End of the year IEP meeting? Here’s what you should ask.
1. Did my child meet her IEP goals for this quarter?
Your child’s team should provide a progress report each quarter (of the IEP year, not necessarily aligned with report cards). The report should say “making progress,” “not making sufficient progress,” or “not yet introduced” for each goal. In most cases, the team will say the child is “making progress.” You should ask how much progress. The answer should include data. Data are numbers in almost every case. Of course, to provide accurate progress data, the IEP goal and objective must be written correctly. Not sure whether your goals are written in a way that will allow good progress monitoring? It might be time to get some outside help.
2. Did my child meet her IEP goals this YEAR?
Assuming this is an annual review, and your child’s IEP year is ending, you absolutely MUST know whether your child met the IEP goals for the YEAR. Very often, teams will report progress for each quarter, but NOT for the end of the year (although this is critical information for developing next year’s IEP). Insist that the team tell you whether the goal was met or not met for the year. Ask to see the data to support that determination. Ask where in the record this is documented.
3. What will be done about annual goals that my child did not meet?
If the team says your child did not meet a goal, the goal might need to be repeated. But something must change in order to address the failure to meet the goal. What is the team going to change for the coming year? More services? Different services? A different service model? If your child did not meet one or more IEP goals this year, or if the team cannot answer this question with data, it might be time to get some outside help.
4. Has the IEP team documented the progress or concerns noted by current teachers?
It is important to get classroom teachers opinions as to your child’s progress to the IEP team. Often only one of the teachers will be present at an IEP meeting. Find out what other teachers think. Written progress reports are a possibility. Don’t forget that next year you may have all new teachers. This year’s teachers spent 9 months learning about your child – make sure that information is communicated to the team and documented. You may have heard from a teacher that your child was having trouble in one particular class. Make sure that teacher’s thoughts are documented.
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