Individualized Education Program: Who Writes the IEP?
By law,
certain individuals must be involved in writing a child's Individualized
Education Program. An IEP team member may fill more than one of the team
positions if properly qualified and designated. For example, the school
system representative may also be the person who can interpret the
child's evaluation results.
These
people must work together as a team to write the child's IEP.
Each team
member brings important information to the IEP meeting. Members share
their information and work together to write the child's Individualized
Education Program. Each person's information adds to the team's
understanding of the child and what services the child needs.
Parents
are key members of the IEP team. They know their child very well and can
talk about their child's strengths and needs as well as their ideas for
enhancing their child's education. They can offer insight into how their
child learns, what his or her interests are, and other aspects of the
child that only a parent can know. They can listen to what the other
team members think their child needs to work on at school and share
their suggestions. They can also report on whether the skills the child
is learning at school are being used at home. If a parent does not speak
English, is hearing impaired or has any need for an interpreter, The CSE
must provide one.
Teachers
are vital
participants in the IEP meeting as well. At least one of the child's regular
education teachers must be on the IEP team if the child
is (or may be) participating in the regular education environment. The
regular education teacher has a great deal to share with the team. For
example, he or she might talk about:
- the general curriculum in the regular classroom;
- the aids, services, or changes to the
educational program that would help the child learn and achieve; and
- strategies to help the child with behavior, if
behavior is an issue.
The
regular education teacher may also discuss with the IEP team the
supports for school staff that are needed so that the child can:
- advance toward his or her annual goals;
- be involved and progress in the general
curriculum;
- participate in extracurricular and other
activities; and
- be educated with other children, both with and
without disabilities.
Supports
for school staff may include professional development Professional
development and training are important for teachers, administrators, bus
drivers, cafeteria workers, and others who provide services for children
with disabilities.
The
child's special education teacher
contributes 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:
- how to modify the general curriculum to help the
child learn;
- the supplementary aids and services that the
child may need to be successful in the regular classroom and
elsewhere;
- how to modify testing so that the student can
show what he or she has learned; and
- other aspects of individualizing instruction to
meet the student's unique needs.
Beyond
helping to write the IEP, the special educator has responsibility for
working with the student to carry out the IEP. He or she may:
- work with the student in a specialized setting
or special class devoted to students receiving special education
services;
- team teach with the regular education teacher in
the general education setting; and
- work with other school staff, particularly the
regular education teacher, to provide expertise about addressing the
child's unique needs.
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. The evaluation results
are very useful in determining how the child is currently doing in
school and what areas of need the child has. This IEP team member must
be able to talk about the instructional implications of the child's
evaluation results, which will help the team plan appropriate
instruction to address the child's needs.
The individual
representing the school system is also a valuable team
member. This person knows a great deal about special education services
and educating children with disabilities. He or she can talk about the
necessary school resources. It is important that this individual have
the authority to commit resources and be able to ensure that whatever
services are set out in the IEP will actually be provided.
The IEP
team may also include additional individuals
with knowledge or special expertise about the child. The
parent or the school system can invite these individuals to participate
on the team. Parents, for example, may invite an advocate who knows the
child, a professional with special expertise about the child and his or
her disability, or others (such as a vocational educator who has been
working with the child) who can talk about the child's strengths and/or
needs. The school system may invite one or more individuals who can
offer special expertise or knowledge about the child, such as a
paraprofessional or related services professional. Because an important
part of developing an IEP is considering a child's need for related
services (see the list of related services in the box on the previous
page), related service professionals are often involved as IEP team
members or participants. They share their special expertise about the
child's needs and how their own professional services can address those
needs. Depending on the child's individual needs, some related service
professionals attending the IEP meeting or otherwise helping to develop
the IEP might include occupational or physical therapists, adaptive
physical education providers, psychologists, or speech-language
pathologists.
When an
IEP is being developed for a student of transition age, representatives
from transition service agencies can be important
participants.
Whenever a purpose of meeting is to consider needed transition services,
the school must invite a representative of any other agency that is
likely to be responsible for providing or paying for transition
services. This individual can help the team plan any transition services
the student needs. He or she can also commit the resources of the agency
to pay for or provide needed transition services. If he or she does not
attend the meeting, then the school must take alternative steps to
obtain the agency's participation in the planning of the student's
transition services.
And, last
but not least, the student
may also be a member of the IEP team. If transition service needs or
transition services are going to be discussed at the meeting, the
student must be invited to attend. More and more students are
participating in and even leading their own IEP meetings. This allows
them to have a strong voice in their own education and can teach them a
great deal about self-advocacy and self-determination.
Source: US Department of Education
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