Prepping for your IEP meeting

Learn

• Read the IEP draft before the meeting

  You have the right to request a draft of the IEP before the meeting.

  If there’s a section you aren't sure about, highlight it. Mark it up. That way, when you come to the meeting, you're not trying to look through it at that moment and figure out, "OK, what are my questions?"

  If it's your first IEP meeting, and you're seeing this thick document, that can be very overwhelming. You can tell the team, "I need you to explain this." Make them explain every section you don't understand.

• Brainstorm with your child

  Talk about what is and isn't working with their IEP and with school in general. You may be surprised at how insightful your child can be.

  One thing in particular you might want to ask about is accommodations. For example, is your child reluctant to use any of the accommodations that are in the IEP? These kinds of details are helpful to share with a team.

  Listen
• Write down your questions

  Write down your questions so you don't forget any of them during the meeting, and put the questions in order so you can ask the most important ones first.

  Here's one question you might want to ask. In the meeting, the team will talk about how often your child will receive services and where they'll receive these services. But this can be hard for a lot of families to visualize. So you might want to ask, “What will a typical school day look like for my child?”

  Listen
• Prioritize your goals for the meeting

  Think about what you want for your child's school experience. Make a list of three to five things that are really important to you and your child.

  Here's an example. Let's say your child needs speech therapy. And let's say art class is the only thing that gets your child out of bed in the morning. You need to explain this to the IEP team, so that they'll try to avoid pulling your child out of art class to go to speech therapy.

  Listen
• Bring a support person

  OK, so we've been talking about who must be at the IEP meeting. But you can also bring other people if you want to.

  For example, you may want a friend or family member to take notes and provide emotional support. And if this person knows your child well, that's even better.

  Another person you can bring to the IEP meetings is a parent advocate. This is typically someone you hire. A lot of parent advocates have either worked at a school or have a child who has an IEP, so they know how the system works.

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