My Top 3 IEP Tips for 2020
We are in a new decade now! I also know that people have had some slow starts in getting to what their children need this year. One of the things that you need to be thinking about now - in January - is the next school year and how your children will be finishing out their current school year and their current special education programs.
The first thing you need to do is pull out the current IEP: dust it off! You may not even know where it is! In that case you need to ask the school district for a copy. Pull out the current IEP that's in place for your child right now. Look at that in terms of the present levels of performance, the IEP goals, the measurements of those goals, any kind of progress reports that you have for those goals. And if you don't have any, you need to request those now.
Look at that at these areas and see if your child's really in the same place. Children change quite dramatically- I know my son changes week to week and sometimes you need to think about where your child was at the time of that IEP and if that still stands today.
That is really critical as we move forward in the next thing, which is the second tip: pulling out the current assessments. When I say current assessments, I mean ALL the assessments that were in place at the time the current IEP was developed. These are sort of like foundation building blocks.
Look at these assessments and see if your child is still at the same place developmentally, socially, emotionally, academically, behaviorally (especially). Check to see if your child's in the same place because if they're not, you may need to be requesting new assessments.
Which brings me to my third tip: calling an IEP meeting! The reason I'm asking you to go ahead and go into an IEP is because I would like you to get some things on the record in terms of your parental concerns. If you reviewed the IEP before and you know that your child's not at the same place, it's nice to be able to tell that to the team and in an IEP setting and say “This is where my child is, this is what I think is going on”. They might need more services to support. Maybe they need less. Maybe they progressed quite a bit. Every child is different, but you want to say that in that context.
The other reason that you want to call that meeting now versus later is because if there are things that are going on behind the scenes that your child needs to have done, the school district has a certain time frame to complete testing and assessments. If you were to call an assessment today, they've got a certain timeframe to conduct that assessment. The longer you delay that, the more you're looking at going past spring break possibly past summer. I have parents that come to me and are requesting assessments at the end of the year. That's great, but then we've got summer break and we're looking at going back into the new school year with really nothing developed, no new assessments, no new plan, no agreed upon IEP goals. There are so many things that have to happen to develop a child's educational plan. This is why my advice is to schedule the IEP meeting now versus later - so that you can get some things on the record with regard to where your child's progress is and where it isn't.
Other things that you need to do are go ahead and take a friend with you to that IEP meeting. I was a special ed advocate for 17 years and I know how emotional it can be when you're talking about your child's deficits with a group of people and a group of professionals. So this is something that you might want to bring a friend to. This is not necessarily a special ed advocate - just somebody for emotional support is really helpful. The other thing that you might want to do (which is beyond three tips, but who’s counting), is to inform the school that you are going to be recording. The time frame to do that here in California is 24 hours but I always advise to simply inform the district in writing at the time you request the IEP, so that parents do not forget.
These are more than three tips for today, but hopefully that gives all parents who are at a loss with the beginning of the new year and gives a beginning point. Thank you - and good luck!
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The information provided in this video does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information available in this video is for general informational purposes only.