Article : By Renee Bonds 11-26-2010
Are Organizing and Writing IEP’s that meet your child’s needs?
I have spend several years at IEP meetings and gatherings with teachers, consolers and principals trying to have my child’s needs met. Over the years I have also met many other parents who go though this same ritual. I hear the same things from those other parents that I myself have many times felt and experienced. During many of my school meetings, I felt to much like no one was listening to me nor did they understand. I hoped that they cared, but I wasn’t sure. I at this point, I hired a coach to go with me to my child’s IEP meetings and teacher meetings. My coach was a god send. I am going to share a few things that I had not been in tuned to or even thought about until she was there to inspire me. I hope some of these might be of help.
1. Base your request’s for your child’s needs totally on your child. You do not need to meet the needs of the teacher or the other students while meeting your child’s needs.
I remember at times holding back on some of the things I felt my child might need, due to the fact that the classroom was full and I feared that it may end up hurting my child rather than meeting his needs. When this is a thought, it is now necessary to ask for an aide in the classroom for your child. That aide also does not need to hover or make your child feel different or strange. The child’s feelings and the stigma needs to be written in the IEP. Methods that will protect the child from this happening need be spelled out on the IEP for each teacher and aide.
2. If there is a teacher at the meeting who shares a concern or problem with your child in the classroom, use this concern to ask for more services for your child. List each need they mention and what you see as a remedy. Add it onto the IEP. These are all legal papers. They serve as a safety net that will get your child’s needs met.
Then be sure to stay informed and knowledgeable as to whether these things on the IEP are being met or not.
3. Talk with your child often to see if he/she is comfortable with the teacher, aide, or consolers who work with them. The beauty of an IEP, is that the parent can call a meeting and make changes to it, or change teachers at any time.
4. You the parent are your child’s advocate. You are the only one that can truly be counted on to see to it the IEP is followed by all and is working to your child’s best advantage.
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