SpecialKids

10 Tips for Better IEP Meetings

by Randy Chapman

It’s a beautiful but busy Monday morning. Brenda opens Jeremy’s backpack to put in his sack lunch and finds a note informing her that his IEP meeting has been scheduled for the following Friday afternoon. Her mood immediately changes as anxiety turns to dread.

Jeremy, 8, has a learning disability and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He needs special education. While pleased that his school district provides special services, Brenda dreads the meetings needed to design his program.

Federal law requires public schools to develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), with parental participation, for every qualified student with a disability.

Brenda worries that the school district’s limited resources affect the school staff’s recommendations. She knows she can ask questions in the IEP meeting, but it’s hard. She finds it tough to speak up, and difficult to disagree with trained professionals. They don’t always seem open to her questions and ideas.

Parents of children with disabilities often face similar dilemmas. Here are 10 tips to make it easier.

1. Prepare and plan for your meeting. Look at the current IEP. Think about what is working well and what isn’t. Review recent evaluations and assessments. If you don’t have the most recent assessment done by the school district, ask for it. Make a list of questions you want to ask and points you would like to make at the IEP meeting.

2. Don’t attend the meetings alone. If possible, both parents should attend an IEP meeting, but it is also helpful to take someone else as an advocate or support person. Having someone to brainstorm with ahead of time, take notes in the meeting and ask questions can reduce your anxiety and help you participate more effectively.

3. Look at the notice inviting you to the IEP meeting. The notice should tell you who the school district intends to have at the IEP meeting. Are there additional individuals that you would like to attend the meeting? You have the right as a parent to invite others who have knowledge about your child’s special needs. For example, perhaps your child receives speech therapy from a private practitioner. Would you like that professional to attend the meeting to make recommendations? Be sure you and the provider agree on the cost for his participation.

4. Have the meeting scheduled at a convenient time for everyone. Are you and those you would like to attend the IEP meeting available at the time scheduled? If not, you have the right to have the meeting rescheduled at a reasonable, mutually convenient time.

5. While at the meeting make sure you ask all of your ques-tions and get answers. Educational professionals often speak in their own language. If you don’t understand something, don’t hesitate to ask that it be restated in more understandable terms.

6. Communicate what you would like to see in the IEP. As the parent, you are a member of the IEP team and you have important information about your child’s strengths and needs. While wanting to provide appropriate services, school staff can sometimes forget whose child it is. You have an important perspective to share and you do not have to just agree with what other team members recommend.

7. Make sure the meeting focuses on developing a program to meet the unique needs of your child. Special education is instruction designed to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. If the needs of other students or the school staff creep into the discussion, the meeting can get off track and result in a poor plan. These other needs may be important but should not influence your child’s IEP.

8. Make sure issues are discussed sufficiently and the meeting does not end without completing the task. Sometimes it takes longer to complete the IEP than the time the school has allotted. There is nothing wrong with scheduling another meeting to complete the IEP when all team members can be available.

9. Keep your cool. Try not to take comments about your child personally or encounter disagreement with anger. That can be difficult. The views of parents who become too angry can sometimes be discounted. So, try to keep cool.

10. Reexamine documents. Review the IEP document to make sure that everything agreed to in the meeting is written into it.

Randy Chapman is the director of legal services for Colorado’s Protec-tion and Advocacy System. He is the author of three books, including The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law, (The Legal Center, $29.95).