A Useful Guide for Parents Preparing for IEP Meetings

The "Individualized Education Plan" (IEP) needs no introduction as the special education program for children with different types of disabilities. IEP meetings are an integral part of this plan, which brings a number of concerned individuals and parties into one room to discuss and evaluate the program in detail. As a parent of a disabled child, you will get to meet the teachers, therapists, school administration members, psychologist, learning specialists and other members of a child's study team in an IEP meeting.

The following discussion will help the parents of disabled children to become a well-prepared participant and earn the advantages of effective IEP meetings.

Before you leave for the meeting, make sure that you are familiar with the following aspects:

• The needs of your child regarding education.
• The essence of SMART IEP goals.
• Assistance in the form of instructors and capable programs offered by IEP.
• Support system offered by the IEP in terms of placement and other factors.
• Knowledge about other participants of the meeting, so that you have the queries prepared for each of them.
• In case you feel like inexperienced parents as members of the IEP meetings, you can ask an experienced individual to accompany you.
• Learn about the importance of bringing the child to these meetings.

It is also a good thought to visit the site before the IEP meeting to get convinced about the efficacy of the educational setup.

It is recommended to put the past evaluations and assessments of your child in a folder and take it along to the IEP meetings. The results and report cards of previous sessions are also some of the useful things to be carried along. Reading and writing samples will help you to put forward the things you want to get improved in your child. Equally important is to carry the medical reports of your child.

It will be wise to carry a copy of each of these documents, which might be demanded by other attendees for record's sake. Be well informed about the information contained in each document and place them in an organized manner.

In order to be the part of effective IEP meetings, some other necessary preparations are required to be made. You would definitely like to learn about them in the second part of this discussion.