Tear Up the IEP!
Okay, not literally. We do not want parents and educators running to the paper shredder or ripping IEP papers and telling people that we told them to do it. What we do want is parents and educators to start paying attention to the IEP details. Tear up the details of the IEP for your child or students.
Parents, stop looking at the IEP document and process as an overwhelming project. Break down each compartment of the IEP and you will find parts. Focus on the parts that you can tweak with your child's education team and that will create a huge impact.
Has this ever happened to you?
As we tore through an IEP with a parent, we discovered that the OT minutes were not listed in the IEP document. Now, we all knew that the child should be receiving OT. The OT was even coming to work with the child. Unfortunately the OT was inconsistent and there was no documentation of the amount of OT time required in the IEP. The parents renegotiated the OT service and the child began to have consistent progress. This would not have happened if we did not look at the IEP details.
Teachers, stop looking at the IEP documents in bulk. When you write 3 IEP's in one night, they are bound to start looking the same in many ways. Try concentrating on one student and IEP at a time. We know how short your time is and are not asking you to spend more time on an IEP. We are just requesting that you give each IEP individual time. Try knocking out one IEP a night. When I was teaching I loved giving myself rewards for completing the dreaded paperwork...3 nights of IEP's means 3 nights of rewards! Find what works for you and remember what you write in an IEP makes a huge impact in your student's life-long success
How do you tear through an IEP?
Top 10 IEP Questions for Parents & Teachers
1. When is the child's IEP anniversary date?
2. When is the reevaluation due?
3. Do the Present Levels of Performance accurately describe the child?
4. Does the Annual Goal describe where the child should be in one year?
5. Do the objectives/benchmarks help the child achieve the annual goal?
6. Are support services listed correctly?
7. Are accommodations and modification listed?
8. Is the parental concern/comment section filled out?
9. If your child/student is 14 ½ years old or older, is there a transition plan?
10. Do you still agree with the implementation of this document?
With a little patience and a lot of courage, teachers and parents could tear up IEP documents together! Make your next parent/teacher conference more effective than ever before. Use this time to review the IEP details with each other and communicate progress and next steps. Just imagine...if you tore up the child's IEP with each member of the team individually, you would not have to tear your hair out at the next IEP meeting.
Copyright 2007 Precision Education
