How do I write an inclusion specialist into my child's IEP?

Here are some ways to write an inclusion specialist into your child's IEP:

• Request that the district’s inclusion specialist consult with your child’s teacher(s), either as a related service or as a support for staff. Ask for the consult to be written in the IEP notes.

• Request an inclusion specialist (or consultant from an outside agency if your school district doesn't have one) to create an ecological participation report and bring that inclusion specialist into the IEP team as a short-term consultant. With an external consult, once their report is presented, the IEP team might agree to some consult or training time with the specialist, and that might be written into the IEP as a consultation or in the notes.

• You can also privately pay for an independent inclusion specialist to write an inclusion or ecological participation report. Negotiate with the school to secure adequate observation time for the specialist in different settings. You can call an IEP meeting to go over the report and include the specialist. You can ask for the district to cover the cost of the report, but only if you told them before the report that you were going to do so.

How to work with an inclusion specialist will be different in each school district or charter school. Within inclusive charter schools, inclusion support is sometimes listed as a service along with other IEP services in much the same way as assistive technology or behavioral support might be listed. It does not require that a goal be written for inclusion; the support should be targeted at working on all the IEP goals within a general education setting.

Learn more in our full article Inclusion Specialist 101.