Parts of the IEP

The Individualized Education Plan(IEP) has many parts, each having its own role in the IEP process. I will give a brief summary of what each section is, what it’s purpose is and what information you should find in it.

Meeting Notice: The meeting notice provides the proposed date and time of your students IEP meeting as well as who will be in attendance at the meeting. It will more than likely not have specific names, instead the roles of the attendees.

People who are required by law to be at an IEP meeting (unless a waiver is signed to excuse them)- Parent/Guardian, Special Education Teacher, General Education Teacher, a Representative of the Education Agency (typically an administrator-but does not have to be) and service provider(s) who works with your student (ie: speech/language, occupational therapist, etc.)

You will return this to confirm the time and place of the meeting. You will also sign it during the meeting. Signing this is always okay as it acts as a an attendance record of the meeting.

Procedural Safeguards Notice: You will always receive a copy of your procedural safeguards before any meeting you have. I would highly recommend reading this all the way through at least one time so you that you know what your rights are. You will sign a form stating you have received it.

Parent Concerns: This section is so important for you, as the parent. The section is where you get to share your concerns about your student. You can ask the team to make sure to put your concerns in verbatim.

Present Levels of Performance (PLOP-PLAF): This provides a data driven look at how your student is doing. There should be data covering all of their academic areas, as well as social skills and functional behaviors. It is essential that the data be current and thorough, look for specific dates of when data was collected and how it was collected. This is an objective look at how your student is performing and should avoid subjective language.

Goals: The goal section of the IEP is where the team determines what specific goals your student is working toward in the next IEP year. Goals need to be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Ambitious, Relevant, and Time bound.

**I will be doing a separate posts all about goals as they are so important!

Accommodations/Modifications:- An accommodation is something that is provided for your student to ensure that they can access the curriculum and participate in the school day with their peers. An accommodation changes how they learn a material. These can be academic, social, or behavioral. Some examples of an accommodation are: “able to type responses for written assignments longer than 1 paragraph”, “small group testing,” “chunking of assignments or projects". There is no such thing as “standard accommodations,” instead they need to be specific to your student and what will provide.

A modification is a change to what your student is learning or what is being expected of them compared to other peers. This can look like a different assignment, less work, or a different schedule. Just like in accommodations, there is no such thing as a “standard modification”. These also need to be specific to your student and their individual needs.

**I will cover accommodations and modifications in further detail in the post Accommodations and Modifications

Participation in State and Division Assessments: In this section the team will check off if your student will participate in state assessments and division assessments. It will be decided if they will participate with or without accommodations. (It is important to note than any accommodation given for testing needs to also be utilized throughout the year.).

It may also be determined that they will not participate in state and division assessments, and if that it is the case it will be determined what will be utilized to determine growth. In Virginia it is the VAAP.

Services and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): In this section, the IEP team is determining in what areas your student will receive special education services. It will state how many minutes each day and in what setting. This may look like “45 minutes of reading 5 days a week in the general education setting” or “30 minutes of math 5 days a week in the special education setting.”. This is also where services such as Speech, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, etc will also be included.

The team will also determine where your student is receiving their education.

Prior Written Notice: This is a summary of everything that the IEP team is proposing and rejecting based on what has been decided in the IEP meeting.

Consent- On the form there are two options, Yes you give consent, and No you don’t. You also have the option to give partial consent.

Transition (If 14 or older): When a student is 14 years or older during the IEP year, transition services must be determined. Transition services looks at what post secondary goals the student has and how the student is helping them meet those goal.

I will be doing a separate post about this section as it is very intricate and important.