Why and How to Read Your Child’s IEP Form

IEP Forms-Idividualized Education Program

I know few parents who look forward to attending their child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting. IEPs are difficult to read. Comprehending the IEP jargon and legalese can be daunting. Many parents are so intimidated by the document and the process surrounding its implementation that they “give up.” This is a mistake. Parents need to be engaged in this educational journey that will continue until their child’s very last day in high school or a post-secondary special education program.

I often ask why it is that only parents of children with special needs have to become experts in how to educate their children. Why do these parents have to understand and synthesize current research-based instruction, data-based decision-making or draft measurable and accountable IEPs? When is the last time that you heard the parents of a healthy, neuro-typical child lament the daily grind of learning how to educate their child or navigate state and federal education laws, rules, and policies?

I am a parent advocate. I have been my son’s advocate for the past twenty-two years, and an educational advocate assisting other parents for almost a decade. I know what it is to sit in an IEP team meeting as both the intimidated parent and as the educational advocate supporting other parents. I have seen parents overwhelmed in a meeting laden with the special education acronyms, rules, regulations, and negotiations that lead to the development of their child’s IEP. In my several decades of on-the-job-training, or “combat duty,” I have come to believe that reading an IEP is nothing short of having to learn and master a foreign language. But it can, and must be done.

Learning the Language of Special Education

As parents of children with special needs we pride ourselves on being experts. Unfortunately, too often we are expected to be experts in the field of public education, special education, and research-based educational best practices, written in a language that we do not fully understand. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA 2004) ensures that parents are equal members of their children’s IEP teams and with that comes an implied responsibility. Our children’s right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and meaningful educational benefit rests upon our willingness to embrace the uncomfortable and learn everything that we can about this special education Holy Grail – the IEP – and the special education acronyms inherent in building this document.

Key Special Education Acronyms
IDEA – Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004
IEP – Individualized Education Program
IEP Team – Individualized Education Program Team
IEE – Independent Educational Evaluation
BIP – Behavior Intervention Plan
PBS – Positive Behavior Supports

FBA – Functional Behavioral Assessment
LRE – Least Restrictive Environment
FAPE – Free Appropriate Public Education
PLAAFP – Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (also known as “PLOP”)
ESY – Extended School Year
CBM – Curriculum Based Measurement
RTI – Response to Intervention

Learning to read and to understand your child’s IEP is imperative to the health and well-being of his or her education. The purpose of an IEP is to prepare your child for “further education, employment, and independent living.” A child with an IEP has a right to learn and master grade-level benchmarks in reading, written expression, math, and all academic subjects. The first step toward understanding your child’s IEP is to learn about the contents of this educational document, including special education jargon that will indeed be foreign.

What Are the Contents of an IEP?

The IDEA states that when developing your child’s IEP, the team will consider the strengths of the child as well as the parents’ concerns about any aspect of the child’s academic achievement and functional performance. The body of the IEP contains the following areas which must be addressed by the IEP team – and this includes “you” the parent:

The results of evaluations and including district-wide and state assessments.

The PLAAFP is the heart, soul, and fidelity of your child’s IEP. It details your child’s disability and how it impacts his or her ability to access and make progress in the general education curriculum. The test of a well-written PLAAFP? A stranger should be able to read it and understand everything about your child’s present levels and educational needs.

The present level of academic, developmental, and functional needs of your child, commonly referred to as the “PLAAFP” or in some states as the present level of performance, the “PLOP .”

Special factors such as positive behavioral interventions, assistive technology devices, and services and communication needs.
Measurable and understandable annual goals, including academic and functional goals that will enable your child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum. Short-term objectives are required if your child takes an alternate assessment aligned to alternate achievement standards.
How your child’s progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured and reported to you.
Supplementary aids and services, including the accommodations necessary to measure your child’s progress on state- and district-wide standardized assessments.
A transition plan when your child turns 16, or earlier if the IEP team determines there is a need.
A statement of the special education and related services, such as speech and language, or direct instruction in research-based reading, written expression, and mathematics and the duration and frequency of these services.
An explanation of the extent to which your child will not participate in general education classes and extracurricular activities, also referred to as Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).
The need for Extended School Year (ESY) services.
The projected date for the implementation of the IEP. Many states have formal timelines for the district to offer FAPE and implement the IEP.

Be smart about your child’s IEP!

Always start on page one of your child’s IEP. Don’t let the IEP team skip it. Mistakes happen and incorrect contact information can lead to an IEP invitation being sent to the wrong address, or the school trying to reach you at the wrong phone number.
Check your state’s special education rules. Many states require annual goals with short-term objectives for all students with IEPs.
Your child’s progress on reading, writing and math goals should be reported no less than every 6 weeks.

Don’t minimize the “special factors.” Assistive technology can give your child greater access to grade level reading and written expression. Positive Behavior Supports and Behavior Intervention Plans should be a positive, not punitive, teaching instrument for a child struggling with attention, focus, impulsivity, distractibility, organization, problem-solving, and social skills.
Learn how to recognize and write goals and objectives that are measurable, accountable and data-driven. (Check out the Recommended Resources section for this article.)

Read Between the IEP Lines

Now you have the basic framework and language inherent to your child’s IEP. So what’s the problem? Why do most parents cringe when it is “that time of year again”? Do you sit in your child’s IEP team meeting feeling like a foreigner and non-participant? Do you have questions about your child’s IEP that go unanswered during the meeting? Do you take the IEP home and read it, only to find that what you discussed and thought you agreed to during the IEP team meeting has not been documented? Like invisible ink, did services disappear? Worse? Do you not read the IEP and then get upset when your child is receiving less speech and language or occupational therapy than you remember agreeing to at the IEP team meeting?

“If it is not written down, it was not said. If it was not written down, it did not happen.” So says Pete Wright, one of our nation’s most renowned and respected attorneys and scholars for children and adults with disabilities. Pete’s point? When you are sitting in your child’s IEP team meeting, ask questions. Don’t sit silently while teachers and clinicians talk above, around, and directly through you. If you don’t understand the special education jargon and acronyms flying faster than the speed of light, stop that teacher or that clinician and ask for an explanation until you understand. Then read the IEP to make sure that absolutely every program, service, and accommodation has been documented as discussed. Don’t go home and read the IEP only to find out that the 1:1 reading instruction has been documented as “small group instruction.” Never leave your child’s IEP team meeting without a copy of the IEP. If the IEP team meeting needs to be adjourned and reconvened at a later date, you still want to leave with a copy of the draft IEP, and any notes taken by members of the IEP team. You also have the right to record the IEP team meeting, so feel free to record away!

If you have Dyslexia and Can’t Read the IEP
Don’t let your learning disability stop you from participating in your child’s IEP! You have the right – and the responsibility – to ensure that what has been discussed has been documented. If you have dyslexia or any other reading disability, request that the IEP be scanned into a digital format and a text reader.

Special Education Groundhog Day

I have sat in thousands of hours of IEP team meetings. Many days I feel like I am living Special Education Groundhog Day – experiencing (like Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day) the same meeting with slight variations over and over again. Every day of the school year I hear parents request reasonable accommodations to their children’s IEPs, such as restating directions and checking the child for understanding, and teachers say, “We don’t need to put that into the IEP, I do that naturally.” My response never waivers – “I know that you are a very good teacher, but the IEP is not about you. If this family moves to another school district tomorrow, the next IEP team must be able to understand and implement the IEP as it is written. If this child needs an accommodation it must be written into the IEP.” Teachers are not mind readers. They provide accommodations to students with IEPs as they are documented. Remember, if it is not written down, it did not happen. So write it down, and make sure it is written correctly and completely.

IEPs are not verbal, they are written. Often I have parents call me in a panic about their child’s IEP. “My child is supposed to get extended time on tests and quizzes. We talked about it at the IEP team meeting but now my son’s teacher is telling me that extended time was not written into the IEP. What do I have to do?” Or, “My child’s previous IEP included occupational therapy two times per week for 30-45 minutes per session. It never occurred to me that this service would be reduced in his new IEP.” Now what? “My child is not making progress in reading, but I don’t know how to prove it because I don’t understand the goals or how the progress is being monitored.” My responses may vary but the message is always the same. Take a deep breath, and read your child’s IEP.

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Learn to Read Your Child’s IEP or Risk a Broken-Down Chevy

Since 1993, when the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a child with an IEP was only entitled to an education that was the equivalent of a “serviceable Chevrolet,” and not to a Cadillac, much has been made about the rights of a child with a disability to reach his or her maximum potential.

So while our children may not be legally required to receive a Cadillac education, neither can they be relegated to a broken-down Chevy with a dead battery, flooded engine, and four flat tires. My point? You would not buy a car without first carefully reading the contract. Your child’s IEP is a contract and must be read carefully for clarity and understanding.

As parents of children with disabilities we have been fighting for their right to a free and appropriate education for more than 100 years. We have been fighting for educational opportunities equal to that of their non-disabled peers. Read your child’s IEP. When something in the IEP does not make sense ask questions and demand answers in a language that makes sense to you. As with any contract, only with eyes wide open and clear understanding can you trust that the IEP is delivering meaningful educational benefit and a free appropriate public education. Your child deserves no less, and so much more.

Marcie Lipsitt lives in Michigan with her husband, son and three dogs. She is the founder and co-chair of the Michigan Alliance for Special Education, a grassroots advocacy organization. Marcie is a member of NCLD’s Parent Leaders Team.

This article was made possible by a grant from Oak Foundation.