IEPs: Making Sure Parents Have All The Elements.

 Individualized Education Programs: A written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised  U.S.C 1414 (d)

Fancy language for the most basic idea regarding a child's education program. What I mean by that is this document that has been carefully crafted by the team is specific PROGRAMING designed to support YOUR child with the disability, and not a generalized approach.  The programming is what has been selected though hopefully, scientifically based research to show that this will support the child and allow them to access the general education curriculum and help facilitate closing the educational gap.  This document must always contain your child's present levels through updated testing, CLEARLY identities your child's disability and how it impacts learning. The IEP must have MEASURABLE goals  and progress reports to show growth and mastery of these specially designed goals, as well as allow the child to have access to the least restrictive environment (LRE). The IEP must have clearly defined frequency and duration of ALL services, accommodation and modifications as well as how this will be delivered to the student.   

Do not let a school system allow for any of these elements to be removed form your child's IEP or give the excuse that if someone whats to see the history of this child they can look at past IEPs, WRONG! I always encourage families to keep their child's complete history, testing and diagnosis in the IEP. I cannot stress enough that when a "stranger" picks up this document, the more robust it is the clearer a picture it will paint and hopefully less confusion about how to support YOUR child will occur.

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