So, You Had a Great IEP Meeting. Now What?

As an SLP with over 15 years of experience, primarily in schools, I have attended hundreds of IEP meetings. Most have gone well but some not so much. Then there are the ones that go well, and by well, I mean that the child has shown tremendous progress, but the parents find that upsetting. I am not going to lie; this one does shock me. It is ok if you had a great IEP meeting!

Usually, it is because the parent is concerned that the school is going to dismiss the child from services. Maybe you are reading this because you are that parent. It’s a good thing if IEP meetings go well and your child is making progress! Let me tell you why.

It’s Our Job

As therapists and educators, we chose those fields. We want to see kids perform at their best. Professionals know how to develop appropriate goals and help students achieve them. So, it is normal for kids to make progress!

If the entire IEP team raves about how well your child is doing, that does not mean that they are going to dismiss them from services. Even if that were the case, there is usually a process. Sometimes I know that I need to start with the parent one year in advance and give them a heads up. That may look like decreasing services from every week to every other week or from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. This gives the school a chance to see how the student maintains progress. It also gives the student time to develop more independence while still having some support in place.

What’s Next

Students should be meeting goals. You should be more concerned if the opposite is true. However, remember that just because your child is meeting goals, doesn’t mean that they are performing on grade level with their peers.

Once your child meets their current goals, the IEP will most likely have new goals. The new goals should be the next academic or developmental step for the student. For example, if the student has mastered their goal for producing the /s/ sound (‘s’ as in Sam) in initial, medial, and final positions of words, the next step is to target longer utterances such as phrases and sentences. So, the SLP can very well say that they met the goal for word-level!

How to Work with Your Team

Remember that the keyword here is team. You can take time to review documents and information shared at IEP meetings without signing anything. Additionally, you can ask the school for a copy of the IEP draft prior to the meeting *The caveat here is that some therapists and educators are overwhelmed and may have difficulty getting it to you more than 24 hours in advance. Legally, they must give you 10 days’ notice for a meeting, but they are not legally required to send you documents or drafts prior to the meeting.

You do have the right to refuse to sign any documents during an IEP meeting. Now, eventually, an IEP will need to be signed for the student to continue to receive services but that may mean several more meetings before a document is agreed upon.

Trust the Team

If the team members are telling you that the child has met a goal or services won’t be helpful, trust them. I know this is easier said than done. You can ask them for proof, such as work samples, and they should be able to provide that. Also, keep in mind that special education services can be a revolving door. So, if a child is dismissed from services but later needs them again, they can re-qualify.

I cannot tell you how many times parents have demanded that a specific goal be added to an IEP, or the child receive a certain amount of services that don’t benefit the child at all! If parents push hard enough, most schools will oblige, especially if there is a lawyer or advocate involved. However, let me repeat again, there is NO benefit to the child to work on something that doesn’t need to be addressed. I have written goals for rate of speech, vocabulary, and fluency, knowing that the child already has those skills, and it is a waste of their time to work with me when they would benefit more from staying in class. 🙁  The only person who benefits, in this case, is the lawyer or advocate the parent is overpaying to go through their generic laundry list of demands. 😡

Communicate with the Team

So, let the team know what your concerns are and ask questions, but you have to believe that the IEP team knows your child well and also wants the best for them. Tell them what you are seeing at home. Ask them if they are seeing the same at school (the honest answer may very well be ‘No’). Ask the school if some of the areas you are concerned about can be absorbed into another service. For example, SLPs work on vocabulary but so can special education teachers. If the SLP is ready to dismiss, ask if the special education teacher can add a goal for vocabulary. This could save the student from being pulled out of class an extra 30 minutes per week. 🎉

IEP meetings are a chance to understand more about your child’s performance at school, address your concerns, and make sure that your child is getting services needed to help them access the curriculum content (whether that is inside or outside of the classroom setting).

What other questions about IEPs do you have?  Let me know in the comments below.