Episode 78-IEP team

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Maggie. And I'm Nicole. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia and Coffee Podcast. We're so happy you could join us. We're both moms and dyslexia interventionists who want to talk about our students and children. What dyslexia is, how it affects our kids, strategies to help and topics related to other learning disabilities will also be covered in this podcast. Parents are not alone, and we want to give voice to the concerns and struggles we are all having. This is a safe place to learn more about how to help our children grow and succeed in school, in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia and Coffee Podcast. Today we're going to start our episode like we do every single week, with the concept of the week. The concept of the week is our opportunity as practitioners to kind of pull back that curtain a little bit and let y' all into an intervention session. We like to start by defining things and teaching about things that we would either directly be teaching to our students or their parents. So this week's concept of the week is pretty related to last week's, which was special education. This week's concept of the week is what is an iep? Okay. An IEP is an individualized education plan. It is a legally binding document. It is regulated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education act, or the idea. Sometimes people do say idea. That is what the ACURAM does smell. So that outlines specialized instruction, supports, and services for a student with a documented disability. It is a lot like having a blueprint or a roadmap for a child's education. There are some required pieces of an iep, and each state can modify things according to comply with state law as well. There must be a current level of performance. There must be measurable goals. We must dictate the services. We're real people doing a real thing here. We might. We not might. We do have to detail what services or specialized instruction that kid needs. Could be like therapy or speech therapy, occupational therapy, and it could be all their accommodations as well. And then we have to determine a placement. This means what is the least restrictive environment for that child? Are they going to be mostly in regular ed? Are they going to be pulled out in special ed all of the time? What percentage is that going to be and how are we going to best serve that kid? To qualify for an individualized education plan, that student must have a documented disability that specifically impacts their ability to learn in a general education setting. So it we have to prove basically that there is an actual disability here and that that disability affects this child's ability to perform in this general setting. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Nice. All right, so we're on episode 78, which is talking about the IEP Team S. Yeah. [00:04:13] Speaker B: Nicole and I were kind of realizing mostly Nicole. Right. That early on in our podcast days, we did a couple of episodes about, you know, what is, what is special education, what, what's the difference between a 504 and an IEP plan. But we haven't really gotten into like the nitty gritty of who's actually on this team and how, how is it supposed to function. So we're going to do that today. [00:04:45] Speaker A: So we're going to talk about first, the mandatory team members. [00:04:49] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:49] Speaker A: They have to be there. [00:04:50] Speaker B: They have to be there. Mandated. [00:04:54] Speaker A: Mandated. Remember, this is based under a law. Right. [00:04:57] Speaker B: Correct. [00:04:58] Speaker A: IEP system. So. [00:04:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:00] Speaker A: So who is first? Parents and guardians, of course, because we provide crucial insights to the child's strengths. Needs at home. [00:05:09] Speaker B: Yes. If a parent is not present at a meeting, a school needs to document at least three attempts to facilitate a meeting with that parent. So while it is technically possible to proceed with IEP without a parent present, you had you better prove it that you have tried to involve them because they are a mandatory member of the team. [00:05:39] Speaker A: So a student. It depends. There's a little bit of a caveat here. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Yes. [00:05:48] Speaker A: So they include when there's transition planning beginning, so around 16 or younger, so that they can self advocate. In our state of Wisconsin, we live in a state where the child must be present if they're 14 or older. So it's definitely state specific to. Yes. [00:06:08] Speaker B: You know, and I'll say more about this later, but the student is a critical part of the team. That's who we're here to talk about. [00:06:18] Speaker A: Right. And then special education teacher needs to be there. Wonder why. Listen to our previous podcast. You know why. [00:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Special education teacher offers expertise. [00:06:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:06:34] Speaker B: And designing instruction for diverse needs. This person is typically in charge of running the IEP meeting, writing the draft, and I do mean draft of the plan. [00:06:49] Speaker A: Supposed to get addressed before you go to the meeting. [00:06:53] Speaker B: That is ideal. Good practice. [00:06:56] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:57] Speaker B: It's not technically mandated, but that is. It's best practice. You can ask for it. [00:07:05] Speaker A: You can ask for it. [00:07:06] Speaker B: And you can ask to delay a meeting if you need time to look over the draft as well. [00:07:16] Speaker A: So the next person is the general education teacher. [00:07:20] Speaker B: Yeah, the gen ed teacher. They are there to provide input on the general education curriculum and classroom participation. There must be at least one general education teacher on the team, even if that student does not attend general education classes. The reason that is is because it is still important to understand what parts of the general ed curriculum that kid can participate in. And they are there to be experts on state standards and provide a. A bigger picture. So even if that student does not attend general education classrooms, it is generally. First of all, it's still mandated that somebody representing general education attends the meeting. Again, there is kind of a process out of that a parent can sign consent to dismiss a general ed teacher from the meeting in almost all circumstances. As an advocate, I advocate against that because I still think it's very important that we're considering what standards in special education that we are expecting our students to meet. [00:08:46] Speaker A: That makes a lot of sense. [00:08:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:48] Speaker A: How about the school district representative? [00:08:51] Speaker B: Yes. So school district representative, also known as the LEA or local education authority. That is a person who is authorized to commit resources, AKA funding and is knowledgeable about the curriculum and resources that that district does have. This person should be different from the special education teacher who is running the meeting. It is often. [00:09:20] Speaker A: Who sits in those roles? [00:09:21] Speaker B: Who sits in those roles? That's a really good question. It is often. It really can be another special education teacher. That's pretty typical practice because we would have knowledge of district resources. So it could be a second special ed teacher, it could be a school psych, it could be a school counselor, it could be a principal, it could be a like director of special ed or any. It really can be anybody with district knowledge of what are the resources we actually do have and what can we actually commit to on paper. If we're writing something in this plan, we better actually be able to provide it. And if we can't, what are we. What are our next best options? So school districts advise their teams a little bit different, but it is often another special education teacher. [00:10:24] Speaker A: In our district, it's usually the principal. [00:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah, principals serve in those roles a lot. It kind of depends on how big your school is too. Yeah, it's a real big population and you know, depends what is being discussed. I have definitely asked for a higher up LEA at my meetings. If we are talking about a transition plan that involves out of school placement. Because I don't know if we have those resources or not. And I need someone more knowledgeable than me in that role. [00:10:58] Speaker A: And the evaluation specialist. [00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So sometimes this is so someone like a school psychologist or a school counselor. This can also be another special education teacher or the special education teacher. One person may serve more than one role in an IEP meeting. They need to be able to interpret assessment results. So this person is absolutely mandatory member of the team if it is an initial evaluation or a re evaluation meeting, which happen every three years in special education. So. Yeah, so that is who has to be at the table. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Now we have to talk about the optional or invited members. Here we go. And I have to say that I am part of this next group, the related service providers. This includes speech therapists, occupational therapists, other therapists as needed. And if the student receives a related service, then they become a mandatory member of the team. But for most part, they're a related service. They must also write a goal and give progress reports about meeting that goal when they are on the team. [00:12:20] Speaker B: Yep. [00:12:23] Speaker A: A parent advocate, a parent friend, parent, relative. Those are all people you can invite into the space. So anyone that parent chooses to bring for support or expertise. [00:12:35] Speaker B: Yes, yeah. That is protected by law. A parent may bring really anyone they so choose to a special education planning meeting. And that includes outside advocates. If a school district would like to invite an outside agency, a parent has to give consent. [00:12:59] Speaker A: Yes, you have to sign. [00:13:00] Speaker B: So. [00:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's kind of like our next person that could be invited is any agency representative for transition IEPs for high school students. That's often someone from the division of vocational rehabilitation that goes by different names in different states. States in Wisconsin at cvr, it could be. If the school is considering an outside placement, it could be a representative from that outside agency. But the school district has to get consent from a parent to have that representative present at the meeting. [00:13:41] Speaker A: And sometimes there's in. If you need like a second opinion, they will call in like a cisa. Wisconsin is. Yeah, but it's basically an area agency of education of some sort. Every state calls them different things. But they can also be invited. [00:13:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, There may be. There may be a lot of people at this meeting. I mean, I'm just going to kind of go through and count. Right. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6. Okay. If we include everybody. 7, 8, 9, 10. That is 10 people that we have just talked about that could be at this meeting. That's a. That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. [00:14:25] Speaker A: It is. That is why they're not really supposed to go. As long as sometimes they do. Yes, but they can. They can. I would say. What do you. Would you say a typical meeting. [00:14:36] Speaker B: It's kind of funny, I do get this question often. Like, is there a maximum length of dinner? [00:14:40] Speaker A: Not a maximum length. [00:14:41] Speaker B: There is not There is not, I would say a typical IEP meeting lasts around an hour. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:14:54] Speaker B: I know that that has not been your personal experience and I have been part of IEPs that last several, several hours. It is possible to start and reconvene a meeting. Really, Truly. Any member of the team can say, hey, we're done for today. We need to table and come back together. I tried really hard as a special ed teacher to stick to roughly an hour. If I thought we were going to take longer, I would maybe set like an outline in addition to the IEP plan. I mean, I would do a lot of things to make sure that we stick roughly to the hour timeframe so that we keep these meetings running efficiently and we're actually serving the needs of the kids. Obviously there's a lot of situations that would. Would take several more hours, but I really did try to keep it to around an hour time frame and in. [00:16:05] Speaker A: Those situations could be discussed at another podcast at a later time. [00:16:09] Speaker B: They really couldn't. [00:16:10] Speaker A: There's a lot of different things that can happen. [00:16:12] Speaker B: Totally that, totally that. And you know, I always say about an hour, but that your mileage may vary. For sure, for sure. So. [00:16:29] Speaker A: I think we kind of mentioned this before the student age that they should be in the meeting. In Wisconsin, it's 14, because that's when we consider it a transitional age. Other states may be 16. But, you know, it's strongly recommended that your child at least maybe be there for part of it, just because they can contribute to the meeting by asking questions. Or maybe they prepare a schedule statement about things that are working well or maybe show a work sample they're proud of. But if you think the meeting may be not so nice, maybe just having them start at the beginning, say their little piece, and then they could go away and not be in part of where the adults become over. [00:17:16] Speaker B: I think it's very, very. I mean, IEP meetings can become extremely emotional. And of course they do, because in 99.999% of the IEP meetings I've ever been involved with, I can promise you every team member does care about that kid, even if we have lots of wildly different opinions on what should happen. So of course they're emotional because truly every. Everyone at that table actually does care about kids or they wouldn't be there in the first place. Truly. Yes, there are outliers, of course, but I think it's deeply important that a student understands that this is actually about them. And I think it's also important to see, like, look how many People are at this table right now and they. [00:18:10] Speaker A: Are all here to discuss you. Right. [00:18:14] Speaker B: So even at a young age, I am personally an advocate for, okay, maybe it's the first five minutes and that's what is developmentally appropriate. But they should be aware a meeting is taking place and kind of who is there? [00:18:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's. It's a very structured collaborative process. Right. We're really making an education plan tailored to that student's unique needs. And. But it does follow a standard sequence of events. Right. There's the first phase, which is prep duration, which is like before the meeting you have to send a notice, you have to schedule, it has to be written and everything needs to be followed up in writing. Then we review the drafts. Typically you get a draft 48 hours before a meeting. So you can kind of prepare, you gather information. Parents collect things like medical records and other list of concerns that they might have. And then like if there's an assessment needing to be done, then the team is doing the assessments ahead of time. The median is also step by step. You know, there's introductions that need to be done first. You have to state your name and your roles. It's pretty standard to do that. [00:19:46] Speaker B: Even when the team kind of knows each other, it's still best practice. It feels a little silly. Yes. But it's best practice to do it. [00:19:54] Speaker A: Yeah. We've been going to the same people for many years and we still have to do it at the beginning. [00:19:58] Speaker B: You always feel really silly when a kid's a senior in high school and they're like, hi, my name is. [00:20:03] Speaker A: Yeah, you're like, yeah, I know that. Thank you. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Thank you so much. [00:20:06] Speaker A: Yes. And then there's the procedures, safeguards, like the school needs to provide you a document explaining your legal rights. How to resolve some disputes is included in that present levels. So the team has to discuss where the student is currently at academically and functionality based on the data that was taken before the meeting. Teacher observations is also included and parent input. Usually at least my thing. If there's like a supplementary provider, usually they call before the team meeting and say, hey, how's it going with this? How's it going with that? Or maybe the school psych will call and give me a behavioral checklist or something like that. So that happens usually prior, but then we discuss it while we're in the. [00:21:00] Speaker B: Meeting. [00:21:02] Speaker A: And then eligibility review, that's pretty much if it's initial meeting. Then the team decides does the student meet the IEDA criteria for special education and which ones that can Be debated for a lot of minutes in some. [00:21:22] Speaker B: Cases, so many minutes. [00:21:24] Speaker A: And just so you know, it's not always agreed upon in there. [00:21:30] Speaker B: That's true. That's absolutely true. [00:21:34] Speaker A: And there are many feelings about that. [00:21:38] Speaker B: There really are. If and when things get kind of emotional at an IEP meeting, this is usually the time. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Yep. This is usually when we're like, wait a minute. [00:21:49] Speaker B: Yes, definitely. [00:21:50] Speaker A: Hold it. [00:21:52] Speaker B: You know, the official reevaluation period is three years, but there is always a eligibility time. Right. We. We do on an annual basis. Hey, is this student still meeting this criteria? And it. If, if and when there is going to be some serious emotions here, it's going to happen during that eligibility review. And even at the present level of functioning, as you were looking at last year's goals and seeing if they made any progress, is this happening or not happening? And yeah, it can be a bumpy ride. [00:22:37] Speaker A: And then the next thing you go through is setting goals. You know, the team develops measurable and annual goals to address the child's specific areas of need. And then they discuss services and accommodations. So the team decides specialized instruction related services needs like speech or occupational therapy and then classroom accommodations. And then they talk about placement. A lot of times it's just a. It's just they're gonna stay in the school and they're gonna have services that way. But this is also can be quite the discussion. [00:23:18] Speaker B: It really can. And it also refers to placement. How much time is spent in general education and how much time is spent in special ed settings. So it's both like, like physically, like, are they gonna be in this building and also like where in this building? Yeah. [00:23:36] Speaker A: Are they going to be with a special ed teacher in a room or are they going to be in the regular teacher with peers? Although sometimes I don't agree with that. [00:23:45] Speaker B: Word and I will not go down. That is like, that is an episode I think we absolutely can do. You and I are aligned there, Nicole. No surprise. [00:24:00] Speaker A: The next phase is post the meeting. So then you will be given a final copy of the IEP to review to make sure that everything that was discussed is in there. Your. You know that what you said is correct. And you're supposed to review it and then you're supposed to sign it. But you don't have to sign it if you don't really agree with it. Yes. [00:24:31] Speaker B: Services cannot begin until you have given written consent for the initial iep. [00:24:39] Speaker A: Right. [00:24:41] Speaker B: So until and unless you have signed paperwork, they cannot begin services unless there are some way extenuating circumstances. People Listening to this podcast, this would be areas like a school can proceed with IEP procedures without a parent's consent if there are a lot of extenuating factors. People listening to this podcast are involved parents and are not really in these situations. So. [00:25:19] Speaker A: And then, of course, they monitor throughout the year. Right. You do progress reports. There's usually report cards. There's other things to see how they're advancing towards goals. There are 13 categories a student can qualify for. I also don't really. Whatever. I don't write this. So the first one is specific learning disability. This can be challenges with reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, or with math. So this is where dyslexia falls. Right. It goes. A specific learning disability with reading is dyslexia. A certain. [00:26:02] Speaker B: Say it again. [00:26:03] Speaker A: A specific learning disability with reading is dyslexia, people. [00:26:08] Speaker B: There we have it. Okay. [00:26:09] Speaker A: We just want to make sure that you know that that is just a different term because it's in a different environment. The medical diagnosis is dyslexia. The school diagnosis is a specific learning disability with. [00:26:22] Speaker B: Sorry, we can ask that a lot. So we do a lot. Yes. A student may qualify for an IEP under other health impairment. These conditions limit the child's strength or energy or vitality sometimes, but not always. ADHD can fall under that category. Asthma, diabetes, those kinds of things can fall under that category. Autism spectrum disorders. [00:26:51] Speaker A: That goes under its own category? [00:26:53] Speaker B: Yes, in some states. So these are like the federal categories. [00:26:58] Speaker A: Yeah, but each state can move it a little. [00:27:01] Speaker B: Can move it a little bit. Emotional disturbance or emotional behavioral disability is what it's called in the state of Wisconsin. Speech and language employment. That is the largest category of IEPs. You know, that is by far and away the largest category of IEPs federally. Visual impairment, including blindness or legal blindness. That is its own category. Deafness or hearing impairment. It depends on the state. Sometimes they are two different qualifying categories. Sometimes it's one. Deafbindness, orthopedic impairment. So physical disability, such as cerebral palsy or like, bone disorders, that can severely impact academic performance. [00:28:01] Speaker A: Intellectual delay. So they're below average intellectual functioning, and they have just deficits in, like, adaptive behavior. Traumatic brain injury or tbi, you know, that's an acquired brain injury from, like, an external force, like some. Something hit them in the head. Multiple disabilities, like, similar. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Like simultaneous. [00:28:32] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:28:33] Speaker B: I got you. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Thank you. Impairments regarding highly specifically needed support. And then some states also include a developmental delay for children ages 3 through 9. That's not every state. So that's kind of one of those things. [00:28:53] Speaker B: And it is really often the case that a student with special education qualifies under one of these categories or multiple of these categories. And if they qualify for multiple, the team has to decide what is the primary and what is the secondary. So what are we going to? What is our primary and then what is our secondary? Which is a thing. [00:29:23] Speaker A: Yeah. So, Maggie, what's happening beyond dyslexia? [00:29:30] Speaker B: This has been a brutal week. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This has just been personally a brutal week. Dyslexia Achievement center has experienced some disruptions this week, to say the least. It is as we record this Friday and it is, like, over 40 degrees. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Today, which is amazing. [00:30:08] Speaker B: Which is amazing. So I'm holding on to that quite tightly. [00:30:15] Speaker A: We don't usually get to this temperature until, like, March. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:19] Speaker A: Or April. Or never. [00:30:21] Speaker B: Or never. Talk to me in August. [00:30:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:28] Speaker B: But it really has been brutal. [00:30:35] Speaker A: I don't. [00:30:36] Speaker B: I don't know what to say other than it really has been a brutal week. It has. And. [00:30:43] Speaker A: We'Re going to enjoy the weekend. [00:30:45] Speaker B: We are 50 degrees this weekend. So happy. [00:30:48] Speaker A: It's Friday and we're gonna be outside, hopefully. Although I'll be at a basketball tournament selling candy. [00:30:56] Speaker B: Going on with you, Nicole. [00:30:58] Speaker A: A basketball tournament. I'll be selling candy and food all weekend. Go us. So. [00:31:08] Speaker B: Hopefully they'll, like, keep the gym doors open and it'll be like, you. [00:31:11] Speaker A: Know, no, they won't do that. [00:31:13] Speaker B: You know, you'll have at least some fresh air. [00:31:21] Speaker A: That's the worst. [00:31:22] Speaker B: But it's finally nice out and we still have indoor sports. Come on. [00:31:27] Speaker A: Well, thank you, everybody, for listening. [00:31:30] Speaker B: Please. [00:31:32] Speaker A: Hit like on your podcast, players and tell. That's how we get more listeners so that we can help our families. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Bye.