Published on CA AG Bell website August 2014 (Melinda Davis-‐Gillinger, MA SPED)
Have you been invited to attend an IEP meeting and did not know the people who were invited to the meeting? Have you ever walked out of a meeting and asked, “What exactly did they just say?” Have you ever asked your IEP team for something that you think is perfectly reasonable under the circumstances and you know other families receive and been given a long and lengthy explanation of why you are being told NO?
These and many other experiences are a reality for so many of our families as we navigate the multiple IEP meetings we will have throughout our children’s educational career. Deafness is not a disability that disappears or is cured by technology. Therefore, we will be attending IEP meetings until our wonderful children graduate from high school and head off to college or whatever their amazing, self-‐motivated, successful self-‐advocacy selves decide they want for their lives post public education.
The IEP process can be an overwhelming and a daunting task that, as parents of children with hearing loss, and any other special need, must face. While the IEP is a part of our journey that we cannot avoid in public education, we don’t have to face it alone. Special Education is a unique world with rules and policies, assessments and meetings, and a language of its own as well. My goal with this article is to provide some key information, some guidance, as well as some perspective for all parents and families no matter where they are in this journey.
Who am I to help you?
As the mother of a child who was born in 1991 with profound bilateral hearing loss and Mondini, in California before our state was routinely administering the Newborn Hearing Screening, I was alone in getting anyone to believe that my daughter couldn’t hear and then on my own to find the right services, therapists, educators, and educational settings for my beautiful girl. As a result of my personal and professional experiences over the past 23 years, I have devoted my life to ensuring that no family needs to be alone at any step along the way.
How do you prepare for your child’s IEP meeting and what should you remember?
IEP meetings are overwhelming for all irregardless of the parents’ level of education, income, or language proficiency. As wonderful (or not wonderful) as your team is, as parents we can, naturally, feel like we are missing something. As both a parent and an educator I can promise you that all of us no matter who we are will have a moment during a meeting when we misunderstand, are misunderstood, or we just plain miss something that is presented. If we hear something that saddens or disappoints us, our brains flood and we do not hear the next few things that are said. If something wonderful is said about our precious child, we still loose focus for a few minutes feeling the emotions of pride at a success that someone somewhere caused us doubt would be possible.
In preparing for the IEP, you may or may not get a lot of advice from a variety of well-‐meaning professionals and families. Community is so important for us as we raise our children and naturally we worry that we may have missed something. The best advice I can give you here is to trust your gut. You know what your child needs. You are the expert in your child, but don’t go alone. In IEP meetings we, the professionals, tend to speak in letters that only make sense to special educators…even general educators don’t always know what all of these letters mean (See IEP Alphabet Soup). One critical point to always keep in mind is that as parents, we are equal members of the IEP team. You have every right to understand the process and what is being said, as well as to disagree in part or whole.
Some suggestions/reminders to help you be prepared to participate in your child’s IEP:
- Remember that while the school district has to hold the IEP meeting each year, you can request a meeting at anytime.
Put all of your requests in writing or they don’t exist.
You have a right to receive sufficient notice of a meeting as well as the right to ask for a different date, and to let them know that they may not hold the meeting without you.
Request (in writing) that copies of all draft reports and proposed goals be provided to you 1 week prior to the IEP.
If you are going to record your IEP meeting, you need to provide the district with 24 hours notice.
Always bring someone with you who knows what you plan to request, clarify, and discuss. You will need this person later as you consider the district’s responses and offer.
Always make an agenda of your own in preparation. The district members of the IEP team have an agenda that they must follow under the IDEA* but you will be hard-‐pressed to bring them all back together if you remember something later that you wanted to say at the meeting. I started doing this with my own daughter, and I find that Administrators respect when the family is prepared with an agenda of what they wish to cover.
Deaf/DHH/HOH* is a low incidence disability and that portion of your IEP must be appropriately addressed.
We as parents have the right to choose our child’s Mode of Communication (MOC) – Spoken Language, TC, SimCom*
Personal and classroom amplification systems are not AT* they are Low Incidence equipment and are funded from a separate funding source.
Always take the IEP home with you to review before you sign it.
Do not feel the need to agree with suggestions throughout the IEP meeting.You will be given a lot of critical information in a short period of time, and you have every right to take it home and consider it. Make it clear that you will listen and consider and participate, but not commit. Nothing will be taken from your child if you want to sleep on it.
For anything you request, you need to demonstrate the need.
More services and more minutes of an inappropriate situation is NOT always better and in fact can be worse for your child.
There is no legal timeline in which you must sign an IEP document. You have as long as you need, but nothing new will start until you sign in agreement, disagreement, or partial agreement.
You have the right to ask for anything you feel is appropriate for your individual child. Be sure that your requests are documented in writing as the IEP is a legal document.
The IEP follows your child to any district in any state and must be implemented as it is written (not as the IEP team verbally promised).
Remember that you can say, “NO” to the district’s “NO.” There are steps available for you.
Who should be at your meeting and how long should they stay?
Your IEP team should include the following team members and no one may leave the meeting without your permission. If the district says that someone must leave, then you can a) excuse them or b) recess the meeting and reconvene when all members of the team can stay and contribute to the discussion about what is appropriate for your child. It is your choice. Members of the IEP team include:
- Administrator
General education teacher
Special education teacher
Any service providers
DHH Itinerant
Educational Audiologist
Speech/Language- Pathologist
Auditory-‐Verbal Therapist
Other DIS* providers
Anyone who has assessed your child
Parents
Student
Anyone you invite!! An advocate, family member, neighbor, friend, teacher
