For parents of children with disabilities, spring means IEP (Individual Education Plan) time. The majority of these parents would probably also say that they would rather be doing anything else than attend an IEP meeting! It is an annual event we must endure that hopefully has a beneficial affect on our children.

Before the Meeting

It is important for parents to do their homework before the meeting, so they walk into it fully informed with a plan. Some children will be evaluted by the school system, and their meetings might actually be eligibility meetings as well as a meeting to develop next year's IEP. An eligibility meeting determines whether or not a child is eligible for special education services and which services a child needs. Parents must be included in the eligibility meeting. Parents should have a general plan of what they believe their child needs and how that should be implemented as well as suggestions for individual goals for their child. Consider doing the following before your child's meeting:

1) Request a copy of all evaluation results prior to the meeting so you do not have to read and attempt to understand it at the meeting. Call the school psychologist before the meeting with questions. This saves meeting time and gives you the information you need to later make decisions regarding your child.

2) If you think the evaluation does not truly reflect your child's abilities, ask for him/her to be reevaluated and figure-out what went wrong with the first evaluation (ie. student wasn't s=feeling well, evaluator was unfamiliar to child). You may choose to do an outside evaluation at a private provider.

3) Write down your child's strengths and weaknesses. These should be noted in the IEP with the strengths being focused on to find the best approach to teach the child.

4) Write down a list of IEP goals that your child needs to work on. They do not have to be written in a language that only a teacher understands, either on your checklist or the IEP itself.

IEP goals should be written in a manner that all attending the meeting can understand, since all those adults will be helping the child to meet those goals.

5) Think about the related services your child needs such as therapies, assistive technology, or transportation and how those should be provided.

6) Think about the past school year. What worked well and what did not work? Avoid the latter, next fall.

7) Either invite someone to go with you to your meeting (ie. an advocate, neighbor, grandparent) and/or tape the meeting to help you remember what was discussed.

During the Meeting

1) Be confident, ask questions, and introduce yourself to anyone seated that you do not know in order to find out why they are attending your child's meeting. Remember, parents know their child better than anyone else attending the meeting.

2) Determine as a group, what your child's goals should be, and make sure that he/she has the appropriate educational opportunities and activities to work on those goals.

3) Determine as a group, what extra supports or modifications the student needs in order to achieve his/her goal.

4) Determine, as a group, where the child will work on his goals with those supports and modifications. (Reminder to parents- the law clearly states this should be in a regular classroom unless the supports cannot be done there)

5) If the child is to be removed from the regular class settings, discuss, in detail, why he/she cannot be supported there. Make sure this is documented in the meeting minutes.

6) Sign the IEP only if you are in agreement with it. It is ok take time to think about it before signing.

7) Review the meeting mintues to make sure they accurately reflect what occurred during the meeting. Make any changes or additions as appropriate.

8) If you do not complete the IEP after 2 hours, reschedule another date to finish it. This will make better use of everyone's time and energy levels.

After the Meeting

1) Relax, before thinking about all the things to say or add to the IEP. Most parents of children with disabilities agree that IEP meetings are stressful regardless how well the meeting goes. You can always call another IEP meeting at the beginning of the next school year to make changes if necessary.

2) Be proactive in making sure that your child's teacher will have the information and supplies she needs to adapt the curriculum. You may want to help her acquire this over the summer.

3) Think of ways that you can reinforce what the teacher will be working on with your child. You may want to help your child "practice" certain skills over the summer. ~*~BACK~*~