IEP Conversation Stoppers

Posted by Greg Cruey May 6, 2006

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has a great page online listing nine things that parents should see as just bringing an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting to a grinding halt.

Among the conversation stoppers:

• "The general education teacher could not be here today."
• "Your child can't participate in academic classes if he can't pass the state assessments."
• "Your child's behaviors are disrupting the classroom."
• "Our district doesn't put technology into the IEP."

The law requires that the general education teacher be there unless a.) their area of involvement in the child's education isn't going to be discussed and b.) the invitation to the meeting say they've been exempted from the meeting. NCLD points out that an IEP meeting should never be the first time you hear about problems with your child's behavior. And with technology, what services you child receives should be based on their needs, not on the district's available resources.

What do you say when conversation stoppers like these come up? The NCLD's page tells you!

IEP meetings are already stressful enough without being jerked around.

Started by Pete Rozelle and his with, Carrie, in 1977, the National Center for Learning Disabilities was originally called the Foundation for Children with Learning Disabilities. According to their website "the organization provided leadership, public awareness and grants to support research and innovative practices in learning disabilities."

An IEP is a program of instruction designed specifically for a particular child in special education. Each year a document (also called an IEP) is put together in an IEP meeting to plan that program of instruction for the coming academic year. The group of people at that meeting are responsible for deciding how to provide your child with a FAPE, a free appropriate public education...