1. Welcome to the Team A Parent’s Guide to the Individualized Educational Program (IEP) Process ED 510: Summer 2011 Unit 5 : Collaboration Project Written By Pattie Salazar Jolene Davis Alicia Herrera & Christine Hanson
2. Objective “Special education professionals are both legally and ethically responsible for assuring parental involvement in the special education process. Although these legal and ethical responsibilities have been mandated and recognized for decades, parental involvement in the special education system is in need of vast improvement.” Robert P. Trussell, Helen Hammond, and Lawrence Ingalls “Ethical Practices and Parental Participation in Rural Special Education” Parents are not always aware of what to expect when coming to their child’s first IEP meeting. The purpose of this resource is to familiarize parents of the IEP process and the important role they play on the IEP team.
3. What Are We Proposing? To help parents feel more comfortable and better understand the IEP meeting, our school is proposing a resource packet that will educate the parent about the IEP process. Part 1: DVD Introduce the team members and the roles they will all play on the team. Parts of an IEP Demonstration of a sample quality team IEP meeting. Helpful Tips: Discussion of how parents can be actively involved in the team meetings. This DVD could be uploaded onto the school website for easy access.
4. What Are We Proposing? Cont. Part 2: Pamphlet Along with the DVD, we will also provide parents with a detailed pamphlet explaining IEP meeting process. What is the IEP and what is the purpose of it? Who’s on the IEP team? What is the parent’s role on the IEP team? Advocate for the child Helpful tips for preparing for and participating in the IEP meeting. This pamphlet will be stored digitally and printed in the primary language of the child’s family once a meeting has been scheduled. Pamphlet and DVD will be delivered personally to parents via student success advocate.
5. Costs of our proposal The cost of the program will be minimal. The DVD’s will be bought in bulk (100); This cost will be approximately $10.00 The most significant cost of our program will come in the printing of the pamphlet. However, as the pamphlet will be printed on demand in the parent’s primary language, this cost is insignificant.
6. Getting parents involved To get parent’s actively involved in their child’s IEP process, they will first meet with the Student Success Advocate who will deliver the IEP packet that will include the DVD and pamphlet. The DVD and pamphlet will educate and encourage the parent’s participation. The DVD and pamphlet will provide helpful suggestions for the parent’s collaboration during the meeting.
7. Determination of success of program The success of the program will be determined by a parent survey that will require feedback The parents will receive survey at the conclusion of the IEP meeting. The success of our program will be insured by the holding of a collaboration meeting between the parent and the teacher who the child spends more than 80% of their time with or the IEP meeting facilitator prior to the initial IEP meeting. This will allow the parent to ask questions. The teacher or IEP facilitator can serve as an encourager and help to alleviate any concerns about the IEP process.
8. Rational for Project “Although considered equal partners under the law, special education professionals have done little to prepare parents to function as equal partners. Many parents have a lack of understanding of special education terminology and procedures. This disadvantage places parents in position of hesitating to contribute to educational decision-making, as well as being vulnerable to being ‘railroaded’ by committee decisions” (Trussell, Hammond, & Ingalls, 2008). As we began to plan our project, we looked at the research that discussed the importance of parent involvement in special education programs. Although we liked the idea of holding a parent information night, we felt that the first line of defense against the lack of parent participation was to address parent concerns from the very beginning. Therefore, we chose to establish a plan to address these concerns prior to the first IEP meeting to ease the level of stress so many parents feel when entering an IEP meeting for the very first time. Because all children aren’t placed on IEPs at the same time, our program is presented individually as families enter the IEP process.
9. References Education Law Center. (2010). “How to be a good advocate for your child: Tips for parents.” Retrieved at http://www.elc-pa.org. Florida PTA. (2010). “Getting ready for your child’s IEP meeting.” Retrieved at www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/iep-card.pdf. South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center. (2007). “A fact sheet for parents on: Helping your child during a special education IEP meeting.” Retrieved at http://www.scjustice.org/Brochures/Education/Individualized%20Education%20Program%20(IEP)%20Meeting%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf Trussell, Robert P., Hammond, Helen, & Ingalls, Lawrence. (2008). “Ethical practices and parental participation in rural special education.” Rural Special Education Quarterly, 27(1/2). 19-21.
