How to Prepare for Your Child’s IEP Meeting
Raising a child with an identified learning disability is a frequent and ongoing advocacy exercise. And perhaps one of the most confusing things these parents will need to navigate is the IEP or IEP process. This is a special educational to-do list that parents and schools create to ensure that a child with a disability receives specialized instruction and makes progress. The plan identifies your child’s educational needs, goals, and objectives. And creating it can be overwhelming and intimidating.
Currently, the IEP involved more students than ever before: the report ” Status of Education for 2018″ issued by the Ministry of Education, found that 6.7 million students aged 3 to 21 years received special education for 2015-16 academic year, up from 6.6 million. in the previous school year.
With so many children going through this process, how can a parent or caregiver be confident that an individualized plan is best for their child, challenging them without creating unrealistic expectations? While the specifics of the IEP process vary from state to state, there are several universal ways that all parents can help ensure that their child ends up with a suitable plan.
Prioritize meetings and bring help
Annual IEP meetings are usually held at the school before, during, or after regular school hours. By law, the school must tell you something in writing, according to the Parent Information and Resource Center , a site for parents of children with disabilities. They should tell you:
- Aim of the meeting
- Its time and place
- Who will be present (usually parent, school administrator, general education teacher, special education teacher, assessment staff, and your child if they can participate)
- And that you can invite other people with special knowledge or experience about your child.
This last detail is very important: the meeting can be overwhelming, so it’s helpful to have someone to protect your child and support you as a parent, according toUnderstanding , an organization that provides resources for those who learn and think differently. Details can easily be overlooked, and a second set of ears can pick up on what you might have missed.
Just be sure to inform the school that you are inviting another member; you don’t want anyone to be surprised when you walk in with someone they aren’t expecting. Also keep in mind that it may take more than one appointment to create the program, so this first appointment can turn into two or more.
Learn about your child’s legal rights
Special education is a legal right and your school must provide information about these laws. Request this information and read it carefully before meeting. You are your child’s number one advocate and your voice is very important. FindLaw.com , a website that provides affordable legal information for consumers and small businesses, says:
As you study these laws and protections, remember that as a parent, you make equal decisions when it comes to your child’s needs. Because your child’s teachers and assistants assess your child’s performance in school, you are the only one who can see your child at home and elsewhere. Therefore, your voice in the meeting is very important.
Get ready for tough things
As their parent, you know more about your child than anyone. You know their personality and what makes them laugh. You know what they are good at and what they struggle with. You know all of their unique qualities and complexities.
But during an IEP meeting, professionals may talk cold and unpleasant about your child. Goals may seem unrealistic, especially for people with more severe disabilities. Someone with dyslexia, for example, may have an IEP that includes accommodations such as giving the student more time to take the test, which is logical and beneficial. But for others, like my brother Joey, who is autistic, non-verbal, and always in need of 24/7 care, IEP goals are difficult to define.
For example, a draft IEP when Joey was about 13 years old read: “When working on word recognition and reading, it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what he knows or does not know due to lack of vocalization … When Joey was asked to read a word, a phrase, sentence, it’s hard to understand, to know if he understands all the words he read. “
Right. Joey is hard to understand. Because Joey can’t talk.
One of the goals was to improve his “math” skills with six tasks, including subtraction, five-counting, and timing. Joey is now 30 years old and I’m pretty sure he can’t do any of this. Seeing these goals can make parents feel like their child is set to fail, and you must be prepared to fight back when needed.
Focus on your strengths
The trick, which is not easy, is to remember that the facts of the IEP do not define your child. In avideo produced by Understanding , parent Amanda Maureen says it took her a long time to maintain a positive outlook on her child’s IEP:
It’s so hard to shake off the thought that the diagnosis is equal to your child and be able to look at this report, take a deep breath and realize that this is what we are using to make sure he is getting what he needs.
To help deal with how difficult it can be to write down all of your child’s problems, Maureen, who has two children with learning and attention problems, says she writes down her son’s strengths at the bottom of the report as a reminder of everything he is. can do. …