1. What has been your involvement with IEP meetings? How long have you been involved with IEP meetings? Have you been involved with IEP meetings at different schools or in different roles (IE social worker, teacher, parent, etc.)?
Parent and advocate (unpaid and unofficial, which is an important distinction), 7 years IEP and a few more years of gifted EPs (which in our district are technically not individual), four districts, nine schools.
2. How many others are involved with the IEP meetings you attend? What are their respective roles in the child’s plan?
I think IME the max was sixteen. Usually more like six to eight. Parent(s), classroom teacher(s), athletics coach, ESE teacher, case manager, LEA representative, assorted therapists, principal or vice principal, advocate, and occasionally, attorney(s).
3. Is it usually clear which goals should be set in the IEP?
One would think so. Sometimes. But IME, it's often the case that a couple of individuals each think it's clear, and they have conflicting opinions.
4. Does the IEP team generally agree on ideas that should be implemented for the IEP? How are disagreements resolved?
Not always. That having been said, even with disagreement it can still be respectful and productive. Sometimes disagreements are resolved through compromise, sometimes through one party or another deciding it's not the hill they want to die on, sometimes with a continuance, and sometimes with a lot of acrimony. Usually it doesn't require attorneys, but I've been a sort of "interested bystander" to one that ended up in court.
5. Do you feel the IEP goals and their implementation are effective?
They're as effective as the people involved want them to be. My biggest complaint about my child's district is that the goals almost never are measurable and specific, and there's never a plan progression. I don't think teachers are taught how to write effective interventions. FWIW, my background involves medical case management, and everything had to be specific. So that may be a source of my frustration with vague generalities like "student will decrease drawing in math class". (How much of a decrease? By when? And define decrease-- fewer pictures, less time spent? Or just smaller drawings? Are we talking about during instructional time or after she's finished her test and has nothing to do? What do we replace the behavior with?)
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