Note: see the previous assignment for introductory remarks about ours school’s private status in regard to IDEA and IEP regulations.
To complete this assignment, I attended two IEP meetings, one of my own (for my son) and one for another student to which I was invited by the parents for the purpose of this assignment.
Although not required to do so by law, our school creates Individual Educational Plans for all students in our special needs program and meets annually with teachers and parents to review the IEP, make any changes that are needed and evaluate the student’s progress. In the meeting which I observed, the parents, whose child was nine years old, had been involved in this process at this school for six years. They were comfortable and familiar with the process, though I can easily imagine that many parents are not.
For a parent new to the process, an IEP meeting can be overwhelming, since there are so many professionals there and the parent likely feels unprepared. It’s easy for parents to simply sit idly by and watch, so care must be taken to keep them informed and involved throughout. There was no conflict of any kind at either meeting I attended and the members of the IEP team conducted themselves professionally.
A danger which I am aware of as a faculty member is that, after a certain number of these meetings, the process can become monotonous and the team may begin to make the same recommendations for every child. This must be avoided and it is up to the IEP coordinator to make this clear at the start of every meeting. This was not an issue at the meetings I attended but I know from experience that it is possible..