tips for the IEP team
The IEP team must design an IEP that ensures that the student will be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum and it must do so by addressing the student’s education and education-related needs.
You and your colleagues must identify the supplementary needs to be involved and make progress in the general education curriculum.
Work collaboratively to develop goals and objectives that will advance equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.
The IEP should address a student’s academic, emotional and social needs.
IDEA allows placement across several settings, but students should be educated in the general education classroom and will participate in extracurricular and other school activities with their non-disabled peers.
The results of nondiscriminatory evaluations should be summarized and serve as the basis of planning each student’s individualized program.
Some students who do not qualify for coverage under IDEA do qualify under Section 504.
You may be involved in developing a 504 plan for these students rather than an IEP.
You must comply with IDEA by communicating with students’ parents in their preferred language, which may be their native language.
When school social workers and school counselors are members of the IEP team, you can partner with them to identify how schools can reduce the educational challenges facing students experiencing poverty.
Remember: differentiated instruction is a good strategy for all students, not just students with learning disabilities.
Let parents know about the resources of the parent training and information center in your state. Encourage them to get information from the center about IEP conferences.
As you develop a partnership, ask the family member who is most accessible to you whether there are other family members whom they want you to include as partners in IEP development and implementation.
Be sure to ask the student’s parents if they want suggestions about how to help the student with homework. Don’t presume that they do or do not provide that assistance.
Teachers have opportunities at IEP conferences to learn more about the nature of different assessments and to have questions answered about how assessment links to classroom instruction.
The IEP should specify that every professional who works with a student who uses an AAC or other device should learn how to operate the AAC or other device.
The IEP document should address needs and strengths related to behavioral, social, and emotional characteristics, as well as academic needs.