iep structure and participants

EDCO 593: 

EDCO 593 Collaborative Model Presentation IEP Structure and Participants By: Ron Theis 10/10/2011

Purpose of The IEP Meeting: 

Purpose of The IEP Meeting The purpose of the IEP meeting is to gather the child’s educational team and discuss the child’s issues and talk about placement. To write an effective IEP for a child with a disability, parents, teachers, and other school school staff must come together and look closely at the child’s unique needs.

Slide 3: 

These individuals combine their knowledge, experience, and commitment to design an educational program that must help the child to be involved in, and progress in, the general education curriculum, that is, the same curriculum as for children without disabilities. The IEP guides the delivery of special education and related services for the child with a disability. This is a job that requires teamwork.

IEP Team Members: 

IEP Team Members The following list of IEP team members is specified in IDEA, our nation’s special education law. Parents of the child Regular education teacher Special education teacher A representative of the school system Someone to interpret evaluation results Others with knowledge or special expertise about the child Student with a disability

Parents on The IEP Team: 

Parents on The IEP Team Since the passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975, parents have been recognized as vital members of the IEP Team. Everyone agrees that parents have an enduring and passionate interest in the well-being and education of their child.

Parents continued: 

Parents continued Typically, parents know their child very well—not just the child’s strengths and weaknesses, but all the little qualities that make their child unique. Parents’ knowledge can keep the team focused on the “big picture” of the child; they can help the team to create an IEP that will work appropriately for the child. Parents can describe what goals are most important to them and to their child, share their concerns and suggestions for enhancing their child’s education, and give insights into their son or daughter’s interests, likes and dislikes, and learning styles. By being an active IEP team member, parents can also infuse the IEP planning process with thought about long-term needs for the child’s successful adult life.

Regular Education Teacher: 

Regular Education Teacher According to IDEA, the regular education teacher: Must, to the extent appropriate, determine “appropriate positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies for the child”

Regular Ed. Teacher Continued: 

Regular Ed. Teacher Continued The regular education teacher must also determine which “supplementary aids and services, program modifications, and support for school personnel” are needed to help the child progress toward attaining the annual goals; be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum.

Special Education Teacher: 

Special Education Teacher The child’s special education teacher has a lot to contribute at the IEP team meeting, including important information and experience about how to educate children with disabilities. Because of his or her training in special education, this teacher can talk about such issues as:

Special Ed Teacher Continued: 

Special Ed Teacher Continued How to modify the general education curriculum to help the child learn. Use of supplementary aids and services that the child may need to be successful in the regular classroom and beyond. How to modify testing or to provide the test with individual appropriate accommodations so that the child can show what he or she has learned.

School System Representative: 

School System Representative IDEA specifies that every IEP team must include a “representative of the public agency” responsible for educating the child in question. This team member must be qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities.

School System Representative Continued: 

School System Representative Continued They must also be knowledgeable about general education curriculum; and knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the public agency. This person must also have the power to commit the resources needed so that services can be provided as described in the child’s IEP and be able to ensure that whatever services are described in the IEP will actually be provided .

School Psychologist: 

School Psychologist Another important member of the IEP team is the individual who can interpret what the child’s evaluation results mean in terms of designing appropriate instruction

School Psychologist Continued: 

School Psychologist Continued The school psychologist will interpret the stack of scores and totals on various tests of performance or other measures the child has completed as part of the evaluation process in special education. School psychologist’s also look at statewide assessments, class work, observations, outside rating scales provided by parents and/or teachers.

School Psychologist Continued: 

School Psychologist Continued The school psychologist evaluation results are very useful in determining how the child is currently doing in school and what areas of need the child has. This is one of the evaluation’s explicit purposes as reflected in IDEA’s definition of evaluation at §300.15, which reads: Evaluation means procedures used in accordance with §§300.304 through 300.311 to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs.

Other Specialists’: 

Other Specialists’ Other IEP team members are related service professionals, which may include: occupational or physical therapists adaptive physical education providers speech-language pathologists. Special education counselors

Student With A Disability: 

Student With A Disability Operating on the premise that the student with a disability—who is the focus of all this discussion and planning— may have something vital to contribute to planning his or her educational program and future, IDEA clearly provides for the child’s inclusion in, and participation on, the IEP team whenever appropriate.

Conclusion: 

Conclusion In conclusion, the purpose of an IEP team meeting is to address concerns about the student. Every person on the IEP team is just as important as the next. All decisions should be made as a team.

References: 

References www.nichcy.org/schoolage/iep/team www.cde.ca.gov www.leginfo.ca.gov www.greatschools.org www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/iep.bollero.hearts.htm