A transition IEP meeting occurs the spring term before your child is about to transfer to a new school. This includes when your child with an IEP moves from: preschool to elementary school, elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school and when necessary, high school to post secondary. As your child moves through different types of schools, their transition IEP will help their new school prepare the necessary supports and/or services.
Transition IEP meetings are most commonly held between March and June, but can happen any time during the spring semester. This type of meeting is called an amendment and should have all of your child’s service providers and case manager present. When the staff are available, the IEP may have a representative from the next school your child will attend. This representative can give you further insight and information about what services look like or answer any questions that you may have about the new school. While it is not guaranteed to have a representative from your child’s future school, your current IEP team will have had an opportunity to talk to the future school to get information in order to make an appropriate recommendation for classes and any services.
The goal of a transition IEP is to assist your child’s education.
It is important to remember that transition IEPs are utilized to make recommendations for different types of programs or service models. For example, a recommendation could request your child be placed in a less—or sometimes more—restrictive environment. Whenever your child’s IEP changes, you need to get as much information about the proposed changes as possible before you decide how to sign. Visit the proposed program, learn about the staff to student ratio, and get information about what similar programs are available. Remember: you do not have to sign in agreement with the IEP during the meeting. It is completely acceptable to get more information before signing for consent to implement.
Throughout the transition IEP meeting, you and the IEP team will go over all of the ways to help your child have a successful school year in their new environment. At the end of the meeting, take some time to review all of the information and proposed changes. Should you decide to give full consent to implement the IEP, there is one additional way to help bolster your child’s transition after their new school year begins: ask for an IEP meeting. You have the right to ask for an IEP meeting at any time and the school must hold the IEP meeting within 30 days. We recommend that in the first week or two of starting at the new school, you ask for an IEP to review how your child is doing. Even though you can put this request into the transition IEP, there is a chance that the agreement to hold the meeting may be accidentally overlooked.
If your child has an upcoming transition IEP meeting or you disagree with the recommendations from your meeting, reach out to Aspire Advocacy. Our advocates can attend your next IEP Team meeting and help you fully explore your child’s available options.
For help at your child’s next IEP meeting, more information about our special education advocacy services, or for a FREE 20-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for you, call or email today!
As parents, we understand. As advocates, we can help.