IEP Team Membership Special Ed Advocate San Jose

Parents are equal members of the IEP team. This is not in dispute. Our ability to participate fully is often deliberately limited by the rest of the IEP team.

When To Meet?

Schools invite us to participate by sending a Notice of Meeting.  The district is required to hold the IEP Team Meeting at a date and time that allows for your attendance and participation. Most districts prefer after school. This is because they have to hire a substitute teacher to cover your child’s class if the meeting takes place during the school day. If you can attend after school, great. If not, they can hire a sub and you can request they the meeting at a time convenient for you. In addition, this is true for experts like the speech therapists. Some are present only one day a week. If their schedule does not work with your schedule, the District can either arrange to have the expert move their schedule to accommodate you, or invite another expert in their place.

Placement Discussions

Leigh was in an IEP last Friday where the teacher said “After looking at the entire range of educational options, the IEP Team has decided that moderate to severe SDC is the least restrictive environment for Jacob.”

There was only one problem. The district had not discussed any options with the parents. The parents had not looked at the entire range of educational options. In fact, they had not looked at any options. The school team had made a unilateral, pre-determined decision. This is not parents being full participants in the IEP process.

All IEP Decisions Are Team Decisions

Each and every IEP decision is a team decision. This includes whether or not the student qualifies for an IEP, what disability qualifies him or her for an IEP, whether or not the student needs ESY, and many more.

As parents, we understand,  As experienced and trained advocates, we can help.

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