02/06/2021
The IEP Meeting: Team members, Friends or Foes?
The team traditionally consists of content area teachers, special education teacher, an administrator, the school psychologist, and the most important participants, the parents and child ( if the child is old enough). All of these learned and well -trained individuals that work for the school and have made it their mission in life to educate children surely have the child’s best interest at heart. In a perfect world, this would be the case, but too many times parents come across the following issues when participating in an initial IEP meeting or an annual review:
1. The School fails to properly explain the results of the testing and the full implications of the results on the student’s ability to learn and make progress. Example: Your child scored in the very low range in executive functioning and processing and most children his or her age typically score in the average range.
2. The Team will tell the family that they do not have enough data to comment on progress or lack of progress but will push forward in designing and drafting a brand-new IEP.
3. The Team will keep the student in the current program even though the student has not shown any progress towards his or her IEP goals over the past few years.
4. The Team will offer a rewards system for performance in an IEP which does not foster intrinsic motivation and focuses on a tangible item as a reward.
5. The Team will not invite the child to the IEP meeting even though he/ she is old enough and they do not have the opportunity to be heard.
6. The Team will over service the student creating a new issue.
7. The Team will claim that they do not offer that service, or any service likened to it at their school and therefore it cannot be implemented in the IEP even though it is appropriate.
8. The Team will refuse a residential placement even though it would be the most appropriate setting and least restrictive environment for that student due to cost to the district.
I’d love to hear from you!
What has your IEP experience been?
Were the Team members Friend or Foe?
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