When one is ready to request an IEP meeting, one can do so by sending a letter via email to the principal or special education coordinator at the school the student attends.1 The letter can broadly request a meeting to review, revise, and discuss the IEP, or it can request changes to particular components of the IEP. A benefit of including specific requests regarding modifications to the IEP is that doing so triggers the parent’s right to receive prior written notice of any refusals or counter-proposals.
Another consideration is whether to invite other individuals to participate as members of the IEP team. Having a lay advocate, social worker, counselor, or other outside provider with specialized training or who has worked with the student and family for a long time can provide valuable insight and serve as an important ally during the IEP meeting. The attorney should also consider requesting that specific employees of the LEA be present if their presence would be helpful. For example, having a school psychologist or autism specialist from the district’s central office present if the IEP meeting will involve the development or review of a Behavior Intervention Plan (“BIP”) can lead to better results than relying on a teacher or school-level administrator to lead the drafting of the BIP. If someone whose presence would be helpful is unable to attend in person or for the entire meeting, the attorney should attempt to arrange for remote attendance via phone or videoconference or attendance for only part of the meeting. Of course, the attorney should also request an interpreter for the parent if needed.
Whether the student should be present for all or part of the IEP meeting is another factor to consider. The parent has the right to make the decision regarding the student’s presence if the student is under the age of majority, but it is generally advisable to have an older student present for at least part of the meeting to provide input and become invested in the educational program being designed. For example, it would be difficult to create a transition services plan without the student present since the plan must be based on the student’s preferences and interests.2 If the parent or student are concerned about the student’s ability to sit through the meeting because of the sensitive nature of the topics being discussed, boredom, or some other reason, the attorney should consider working out a signal so that the student can quietly be excused.
Prior to the IEP meeting, the attorney should work with the parent to draft a parental concern statement that thoroughly and accurately reflects and prioritizes the parent’s concerns with the student’s educational program and describes the desired changes to the IEP. The parental concern statement is the only part of the IEP that is meant to express the will of the parent alone rather than that of the IEP team as a whole. The statement can be read out loud or provided in hard or electronic copy so that it can be added verbatim to the IEP. Because it appears on the first page of the IEP form and so is usually discussed early, a thoughtful parental concern statement can set the tone of the meeting, although nothing expressed in the statement is binding on the LEA.
- 1A template letter requesting an IEP meeting is provided in Section 9.
- 234 C.F.R. § 300.43(a)(2); La. Bulletin 1706 § 905 (defining Transition Services).