The Individualized Education Program: IEP - Page 2
The first three are pretty obvious: you, your child as the student, and the Special Education teacher. But why have a member of the administration there was well? Well, IEP's are conducted by State regulations, and has the ability to allocate funds if necessary. They are often called Local Education Agency (LEA) Representative, though it's generally from the Principal's office.
Also, why have a general education teacher if your child is only in special education? Well, a general education teacher is there to represent the requirements expected of mainstreamed children. They know what the required educational goals are for typical students, and can help the Special Education teacher set goals that will bring the child closer to being mainstreamed. Because that is the goal of every IEP: to bring the child up to their grade-level expectations, and keep them there.
So now you have your team, but what do they do? Well, they start by having written statements about present academic achievements and functional performance. These are done through either direct or indirect assessment (tests or observation), and evaluate where the child is currently performing. It forms a foundation on which the team can plan how to build your child's education program. Another way to look at it is a road's starting point.
Next, your team will write down measurable goals for both academic and functional performance. Measurable means that your child will need to accomplish certain tasks X number of times, or attend to an activity for X number of minutes. Percentages doesn't mean anything in the measured world of your child's education, so don't let anyone get around you by adding that as a "measure". Focus on achieved results within specific time-frames and X number of times. If you have any questions on how something would be measured, it's not clearly measurable, at least to you. It may also help if you ask how it will be evaluated and assessed, that way you can do the same things at home to build on what your team has in store.
Continued on the next page
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