Five IEP Tips for the Upcoming School Year
Back to school time brings both excitement and stress for me. My daughter, now 15, has had an IEP since she started in Kindergarten. Through the years, I’ve discovered ways to support my child and prepare for the upcoming school year. Here are five things that I try to do every school year.
1 — All Communication Should be in Writing
It took me a while to build this habit. It may seem really easy to make a quick phone call to your child’s teacher or case worker and we all want to trust that we remember what we discuss. Try to avoid doing this. With anything IEP-related, documentation is key. IEP meeting discussions should be documented for future accountability. I know it’s not always feasible to avoid every phone conversation. Take notes, send an email summarizing the discussion, and confirm with the involved parties. If you have pre-scheduled phone conversations or meetings, ask about recording the call. Guidelines on meeting or call recording should also be detailed in the procedural safeguards document for your school district. The IEP team should have sent you a copy of this document. If you don’t have it, ask for one.
2 — Follow Up Every Discussion or Action with a Summary Email
Following up every discussion or action related to your child’s IEP with a summary email is a good idea. Every parent-teacher conference, discussion, and especially every IEP meeting should have a summary email to accompany that is sent to all parties involved. You can request to have this specifically filed in your child’s academic record, but it should become a part of it automatically. Over the years, I have experienced “email amnesia” where the school district claims that they never had such a document or it was purged per their document retention policy.
3 — Request That Your Child’s Work be Saved and Samples Sent Home Periodically
At the beginning of the school year, clarify that your child’s work should be saved with samples sent home periodically. Aside from regular goal progress recording, your child’s classwork is a good indicator of progress. I’ve kept an eye out for some general things on my child’s classwork.:
- Is my child’s name written out legibly on the page in her own handwriting?
- Was the work completed by my child?
- Does most work sent home comprise dittos or worksheets that aren’t really effective teaching tools?
- If my child has reading goals, is she being made to do worksheets that have pictures with a matching word underneath? This is called cueing and is unacceptable in reading instruction. I could write an entire series on this as there is just too much ground to cover here.
Make sure classwork helps your child’s IEP goals.
4 — Review IEP Goals and Data Gathering Methods
This one is especially important to review before school starts for the year. Are the goals still appropriate after Summer break? Has there been a loss of skill? Gaining of skill? Make data collection methods and frequency for each goal clear. An IEP meeting should be called if goals are vague or require changes. It is your right to do so. This data gathering will be an important part of the body of evidence to show progress towards goals. Unfortunately, I have experienced someone forging this after the fact when they didn’t include the data in the progress report.
5 — Ensure You Have a Documented Communication Plan
Clear and timely communication is an important part of ensuring your child is successful in achieving their academic and life goals. In the past, I have used a folder or planner that comes home each day with my daughter. One side is teacher communication, the other is our response. Also, ask about class blogs or newsletters to track progress and happenings in the classroom. You can subscribe to these to get regular updates. Whatever the method, set the expectation that communication will happen at a regular interval. Goals can be adjusted earlier than the IEP meeting if things are off-track.
The IEP and IEP team are an integral part of your child’s academic and life skills development. Don’t let casual relationships with team members affect the need for clear expectations and documentation. My daughter starts school again soon, so I have a few emails drafted and ready to send to the team. Following these tips will help you start the school year off right.
