Special Education: What 5 things should you do with your IEP in the New Year!

1. Review your IEP.

Read over your entire IEP. Does the IEP address your child’s current issues? Do the assessments still sound accurate? Review the services that your child is receiving. Are they enough services? Is your child spending too much time out of the classroom? Does your child have access to general education peers?

2. Review Goals and Objectives.

Review closely your child’s goals. Is your child meeting the objectives or benchmarks? Are the goals too easy or have they been achieved? Are the goals too hard and will not be achieved in a years’ time?

3. Review Assessments.

Do the district assessments adequately describe your child? Do they need to be updated? Do you need to request an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation)? Do you need to request any new assessments? It makes sense to request any new assessments or IEEs so that the IEP on the assessments can be done before the end of the year.

4. Request an IEP meeting.

If need to have any questions or issues discussed above you should request an IEP meeting. The district has 30 days to schedule an IEP, so it makes sense to request one now so changes can be made before the end of the year.

5. Think about placement for next year.

It makes sense to start thinking about placement next year for your child. Do you want to say in the same school? Do you need to change classrooms? More general education time with push-in RSP or is a Special Day Class better? Do you need another school in the district or a NPS (non-public school)? Is your child moving from elementary to middle school or high school? Start touring the possible placements and talking to other special education parents about their experiences at the new schools. Now is the time to put in some of the work so there is not a crunch at the end of the school year.

As always, contact me if you want to discuss how to get ready for 2018.

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