How to Prepare for an IEP Meeting
“It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare that makes the difference.”
Although this top tip seems obvious, preparing for Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings can be daunting and really time consuming. I was one of those parents who spent weeks preparing and pouring over data. The following tips focus on IEP meeting prep for a child who is receiving special education services.
Review your child’s quarterly progress reports and compare what goals and objectives have been mastered. Consider tracking goals and objectives in an excel spreadsheet. Give some thought as to whether mastered objectives are evidenced at home too. Is your child able to read the sight words that the he reads at school? If your child can decode the welded sound -ing, when he’s reading at home, can he read the words ring, thing, and sing? Put those goals and objectives to the test.
Review the current IEP line-by-line. Yes, it's a lengthy document – yet it’s important to be familiar what services your school is providing. Is the school adhering to the frequency and duration of services? Would your child benefit from additional services? If the district sends a draft IEP in advance of the annual IEP meeting, be sure to compare the current and proposed IEPs.
Review any past and current evaluations conducted by the school district and/or private evaluators. If you have questions about district evaluations, be sure to ask those questions in advance via email or during a prep call. The IEP meeting should not be spent in exhaustively reviewing evaluations. If you have had private evaluations conducted, then submit them to your team at least one week in advance so they too can fully prepare.
Document your concerns in a parent statement or parent input form. It is helpful to outline parent concerns and submit them in advance to the IEP meeting. These concerns often drive the agenda of the meeting. Has your child expressed school resistance? Is counseling support needed? Remember to look at the whole child and voice all concerns in writing.
Write down any questions that are still outstanding. Be sure to bring those questions to the IEP meeting with you.
Being fully prepared for an IEP meeting will lend to a more productive meeting and better outcomes for your child.
Read more of my Top Tips for Productive IEP Meetings including Building Your Village, Taking a Child-Centered Approach, Documenting, and Using Data to Drive Decisions.
