Preparing for your child's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting can be intimidating. The thing to remember is that everyone there is there -- or they should be -- with the same goal in mind: your child's educational success. So how do you translate that general goal into specific, measurable goals to guide the next months or year of your child's education?
Dr. Steven Saunders, a licensed psychologist and Executive Director of Central Florida Psychological Consultants encourages parents to "Do your research! Prepare at least 10 questions in advance to ask the School Psychologist/Teacher/Principal/Whoever else might be there."
Start by studying your child's current IEP, if he/she has one. Do you think the goals are still relevant, or has your child surpassed these benchmarks? Do the goals need to be more specific? How are they being measured?
For instance, having a goal of "learning appropriate social behavior" isn't nearly as useful as a goal that states clearly "Child will respond appropriately to greetings from adults in four out of five instances and will initiate interaction with a peer on the playground three times in a week."
Goals might need to be broken into smaller steps. Maybe "potty training" is too far-distant for your child. Maybe it makes more sense in the next few months to focus on "will successfully perform potty routine with visual and verbal cues in four out of five sessions." You can write details about the visual cues -- such as a picture schedule breaking down the potty routine into eight different steps -- into the IEP.
Dr. Saunders also says, "Make sure you get what the school is promising to help with for your child in writing." If the IEP team is in agreement that the child needs visual supports, extra therapy or any other help, specify this in writing, and get it into the IEP.
How long does your child have to meet specific goals? In other words, when does the team expect to see progress? Appropriate goals will specific a time limit to work on a certain goal: six weeks, three months, or six months.
Retired elementary teacher Connie Buchanan reminds you that you're the team leader: "Know your rights as a parent and don't allow 'canned' objectives."
(Next: Part Three -- What to bring to the IEP meeting ... to receive updates when new articles are added to Tallahassee Special Needs Kids, click "subscribe" above.)
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