IEP Meeting Conversation Stoppers - Page 2

Stopper #3: “We have developed our own reading curriculum for this reading class.”

What are the issues?

Unless the curriculum, which is defined as the content and the methodology used to teach that content, has been shown to have produced positive learning outcomes for all students or for students with disabilities, there are legitimate questions that parents and other IEP members must raise. Specifically, IDEA now requires that services provided to students under the IEP must be based on peer-reviewed research. Peer-reviewed research is that which has been reviewed by other education experts and can be applied to other situations, can be tested with other groups of children and can be built upon by other researchers.

Here are possible responses:

“Our job as an IEP team is to make sure that the curriculum that is used for Maria’s instruction is based upon solid education research. If there is a particular curriculum used at this school or in this program, then I would like to see the research that proves that the curriculum has been successful in meeting the instruction needs of students like Maria before we can agree.”

“The research on reading indicates that a reading program needs to contain several essential components — Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension — to be effective for most children. Can you provide us with independent research which shows that your reading program adequately provides each of the required components?”

Stopper #4: “First we’ll work on skills and then we’ll see if your child is ready for this academic class.”

What are the issues?

The purpose of special education is to provide the “specially designed instruction,” services and supports that will allow children with disabilities to receive benefit from their public school classes and activities. There is evidence to suggest that children and adults do better when they are instructed in the same educational environment where the skills are to be used. Students who require extra help, or individual attention should receive it. But parents and teachers need to take care when considering how and where that individualized support is provided.

Here are possible responses:

“I want to make sure that Juan receives the individual instruction and reinforcement that he needs. I also want the IEP team to work with me to make sure that Juan is not held back or that he misses other opportunities to learn the same information as his classmates.”

“Juan may not have all the skills the other children have, but he can be a part of his general classroom with support. We can make learning those skills part of his IEP and his special education services. Besides, I am sure that there will be other children in Juan’s class who need to learn similar skills as well.”

Stopper #5: “We’ll be using teacher observation to measure progress toward your child’s annual IEP goal.”

What is the issue?

Reporting of progress toward the achievement of each annual goal is designed to provide parents with interim reports about how their child is doing. To be accurate, such reports must be based on “objective measures.” This means that there must be something besides what the teacher thinks or sees to determine progress. An object measure might be counting the number of times your child successfully completes a class assignment, a simple weekly checklist of sight words recognized, or a more formal assessment tied to your child’s goals. While a structured observation by the teacher or another member of the school staff can be one way to measure progress, teacher observations cannot serve as the only measure of progress. Another issue that might be causing this conversation stopper is that the goals may not be written very well. Check to see if the goals in your child’s IEP are written so they can actually be measured objectively.

Possible responses are:

“It’s not going to be possible for me to know if Natasha is making progress unless we have some objective measures written into her IEP. What other measures can we use to track her progress toward reaching these annual goals?”

“We need to think about some more formal ways of measuring Natasha’s progress. Sometimes it takes quite a while for Natasha to learn new material. I need to know what assessments we are going to use to ensure that she is mastering the really important skills on this IEP.”

Stopper #6: “Your child’s behaviors are disrupting the classroom.”

What are the issues?

Concerns about your child’s behavior should not be introduced for the first time at the IEP meeting. Students benefit most when teachers and parents communicate frequently and share concerns or problems when they happen. Students with disabilities, such as learning disabilities, may have difficulty communicating their wants and needs, may not like “letting go” of an activity they enjoy, or may challenge adults when “beginning” an activity they don’t like or have failed at in the past. Many students need help preparing for transitions throughout the day or in learning how to get positive attention from friends or teachers. Some children with significant learning or emotional needs can engage in challenging behavior when they are upset or angry. It is very important for the IEP team to respond to problem behaviors immediately, and to bring additional professional help to the school to do functional behavior assessments so that positive goals, interventions and support strategies can be developed for school and home.

Here are possible responses:

“Kevin’s behavior can be disruptive at home, too. But we know that when Kevin feels like he is communicating his wants and needs and when he is not frustrated, his behavior is much better and is not disruptive. I need the IEP team to help everyone understand why Kevin has hard days sometimes and what we can do to help Kevin improve his communication, his response to instruction and his social skills.”

“Kevin has a lot of strengths. He loves music, he is funny and enjoys humor, and he really tries hard to do what his teachers and we expect him to do. He wants very much to be with other boys his age and socialize. Why can’t we use Kevin’s strong skills and the things he really likes to do to help him get better at handling the things that frustrate or upset him?”