Special Education

Parent's Guide to Individual Education Planning

V. The Parent's Role In Making The IEP Work

How can parents prepare for a school-based or IEP team meeting?

The IEP typically begins with a team meeting. You may find it helpful to prepare for the meeting by writing out notes to take to the meeting. It may be useful to include the following:

a list of topics you would like to see included in the meeting,
questions to raise both for your child and for yourself,
what you want to see accomplished and what you believe your child wants,
realistic goals for your child, for the school year and for the future, or
a statement on any area that might be giving you concern.

If English is not your first language, you may wish to bring someone who could assist you in communicating your concerns or who could take notes or talk to you about impressions of the meeting afterwards.

How can parents be effective participants in meetings?

Make sure you are introduced to everyone present and that you know what each member can contribute to your child's educational program.
Know the purpose of the meeting and what the team expects as a result of the meeting.
Be aware of the meeting's time constraints.
Ask who is responsible for keeping a record of the meeting and request a copy of the record.
Recognize that children often react differently in different circumstances. Your child's behavior at home may be different than at school.
Share your concerns directly and openly share information that might help in planning for your child.
If you don't understand something, ask for clarification.
If you need time to reflect or to collect more information on a topic, ask to have that discussion postponed.
Summarize the meeting, from your perspective, aloud to the other members.
Know when the next meeting will be and what steps will take place before then.

What are the key issues in an IEP meeting from a parent's perspective?

As the meeting concludes, you will find it helpful to ensure that there is a common understanding in these areas:

The name of the key person responsible for the implementation of the IEP and record keeping needs to be clear (often called a case manager).
The goals in the IEP are practical, realistic and clearly stated, including program options and extra-curricular opportunities, and who is responsible for each goal.
The IEP for your child is fully understood and supported by those involved, including your child. (This can be particularly critical in secondary school where a number of teachers are involved, and students may have significant autonomy.)
All the resources suggested in the IEP are indeed available.
The method for evaluating your child's progress and the person or persons responsible for the evaluation have been clearly decided.
A date has been set to review your child's IEP.

How can parents help their children in the IEP process?

A key role for parents is to set out clearly for their child what her own responsibilities are in the IEP process. The extent of responsibilities will naturally depend on your child's age and type of special need, but you can help her to understand that the process will only work if she takes an interest in making it work. This message can most effectively be transmitted to her by seeking her ideas and help in the process, and making her feel important and valued.

A child's intellectual progress depends to a large extent on personal and social development, self-esteem and the ability to work cooperatively and communicate effectively. To support this social development, parents can help their child achieve his goals in several ways:

Encouraging interaction between your child and schoolmates in a variety of ways and structuring activities to encourage friendship with other children,
Keeping in touch with teachers and asking them about potential friendships that appear in the classroom, and
Watching for activities that will give your child opportunities to work towards his personal goals.

How can parents help the school support their children?

The more that parents, teachers, school administrators and resource personnel work together in open communication and cooperation, the more successful the child's education will be. Parents can help by doing several things:

provide learning experiences in everyday life that will reinforce the formal learning taking place in the school system,
talk with your child about school, discussing both learning and social activities,
support the teacher's expectations and the classroom routines and expectations by reinforcing such behaviour at home,
communicate regularly with teachers, particularly if there is concern about your child's progress, and
participate in the parent volunteer program at the school by offering assistance with school activities.

Table of Contents