The first step is an in-depth review of all available educational, medical, and mental health records for the student. Looking back at IEPs for the past several years and evaluations going all the way back to the initial evaluation can provide valuable insight into the areas in which the student is struggling to make progress and the kind of additional support the student might need to succeed at school. It can also reveal patterns as to what has and hasn’t worked well for the student in the past. The attorney should catalogue the records in a manner that makes internal sense and create charts or other visual and organizational aids that will allow the attorney to access documents, remember key facts, and easily find information that will support the parent’s position or refute the LEA’s contentions during a fast-paced IEP meeting.
After reviewing the records, the attorney should meet again with the client to discuss specific aspects of the IEP that could be modified to better meet the student’s needs. Armed with a deeper understanding of the student’s educational history and records, the attorney will be in a better position than during the initial interview to engage in client-centered counseling about strategies and solutions that could produce outcomes consistent with the client’s goals. Many parents already have an idea of specific changes they would like to see to their child’s educational program. Frequently, the main goal of representation will be to change the student’s educational placement to a particular classroom or to add or increase a related service like speech therapy or occupational therapy. Other times it might be to add a particular support or accommodation such as the services of a one-on-one paraprofessional or the use of assistive technology like an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (“AAC”) device. For all of these types of changes, an attorney must be able to point to supporting data and other information to help persuade the rest of the IEP team that the particular support or service being requested is needed to provide FAPE.
In most cases, however, the IEP can be improved beyond the more easily identified discrete changes that tend to be the initial focus of the representation. After all, the student is a complex person with many needs and strengths, and the attorney should help the parent to consider how each of the components of an IEP can be creatively shaped to meet the student’s individual needs. For example, a parent may not have known it was possible to request a parental communication plan as an accommodation.1 Another common area of deficiency in many IEPs is the lack of appropriate, measurable goals and learning objectives in each area of need. Some students may keep the same goals and objectives over several years, indicating a lack of progress. Other students may have goals that change annually to reflect the grade-level standards for the student’s new grade, but the data monitoring relating to the goals or short-term objectives show that the student is not making progress. For other students the goals might be so vague and poorly written that data monitoring is impossible and the student’s progress cannot be tracked. A number of online resources exist that can help an attorney learn how to assist in the development of “S.M.A.R.T.” goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound.2
- 1In a parental communication plan, a teacher or paraprofessional provides detailed weekly updates on a student’s struggles or progress with particular goals, skills, or materials to allow the parent to better support the student’s educational needs at home.
- 2A number of online resources exist to help parents, advocates, and educators learn how to write more effective goals using the S.M.A.R.T. model. See Sue Watson, How to Write IEP Goals, ThoughtCo.; Tips for Writing and Understanding Smart IEP Goals, NY2; Setting Smart IEP Goals, TACA; Goals and Objectives, Impact of Special Needs.