An Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, is central to any families’ experience of special education. The IEP meeting is where you will meet with your school team and build a plan for your child’s special education goals and services, which — true to the “individualized” in its name — should be tailored to your child’s unique needs. The plan becomes a legal agreement between you and your school that must be followed. Dr. Caitlin Solone, education advocate, teacher educator, and faculty at UCLA, gave Undivided an overview of IEPs.
In order to qualify for an IEP, a student must receive an initial full assessment. A full assessment is a multidisciplinary set of assessments conducted by a school psychologist, special education teacher, and any additional related service providers who are relevant to the student’s disability — these can include speech, occupational, behavioral, vision, and physical therapists, and more. A parent can request an assessment of their child at any time. (Here is a sample letter parents can use to request an assessment for an IEP.)
If a student qualifies for special education services, a full reassessment must be conducted every three years (called a triennial assessment) to ensure that they still qualify for special education services. A child’s IEP must also be reviewed once a year at minimum to determine whether the annual goals are being achieved or must be revised. Read more about the types of assessments conducted for IEPs.
An IEP includes the following:
We break all of these down in our article on key parts of an IEP.
A strength-based IEP prioritizes a child’s strengths by focusing on and utilizing the skills they already have rather than focusing on their deficits. This helps educators develop appropriately challenging goals and objectives in their curriculum, and ensures that the services and supports provided for your child will work to actively enhance skills and eliminate barriers to learning.
Learn how to build an IEP from your child’s strengths. You can begin the process by writing a vision statement to share with the IEP team.
