One primary and essential thing to remember when discussing the student’s learning during any meeting or situation is to keep the focus on the child’s need, not on the expectations of parents or district. When having an IEP meeting or any other meeting I believe as teachers we need to be prepared with results of the child’s development, research, articles and other material that would help us be educated about the child’s disability. Being prepared will also allow the teacher to feel comfortable to discuss new objectives, plans, and to talk in the right terminology. Along with being prepared it’s important to share any information gathered to the other members so we can all understand the needs of the student, which is the primary focus. Something
One of the two requirements from indicator 13 that is missing is the teacher did not inviting Lisette to her own IEP meeting. The teacher mentioned that the reason for not inviting Lisette was because she knew basketball practice. Regardless, indicatory 7 states that the students must be invited to their own IEP meeting where transition plans will be talked about. Their must be proof that an attempt was made to invite the student to attend the IEP transition meeting. If I was the facilitator of the meeting I would try to make an arrangement that worked with everyone schedule involved and also Lisettes. Having the student involved at the IEP transition planning is important, because there are discussions about her future and plans
All children with disabilities are entitled free public education not matter how severe the disability is. Specially designed instructions, related services, and supplementary aids and services have to be provided. An IEP has to be developed and implemented to meet the needs of the child with a disability. It is the public school and local school board in charge
For this assignment, I observed an IEP meeting for a three year old boy. The child is a three year old Hispanic boy, and his native language is Spanish. The child was receiving speech services through Early Intervention.
In my district, in order to ensure the accommodations are being implemented according to IEP deadlines, special education staff frequently monitor our classroom activities, as well as meet with the teachers and request they complete a progress report on each student with an IEP. Our responses will show if we are not applying or interpreting the accommodations correctly or if there are ineffective accommodations. For example, in Joseph’s situation, if one of the accommodations is that teachers are to provide preferred seating in the classroom, but it is not affecting his focus, the team might need to reconvene to modify the IEP accommodation to small group work. Regardless of the reason, having teachers complete a progress report provides documentation that is essential to the IEP process. This fact is supported by Lombardi and Ludlow; “general education teachers are expected to be prepared to modify the scope and sequence of their curriculum when needed” and “when either the teacher or parent feels the program is not meeting the student’s needs, it is important for both parties to have documentation to support their positions” (2004, p. 14-15). Lastly, because the mother felt there was a serious lack of communication between her and the school, a regular report should be given to her, using her preferred form of
The IEP is created by a group of individuals who play an important role in the student’s success. Those that should be involved in the creation of the IEP are the parents of the students, at least one regular education teacher of the student, at least one special education teacher, a representative of the LEA who is able to supervise the plans, someone who is able to interpret evaluation results (may be someone already on the team), any other person who has knowledge about the student, and whenever possible, the student with the disability (Gibb & Dyches, 2016). The evaluation results will be used to decide the child’s eligibility for special education and related services and to make decisions about an appropriate educational program for the child. Once the student is tested and determined eligible for services the IEP must be written.
Both non-verbal and verbal strategies were used during the IEP to create an open discussion amongst the participants. An example of a verbal strategy that the special education teacher used was asking the mother and father if they had any questions or concerns they would like to address at
In the video, it discusses the main purpose the to discuss the student behavior. I also notice that they included a parking lot for when the meeting gets out of topic we can write down in the parking lot and address them at a later the end of the meeting. Also, the team must discuss the main goals to create strategies to help with the student educational goals. In the video, it discusses the student overall progress and behavior and set out goals was to create strategies to improve student behavior at school. In addition, reviewing to IEP checklist I believe the difficult part is not getting off the topic. They will be parents that are unhappy or don’t agree with the results that can cause tension and frustration. The purpose of the meeting is to collaborate and coming into agreement strategies to improve on the child goals. It will be difficult to stick with the agenda when the parent has other topics to address instead of the goals that are presented. Facilitated IEP are beneficial with complex IEP meeting issues especially when knowing beforehand situations have been complex. A facilitator supports the general IEP team that is conducting a IEP meeting. The team members run the meeting while the facilitator main purpose is to intervene and upholds the peace, while assisting the team to focus on the real issues and goals in
Lentz (2012) states that there are no courses or written guides to support these professionals in leading, not just conducting, these critical meetings. The author believes that if special education administrators, school psychologists, speech therapists, and others who chair and lead IEP meetings were proficient in running a purposeful and meaningful meeting, they would develop IEPs that increase the probability of student success and achievement (Lentz, 2012). Lentz (2012) found that with a trained leader, the IEP can become a vision of hope and the definition of the future for students with disabilities. Parents and students can see this process as the vehicle to
These families may have moved to the United States from a foreign country and are unfamiliar with the education system or some may hold different values about education. Many families from different countries are not aware of the special education process and enter an IEP meeting expecting the usual parent-teacher conference and instead are overwhelmed by the large amount of professionals in one room. These parents could greatly benefit from receiving background information or watching a video explaining the process before attending their first IEP meeting (Lo, 2012).
In 1991 the Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was replaced by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law was passed to provide free and appropriate public education to every child with a disability. It requires that each child with a disability “have access to the program best suited to that child’s special needs which is as close as possible to a normal child’s educational program” (Martin, 1978). The Individualized education program (IEP) was developed to help provide a written record of students’ needs and procedures for each child that receives special education services. The IEP will list all the services to be provided, the student's performance level, academic performance, and
As a special education teacher I am involved in numerous meetings, in some of those meetings I have noticed that words, cultures and back grounds can impact the tone and outcome of the meeting. For some parents meeting with a room full of teachers can be intimidating. All too often the meeting consists of educated, white females. I am often the first African American teacher the student or parents have had interactions with. I can remember sitting in an IEP meeting for an hour when everyone had left the room besides me and the parent, I asked again if she had any questions or concerns. The parent asked, “What does all this mean for my child?” This parent sat in a meeting for an hour and had no idea what was being said nor did she feel comfortable
During the meeting, several issues are address such as concerns, activities, questions and changes in IEP goals. Student’s placement in a special education program is decided by the IEP team after parents or facilitator gives the ok for the students to begin receiving services that they are in desperate need of. Some decision that at made at the meeting are not always done with all parties in agreement with what needs to change. Some parents don’t agree with some of the services that will be provided to their child but, will need more time to think about the services and need the reason why some decisions where consider for their child, but never receive it. Some parents never agree and do not give their written consent for the services their child has received. When this issue is not resolved parents have the option to ask for mediation and a hearing but because of the backlog with the meeting process they feel that the meeting will not take place and their voice will never be heard. Parents know that in order to participate in their child’s IEP, teachers and the IEP team must know the students disability. Several Parents complain that some of the parties at the meeting do not know who their child is so how recommendations for services’ can made. Parents send principals letters demanding answers to their
The special education teacher interviewed, showed me that she uses the teaching/individual goals related to each student’s IEP. The teacher always tries to excel and reach the needs to relate
On Monday, September 25th, I was invited to sit in as the general education teacher in an IEP team meeting. The meeting was held for a student with down syndrome, identified at birth, who qualified for services under the category of intellectually disabled. This student is in a self-contained classroom, therefore, his current teacher, served as the special education teacher for the purposes of this meeting. Meeting participants included: Mrs. Fields (ARC Advocate), Dr. Neiman (Main speech therapist, participated over the phone), Mrs. Bennett (LEA representative), Mrs. Diggs (ACS EC Director, as a precaution because the parents expressed concerns for the education of their child), Mrs. Sikes (General Education Teacher), Mrs. Bernard
All the ethical principles stated on “Council for Exceptional Children,” play a vital role in the special education field. I chose the three ethical principles that are most important to me, i.e. the essential ethical principle that any educator must have in order to serve a special needs student and their families. Principle number five states that, “developing relationships with families based on mutual respect and actively involving families and individuals with exceptionalities in educational decision making;” I truly believe that, effective communication between educators and families of special needs students is the key for success; not only for the educator, but also, for the student. My daughter has an IEP and, it took me and my family a few years to fully understand the system and also, understand what kind of learning disability she has. There was no support and effective communication between the school and our family, hence, the process was extremely hard for me and especially, for my daughter. When I left my job about 3 years ago and decided to return to school, my biggest motto was to receive my degree and eventually, be an asset to families and their special needs child.