June 2024:
The MLO Minute: “Creating or Revising an IEP — Critical Considerations”
By Dennis McAndrews, Esq., Founder and Managing Partner Emeritus —
This is a time of year when many IEPs are either created for the first time or revised. Our website provides many articles which can guide you in this process, and this article collects a few of the most critical components.
Goals should be created for every area of need of the child regardless of whether that need is served by a special educator, a regular education teacher, or a therapist. Every goal should be objective so that it can be measured by clear benchmarks on an annual basis, and can include interim steps at which progress toward the goal can be measured.
Progress Monitoring. Far too often, this is a forgotten component of an IEP, and a child’s progress is only monitored when report cards are issued. For children with disabilities, we have found that this is far too infrequent and untimely to recognize problems which the child is experiencing and to adjust curriculum and instruction as necessary, as well as to collaborate with families. At the very least, progress monitoring should occur at least three times per semester or grading period.
Specially Designed Instruction must be based on peer-reviewed research and not simply involve an amalgam of the techniques which are unsupported by research to support that type of instruction for the particular child. In the last 50 years, the scientific and educational communities have learned more than in all previous generations regarding how children learn to read, write, compute, socialize, and behave. Research-based instruction is available in each one of these critical components of an IEP, and the law requires programming to be clearly and accurately described. The same holds true for Related Services, including all forms of therapies, which under the federal special education law must be based on peer-reviewed research wherever such research is available– which is frequently.
Supports for School Personnel. Where children are placed in regular education, which is usually a worthy goal where appropriate for the child, the classroom must have adequate support to allow the child to make meaningful educational progress toward independence and self-sufficiency. Regular education teachers should never be expected to provide services beyond their training, capacity or realistic time constraints. Trained classroom aides and co-taught classrooms with a special educator can be key components of a child’s participation in regular education and should be made an integral part of such an IEP.
Extended school year. In general, this issue should be decided well before the end of a school year, but if upon reaching the close of the school year, a child’s reflects serious unmet goals reflecting a need for extended summer time programming, it is never too late to pursue that critical option for many children.
We provide free consultations and an extensive record review on behalf of families in special education matters, and most of these cases are handled without charging hourly fees to our clients. We invite you to reach out to us via the Contact Us link on our website so that we can begin the process of serving the special education needs of your child.
