Table of Contents:

• How to Be an Effective Advocate
• How to Conduct an IEP Conference
• How to Prepare for an IEP Conference
• How to Develop an IEP Goal
• How to Develop IEP Objectives
• How to Determine Least Restrictive Environment
• How to Modify Instruction
• How to Proceed if You Don’t Agree with the School
• Negotiation:  An Acquired Art

How to Be an Effective Advocate

Advocacy is more than demanding services.  A good advocate knows the laws, is organized and knows how to listen as well as speak.

• Gather information about the service/placement you are advocating for.
• Learn your rights.
• Be prepared with information, law, and court cases that support your position.
• Be assertive, not antagonistic.
• Be a good listener.  Always let the other person finish speaking before you speak.
• Don’t assume anything.  Ask questions if you don’t understand something.
• Don’t be controlled by the clock.  Never make decisions you haven’t had time to consider.
• Cooperate.  You may not agree with a placement or programs, but look at it so you can make an informed decision.
• Separate the people from the problem.  Don’t allow personal feelings to cloud issues.
• Stick with the issue.
• Don’t get sidetracked.

Tips:

Try to be proactive, rather than negative

Try to remain open to solutions you may not have considered

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How to Conduct an IEP Conference

If you follow a few simple steps, your IEP conferences will go smoothly and you won’t omit any steps.

• Have everyone at the meeting introduce themselves and clarify their positions.

• Advise parents of procedural safeguards.

• Review results of successful interventions.

• Review evaluation data.

• Review previous IEP (if applicable).

• Have parent(s) describe the home setting and any special equipment the child uses.

• Determine the area(s) of the child’s needs.

• Develop goals and short-term educational objectives.

• Determine services needed to implement each goal and related objectives.

• Determine who will monitor progress.

• Determine how often progress will be measured.

• Determine how progress will be measured.

• Determine the least restrictive environment where services will be provided. 

• Address transition issues (if applicable).

• Sign the IEP if all who is present-agrees.

Tips:

Keep issues focused on the child and the educational process.

Don’t hesitate to schedule another IEP conference if one seems to be at a standstill.

People can produce more effective results if they’re not tired and frustrated.

A little humor never hurts to relieve tense situations.

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How to Prepare for an IEP Conference

Preparing for an IEP conference involves a few simple steps.  Follow these steps and you should be prepared!

• Ask for an IEP review

• Gather and organize records of your child’s progress

• List the information you want to share

• List concerns you would like addressed at the IEP meeting

• Look over last year’s IEP

• Note areas in the IEP that you might have questions about to discuss at the meeting

• Notify the school if you want specific people at the IEP conference

• Check your child’s file at school if you feel there is information you need to be aware of in it

• Include your child in the IEP conference if appropriate

• Notify the school if you will be bringing someone other than your spouse to the meeting with you

• Take a friend, relative, another parent, or an advocate with you if it will make you feel more comfortable

• Take paper and pencil to jot down notes

• Be prepared to speak, as well as listen to the information you will hear

Tips

What you know about your child is important to share with members of the IEP team

Keep personal stories at a minimum and use them only if they pertain to an educational goal

Start each meeting with the attitude that it will go well.  Going in with a negative attitude may affect your perception about what is being said

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How to Develop an IEP Goal

Developing IEP goals can be frustrating.  Follow these steps to help create goals that are appropriate

• Be aware of the child’s present level of performance
• List the student’s strengths
• List the student’s weaknesses
• Decide what the child should learn or be able to do
• Consider the long-term effects of the goal you have chosen. Is it something the child needs to learn to progress toward your vision of their future?  Does it meet the educational or social standard?
• Determine what the child can reasonably accomplish in one school year
• Determine the need for specialized instruction to accomplish the goal
• Decide who will provide the specialized instruction
• Write the goal so it is easily understandable to all the IEP meeting participants

Tips:

Remember to write goals that the child will be able to accomplish.  You can always revisit the IEP and add to goals that have been mastered.

Consider the whole picture when developing goals.  Try to write goals that have relevance to the child and their unique needs.

Avoid jargon.

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How to Develop IEP Objectives

Once you decide on an IEP goal, the next step is to develop objectives that will lead to the mastery of the goal.  Follow these steps to help create meaningful objectives:

• Determine the intermediate steps necessary to reach the IEP goal

• Break them down into manageable steps for the student

• Decide what modifications may be needed to accomplish the objective

• Develop the objective, keeping in mind that it needs to be able to be evaluated.  Decide how many times it needs to be done before it can be considered mastered

• Decide how the evaluation will be demonstrated:  charts, work accomplished, test scores, observation

•  Determine who will be responsible for evaluating the progress

• Decide how often the objective will be evaluated

•  Decide where the child will be expected to accomplish the objective.  Will it be in one environment or multiple environments?

• Make the objective understandable to all the IEP meeting participants

• Write the objectives on the IEP form

Tips:

Remember to write objectives that the child will be able to accomplish.  You can always re-visit the IEP and add to objectives that have been mastered

If the objective needs to be mastered at home and in the community, as well as school, it needs to be documented in the IEP

Remember the IEP needs to be re-visited at least annually

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How to Determine Least Restrictive Environment

The least restrictive environment (LRE) begins in the regular classroom.  Follow these steps to decide what environment is right for individual children:

• In what areas is the child successful? Do not remove children from the regular education environment if they are experiencing success there

• Determine which areas the child is experiencing difficulties in

• Try modifications/accommodations in the areas where the child is experiencing difficulties

• Discuss which supplementary aids, services, and modifications may be needed to insure success for the child

• If education cannot be provided in the regular classroom, discuss various settings to provide the services necessary

• Determine who will provide the service

• Determine where the service will be provided

• Decide how much time is necessary for the child to interact with his/her non-disabled peers

• Create opportunities for the child to interact with non-disabled peers if he/she is not able to participate in the regular classroom

• Consider which environment will provide the least restrictive environment to insure success for the child

Tips:

Remember that the regular classroom is not always the least restrictive environment for some children. The size of a regular classroom may make it a more restrictive environment for some children

The label a child has doesn’t automatically determine where the child will receive services.  It should be an individual determination

Environments for younger children (under 5) may include a number of settings, and the home environment may prove to be the least restrictive, natural and appropriate setting

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How to Modify Instruction

Modification can be as simple as modifying tests, or as complex as modifying the physical environment.  Use this list as a checklist.

• Decide what subject you are modifying

• Decide what skills the student is expected to have after instruction

• Examine your method of teaching.  Is it the best method to reach a particular student?

• Examine what you expect from the student.  Will you expect the same level of participation from students with disabilities?

• Think about the modifications that might already be in place.  Can you add to them, or modify them further?  Decide what skills the student already might have that you can build on

• Develop a systematic approach to teach the student new skills

• Decide how you will insure the child is successful.  What modifications, accommodations, supports and specialized instruction will be needed?

• Work with others to provide the appropriate supports needed

Tips:

Make decisions based on group consensus

Keep an open mind and try to be open to reasonable solutions from other

Professionals

Keep communication lines open

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How to Proceed if You Don’t Agree with the School

Sometimes it seems impossible to agree.  If you find you simply cannot come to an agreement, these are the steps you should take:

• Discuss the issue with your child’s Teacher, Principal, Regional Special Education Supervisor, Regional Superintendent, Director of Special Education
• Try to resolve the issue at this level
• Contact your state Department of Special Education for answers to your questions regarding the issue
• File a complaint with your state’s Division of Special Education, if the issue can’t be resolve
• Go through the mediation process with the district and the Division of Special Education
• Appeal to the State or District Court if a solution still cannot be reached
• File an OCR (Office of Civil Rights) complaint if you feel your child is being discriminated against because of his/her disability

Tips

Try to resolve issues at the district level if at all possible

Keep an open mind and try to be open to reasonable solutions

Don’t let the issue become a personal vendetta.  Stay focused on educational outcomes.

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Negotiation:  An Acquired Art

Parents and school personnel often find themselves on different sides of an issue.  Professionals may have different interests and less emotional involvement than parents.  Parents often see an issue with more intense reactions because it involves their child.  It becomes important for both parties to negotiate an agreement.

The Goal of Negotiation is:

• to produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible
• to produce an efficient, effective agreement
• to improve, or at least not damage, the relationship

A wise agreement is one, which meets the legitimate interest of each side to the extent possible, resolves conflicting interests fairly, is durable, and takes the community interests into account.

Negotiation isn’t a natural art for most of us.  It requires that we look at an issue from a different perspective than we may be accustomed to.  There are four steps to successful negotiation that we all should keep in mind whenever we find ourselves in situations that may bring out the worst in us.

1. Separate the people from the problem
2. Focus on interests, not positions
3. Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do
4. Insist that the result be based on some objective criteria

Try to structure negotiation as a side-by-side activity in which the two sides, with their different interests and perceptions, and emotional involvement, jointly face a common task.

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Helpful Links for Parents

Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children With Disabilities

LD On-Line

Wrightslaw

NICHCY