Step 5 of 8
The IEP, and your seat at the table
What the document must contain, and the part parents most often do not realize is a legal right rather than a courtesy.
If your child is found eligible, the team writes an Individualized Education Program -- a legally binding document describing what the school will provide. It is not a wish list or a summary of the diagnosis; it is the enforceable commitment.
- Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, and how the disability affects involvement in the general curriculum.
- Measurable annual goals -- academic and functional -- plus how progress will be measured and when you will be told about it.
- The special education, related services, supplementary aids and program modifications the school will provide.
- An explanation of any time your child will spend away from non-disabled peers, and why.
- Accommodations for state and district assessments, or a justification for an alternate assessment.
- The start date, frequency, location and duration of each service -- the detail that makes an IEP enforceable rather than aspirational.
- Transition services, beginning no later than the first IEP in effect when your child turns 16 (some states start earlier).
You are a required member of the IEP team. The district must notify you early enough that you can actually attend, schedule the meeting at a mutually agreed time and place, offer alternatives such as a conference call if you cannot be there in person, arrange an interpreter if you need one, and give you a copy of the IEP at no cost. If a meeting is being scheduled at a time you cannot make, saying so is exercising a right, not being difficult.
You can bring someone with you -- the regulations expressly allow parents to include other individuals with knowledge or special expertise about your child. That can be a therapist who knows them, an advocate from your state's Parent Training and Information Center, or simply a second person to take notes while you listen.
Frequency and duration are where vague IEPs go wrong. "Speech therapy as needed" is not enforceable; "speech therapy, 2 x 30 minutes weekly, small group" is. If you read a draft and cannot tell exactly what your child will get and how often, that is worth raising in the meeting rather than after it.