The IEP Team: The Law, the Reality and the Dream - Page 2

The IEP team must include a representative from the school district who is knowledgeable about the availability of resources, the general education curriculum, and continuum of special education programs. 

The IEP team requires an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluations, such as a school psychologist, occupational therapist, and social worker. You can request the attendance of other individuals who have knowledge specific to your child’s educational needs. The school district can also request attendance of other individuals with expertise regarding an area of the IEP. Some you may be unfamiliar with, but your school district must let you know they are attending, in advance. 

If your child has been receiving outside services under Part C of the IDEA, you can request that your child’s Part C services provider attends the IEP team meeting. 

Your Child’s Attendance at the IEP Team Meeting

Last but never least, is consideration of your child’s attendance at the IEP team meeting. A child must be invited if he or she is 16 years of age and transition or post-secondary goals will be discussed. 

You have the right to request that your child not attend through his or her 18th birthday, but as an educational advocate I often suggest to parents that they have their child attend the beginning of the IEP team meeting. This can allow a child the opportunity to develop and practice self-advocacy skills. I encourage my students even as young as seven to voice their concerns about any aspect of school. On the other hand there are children who are sensitive to any discussion centered on their learning challenges and participation in an IEP team meeting is not productive. A child’s attendance at an IEP team meeting is a decision that should be considered with thoughtful care.

Excusing Team Members

The law has provisions for excusing team members. This is often a point of confusion – or confrontation, frustration, and misinformation!  I recommend that you read the following, read it again – and memorize it!

An IEP team member may be excused only when: (1) a parent and the school district consent in writing to excuse the team member and, (2) the team member submits that input in writing to the parent and the IEP team before the meeting. A team member may also be excused when the team member’s area of expertise is not being discussed or modified during the meeting. For example, if your child receives occupational therapy (OT) as part of his IEP and you won’t be talking about or changing the OT goals or services during the meeting, the occupational therapist does not need to attend, provided that you and the school district agree in writing prior to the meeting. 

So that’s the basic legal requirement for your child’s IEP team. Should be easy driving from here on out, right? Ah…not so fast.

Real-life IEP Team Meetings

There are the legal requirements for the IEP team. Then there is the everyday school reality, including school district-created urban legends. There are parents’ hopes and dreams of what the IEP team should be – and must be, if your child and the other six million students in the United States with IEPs are ever to receive an education designed to meet their unique and individual needs.

What is a dream IEP team?  In September 2010, the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities said that the IEP team is “Made up of individuals who bring different perspectives and expertise to the table. Pooling their knowledge, team members set out to craft an individualized response to a specific child’s needs, taking into account that same child’s strengths and talents. The end product is the child’s individualized education program.”  

Sounds lovely – and it’s an excellent idea, but it’s much closer to the dream and promise of the IDEA 2004, than to the IEP team reality parents face in the here-and-now.

When I asked parents what their idea of a “Dream IEP Team” characteristic was, the number one response was “honesty.” Not this expert or that professional, but honesty.

It sounds harsh, until you’ve traveled the FAPE road a time or two. Here’s the reality of most IEP Team meetings.

Hard-to-Find Team Members

Remember “Where’s Waldo”? You, the parent, walk into the meeting and discover that “Waldo” is out searching for the related service providers who are supposed to be at the meeting but are not – so why the search? The related service providers are contract employees assigned to school buildings on scheduled days of the week, or they are district employees and assigned to intractable schedules with burgeoning caseloads. As such, their schedules may not align with your child’s IEP team meeting. 

Under the IDEA, however, related service providers can’t base their attendance respective to the day or days of the week that they are contracted for, or assigned to your child’s school. Attendance by related services providers is necessary when their area of the curriculum will be discussed and annual goals or supplementary aids will be drafted.

The School District’s Representative

The district representative attending the IEP team meeting must have the authority to expend district resources and offer FAPE. Typically when educational advocates attend an IEP team meeting there is a special education director or supervisor who knows that district dollars may come into play. 

Still, every once in a while I attend a meeting with a principal or special education teacher who is acting as the district’s authority. When I raise points about special education programs and supplementary aids such as assistive technology, additional tutoring or extended school year services I hear, “Whoa, wait a minute! We need to adjourn and reconvene with the Director or Supervisor of Special Education.” 

You want to avoid having to adjourn and reconvene an IEP team meeting simply because a service or accommodation will cost the district money that only a special education administrator can expend.