| IEP Time
Spring is the season to look ahead. We know with planning, our garden will look beautiful. So it is with your child�s education; planning is the key. Start now to prepare for their next school year. Make a list of goals that you and your child have for next year. Make a list of past problems to avoid. You may take anyone you wish into your IEP meeting for support. You may also record the meeting, if that would be helpful. Now is the time for a successful Fall plan. This article is a great place to start. 10 COMMON MISTAKES PARENTS MAKE DURING THE IEP MEETING by M. Foley, MEd, and DeAnn Hyatt-Foley, MEd 1. Believing the professionals are the only experts It can be very intimidating to sit at a table with several educators and professionals. Professionals/Educators do bring a great deal of knowledge and experience to the table. Although most parents do not have a background or degree in education they have a great deal of experience regarding their child. Parents are experts in their own right; they also provide historical information and the big picture year to year. They know what works and what does not work with their child and can be a great asset to the IEP team. We encourage parents to follow their hunches. If something does not sound right, check it out. Usually after some research, parents will discover their hunch was correct. 2. Not making requests in writing Any request a parent makes needs to be in writing. This includes requests for assessments, IEP meetings, correspondence, related services, etc. Written requests are important because they initiate timelines that the school district must follow in response to your request. This will also create a paper trail. When you write a letter, be sure to send it certified mail. When you have a discussion by phone with a school official, write a letter that briefly outlines what you talked about. Documenting your conversations helps prevent miscommunication. 3. Not being familiar with Prior Written Notice of the Procedural Safeguards: All sections of the procedural safeguards are important to parents. This particular section gives parents some leverage during the IEP meetings. Whenever parents make a request for their child in the IEP meeting, the IEP committee is required under Prior Notice to provide the parents with written notice within a reasonable period of time. We have found many instances where a parent requests an assessment or service only to have the IEP team tell the parent it cannot be done. By making all requests in writing and by requiring the IEP team to provide Prior Notice, the parents make the team accountable for its decisions. This practice also takes issues out of the emotional areas, allowing team members to focus on IDEA standards. 4. Requesting a related service instead of an assessment that supports the need for a related service Many times parents will request services such as speech therapy, etc. in the IEP meeting. Frequently, the IEP committee will respond by stating that the student does not need the service. We recommend that parents do not request the service but request the assessment that supports the need for the related service. For example, instead of requesting speech for the child, request a speech assessment. Only a certified or licensed professional is qualified to determine if a child needs or does not need a particular related service. As in #2, list the reasons why you think an assessment is educationally necessary for your child and submit a request to the IEP committee as part of the IEP minutes. 5. Accepting assessment results that do not recommend the services you think your child needs. Sometimes parents receive assessment results that do not accurately describe their child and/or do not recommend the amount and duration of services the parent thinks the child needs. Under 34 CFR 300.352 Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE), parents of a child with a disability have the right to obtain an independent evaluation at public expense if they disagree with the results of the school�s assessment. When the parent requests the IEE (in writing), the school has one of two choices: they may either provide the IEE in a reasonable period of time or they may take the parents to due process hearing. When an IEE is agreed upon, parent and school must come to an agreement as to who is qualified to assess the student. The examiner for an IEE cannot be employed by the school district. Parents should request the school district�s policy on guidelines and qualification for their examiner. 6. Allowing the assessment information to be presented for the first time at the IEP meeting Parents are entitled to have the assessment information explained to them before the IEP meeting. We encourage parents to have the person who administered the assessment give them a copy of the report and meet with them to explain the report several days before the IEP meeting. This enables the parents to think through the information before making decisions for their child. If all the IEP decisions are based on the information from the assessment, it only makes sense for the parents to be knowledgeable and informed about the assessment results in a way they can understand. (This means a translator if the parents have English as a second language.) 7. Accepting goals and objectives that are not measurable Measurable goals and objectives are paramount for your child�s IEP. Without measurable goals and objectives, it is difficult to determine if your child has had a successful school year. In working with parents, we have encountered many IEP goals and objectives that are not measurable. All goals and objectives should come from assessment data. After the information has been collected about the student it is compiled into an assessment report. Recommendations on how to work with the student are listed toward the end of the report. If you receive an assessment report that does not give recommendations for potential goals and objectives, the assessment is not complete. After the assessment has been completed, the IEP committee determines the student�s present level of performance (PLOP) and states what the student is currently able to do. The committee then develops the IEP goals and objectives. The goals state what the student is expected to accomplish in a year. Objectives break the goals down into increments. 8. Allowing placement decisions to be made before the IEP goals and objectives are written Many times after the assessment is discussed, the IEP committee will determine the child�s placement. Goals and objectives are always written before placement is discussed. To ensure that the child is placed in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), the IEP committee must determine: * Which of these goals and objectives can best be met in the general education classroom? *With any remaining goals and objectives that cannot be met in the general education classroom, the committee determines which of these goals and objectives can be best met in the general education classroom with modifications and support. 9. Allowing your child�s IEP meeting to be rushed so that the school staff can begin the next child�s IEP meeting This practice is particularly common at the end of the school year when educators are frantically trying to have IEP meetings for all the students who receive special education services. IEP meetings may be held one right after another. There is no problem with the practice as long as the members of the IEP team feel that all issues have been adequately addressed before ending the IEP meeting. When the educators have not planned adequate time to address all relevant issues, request the IEP team meet again at a more convenient time to further discuss your child�s education. 10. Not asking questions It is very important to ask questions and LOTS of them. Educators use many terms and acronyms specific to special education. Parents may become confused when these terms are used during the IEP meeting. This can add to the frustration that a parent may already be feeling when they do not understand what is being said. It is very important to ask what the terms or acronyms mean. Unless a parent has a background in special education, they are not expected to know the terms and acronyms. Informed decisions cannot be made when parents do not understand what is being discussed. Reprinted from Spina Bifida Association of Dallas, The Horizon, Issue No. 4, March/April 2004. |
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