Before your next meeting: the one-hour version
The short route for a parent with an IEP meeting coming: place yourself on the map, open your state's page, read the goals and services, write three priorities and five questions, and take the notes sheet with you. It works with no setup.
This page is for the week before a meeting, when there is no time for twelve chapters. Each step takes about ten minutes and links the chapter that explains it, for later. Do them in order; stop where the hour runs out. The meeting prep plan is the longer version, dated from your meeting.
The hour, in six steps
- Find where you are on the map (10 minutes). Look at the papers you have. An IEP with a review date means an annual review; a consent form or an evaluation report means an evaluation or eligibility meeting. Read the meeting notice for its stated purpose and who will attend. How the process works: the cycle.
- Open your state's page (10 minutes). On the state links page, open your state's Rules and Record page. Write down the state's name for prior written notice, the parent center it lists, and what it says about recording IEP meetings, with today's date. Your state's rules.
- Read the goals and services (15 minutes). In the current IEP or the draft, find each annual goal and each service. For each goal, note how it is measured and when progress is reported; for each service, the minutes, how often, where and who provides it. Put a question mark beside anything missing or unclear. The IEP at a glance sheet has a column for each. Reading the IEP and Goals, services and placement.
- Write three priorities (10 minutes). What affects your child's learning or daily life most right now? Write three, one line each, with one example you have seen. Then two or three sentences on what you hope the team will consider this year. Send them to the team before the meeting if you can. Observations and priorities.
- Choose five questions (10 minutes). Turn your question marks from the goals and services into questions, and add from the question bank. Pick the five that matter most and write them on your questions sheet. Before the meeting.
- Take the notes sheet (5 minutes). Print the meeting notes sheet or open it on your phone. At the meeting, write each decision and each action item with who and when, and before it ends, read your list of decisions aloud and ask when the final IEP and any prior written notice will come. In the meeting.
Done when: you have your state's page open, three priorities and five questions written, and the notes sheet ready for the meeting.
After the meeting
Within a day or two, send the team a short summary of the decisions and action items as you understood them, and keep a copy. When the final IEP arrives, compare it with your notes. After the meeting covers the follow-through; When you disagree covers what to do if something is not settled.
What this version leaves out
| Left out of the hour | Where it is | When to come back for it |
|---|---|---|
| A two-week observation log | Observations and priorities | Before the next meeting |
| Reading every section of the IEP, including present levels and the special factors | Reading the IEP | When the final IEP arrives |
| Asking for records and the draft three weeks ahead | Before the meeting and the prep plan | Next time, with more notice |
| Reading an evaluation report | Referral and evaluation | Before an eligibility or reevaluation meeting |
| The communication log and progress checks | After the meeting | The week after the meeting |
This page is preparation, not advice about what to agree to. It does not say whether a goal, service or placement is right for your child; the team decides that, with you as a member. What a signature means on your state's form is stated on the form and your state's notice; read it and ask before you sign. If an outcome could affect your child's placement, services or eligibility, consider calling the parent center listed on your state's page, an advocate or an attorney before you respond.