part of their special education process, making you an equal member of your child’s Individualized Education Planning (IEP) team. As such, it is important for you to understand the process and come to IEP meetings prepared to advocate for your child’s interests.
The IEP is the document that provides a road map for your child’s education. It is a bridge between their learning challenges and the standards and framework of the general education curriculum. The IEP determines what they will learn and be able to do, specifies the programs and services they will receive, sets achievement targets, and tells you whether or not they are making progress and mastering skills.
Because the IEP is the basis for your child’s education, the IEP meeting offers you the best opportunity to ensure their academic success.
The IEP meeting should be functional and time-efficient. To prepare, you will need to plan ahead, research, and organize your information and thoughts. Below are guidelines for ensuring that the IEP meeting achieves what it must to further your child’s education.
Planning & Preparation
- Take the time to develop a “vision statement,” in which you share with the team an accurate and comprehensive picture of your child. Have a clear understanding of their present levels of performance, so you can help identify strengths and deficits and compose meaningful annual goals and short-term objectives.
- Establish appropriate goals. Goals should be attainable in one year, be reasonable, measurable, apply to all classes, and be linked to your child’s present levels of performance.
- Determine how progress will be evaluated. For example, know what data will be used and who will collect it; have baseline data taken as a source of comparison.
- Be knowledgeable about research-based services appropriate for your child, so you can give input as to what they need to maximize participation and progress in the general education curriculum.
- Request additional assessments. If your child’s behavior impedes their learning or that of others, request a functional behavioral assessment by an expert and a plan with the needed supports. If your child would benefit from assistive technology, ask for an assistive technology assessment by a qualified practitioner.
- Be clear on who will be providing the services, what their qualifications are, where and how often the services will occur, how progress will be monitored, and when you will be informed of how your child is doing.
- Discuss your child and their program at pre-IEP conferences. All team and family members and any independent therapists working with your child must be able to share information and converse with each other.
- Do your homework. Prior to the meeting, write a letter to the team requesting a copy of all evaluations that will be reviewed, and share any reports or test results that you want considered. There should be no surprises at the IEP meeting. Don’t put yourself in a position to be hearing your child’s evaluations or test results for the first time at the table; you must digest the information at home to be able to make informed requests and decisions.
- Ask for specifics. Understand which evaluation procedures and performance criteria will be used to gauge your child’s progress, and make sure the assessments are standardized.
- Trust your instincts. If the evaluations, recommendations, and/or test results do not sound like your child, you may request an Independent Educational Evaluation at the district’s expense, or you may pay for one yourself. Make sure you ask a lot of questions, focus on recommendations and, if possible, bring the evaluator or an expert to the table to stand behind the report and advocate for your child.
- Work collaboratively with the team. Try to take any “emotionality” out of your meetings. Presentation is important: begin with a complimentary attitude, and thank the team for their efforts. Remember that without diversity and disagreements, there would be no team. Make sure, however, that nothing you want discussed is left unaddressed.
- Review final recommendations at the close of the meeting. Document all areas of agreement and disagreement, and clarify areas of concern. All agreements must be put in writing. If you do not agree, make sure to speak up. If you are dissatisfied, know your recourse, your procedural safeguards, and your rights to appeal to a higher authority.
- Come to meetings prepared
- Maintain a quiet confidence and positive mental attitude
- Be a problem solver
- Maintain a firm, determined demeanor
- Avoid rigidity and reaction to offense
- Do not assume responsibility for things out of your control
This article is based on information presented at a Smart Kids community event by Noreen O’Mahoney, CSW, SDA, Director of Collaborative Advocacy Associates, Wilton, CT. Eve Kessler, Esq. is president and co-founder of SPED*NET Wilton (CT), former Chair of the CT Council on Developmental Disabilities, and a contributing editor to Smart Kids.