by Ann Marie Dwyer

Created on: March 10, 2010

The team who determines the goals for the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for your special needs child is comprised of specialists, school administrators, teachers and parents. Learn who must be present and who does not have to be present.

The bare minimum for an IEP team is:

~ Parent(s)
~ Principal
~ Special needs teacher
~ "Regular education" teacher
~ Special needs representative from the school district

~ Specialist(s) (Speech, occupational and/or physical therapist, psychologist, curriculum coach)

Optional team members are:

~ Advocates (from state or county/parish agencies, disability organizations or charities)
~ Service Coordinator
~ Personal or in-home therapists

Each person should have input toward goals, progress and accommodations in his/her specific area of expertise.

When certain goals have been met and need to be changed, parents have the right to waive the presence of certain team members who are not involved in the particular goal. This is not highly recommended, as seen below.

The Team Leader:
Despite what the onlooker without a special needs child may think, the team leader is the parent. Even though the specialists may have more education in a certain area, no one knows more about your child than you do.

By the time a child is five years old, parents have spent more time with him than a specialist will spend with special needs children in the entirety of her career, even if that career spans 45 years.

Your advocate may know more about "the process", but without your information, there is no "process". Think of the IEP as a blank computer program. Until you put in your child's information, progress, strengths and weaknesses, the program does nothing.

There is no "I" in "TEAM".
All members of the team need to be working toward the goals of your special needs child: not standardized tests scores to get school funds (NCLB), not number of special needs children seen (IDEA), not personal career statistics.

All members of the team should be pursuing all of the goals on the IEP. While some specialists will focus on certain parts of the IEP, they should not ignore the remaining goals on the IEP. All activities for special needs children can be adapted to satisfy two or more areas of the IEP (i.e. cognitive and social, social and language, cognitive, social and occupational, etc.).

This is why all members of the team should be present every time a goal is changed on the IEP. A change to one portion of the IEP may open a world of possibilities for another service provider for your special needs child.

IEP is not just for school.
Yes, the IEP is educational. After all, the "E" stands for "education". Do not leave the IEP in the hands of the school.

As a parent, you have taught your child all he knows. Nothing changes when he goes to school. While you may receive homework as routine cognitive education, make sure you are implementing additional exercises to stimulate the remaining areas of the IEP.

You are still his first and best teacher. Ask your service coordinator, advocate and teachers for activities which you can do at home to help your child meet IEP goals.

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