The yearly IEP meeting is important because it ensures that your child’s personalized education program is working. It is your responsibility as your child’s best advocate to attend these meetings and ask the proper questions so that your child gets the most out of his or her school experience. Consider asking the IEP team the following questions to help you prepare:

1. When and how should I reach out to you?

Educators are extremely busy, yet your ability to interact with them is critical. However, if you wish to speak freely with your child’s teacher, you must first determine the best means to contact the teacher and the best times to contact the instructor. Some educators, for example, are unable to respond to parent emails until after school.

2. What are my child’s strong points?

It’s a good idea to start your discussion by talking about your child’s strengths. This question will be useful when you begin to address the areas in which your kid is suffering. Ask the team about ways to “play up” your child’s abilities in school and at home as you identify them.

3. What goal changes do you recommend, and why?

Because your child’s needs are changing, you should not expect the IEP goals to remain static. Instead, inquire about the changes in goals that the educators recommend, as well as their reasoning for these potential goal changes.

4. What does my child’s everyday support look like?

To acquire a better idea of how your child’s IEP is being implemented on a daily basis, ask the team to detail his or her support on a daily basis. Allow the team to describe what, when, and how assistance is provided.

5. What support is my kid’s classroom teacher provided to meet these goals? 

Remember that you are all there to help your child. Because you are on the same team as his/her primary teacher, you should find out what support the classroom teacher receives to help your kid succeed in school.

6. How do we intend to monitor and share progress?

Goals should be quantifiable. Inquire with the team about how progress will be measured. Also, discuss with the team how you will communicate about your child’s progress with one another, as well as how this will be relevant to your child.

7. What can I do at home to help these objectives?

Inquire directly with the team about what you should be doing at home to assist your child in achieving these goals. It may also be advantageous to consult with the team about what they would do at home if this were their child. 

Again, you are all here to discuss the best methods to help your child both in and out of the classroom. However, as your child’s parent and primary advocate, make it your responsibility to learn your child’s rights and to speak up at meetings when these rights are not recognized.