Special Services to Parents: Do Your Homework Before Your Child's IEP Meeting

An IEP, individual education plan, can be a difficult document for even the most savvy of parents to understand and manage. Last week, JTSNAP (Jefferson Township Special Needs Advocacy Parents) tried to take some of the mystery out of that document with a program entitled, “The ABCs of IEPs – Preparing for Your Child’s Meeting.”

An IEP is a written document, required by law, which describes the educational plan for a student with a disability. It is designed for each individual student with a purpose to identify the services a child needs so that he or she may grow and learn during the current school year. The purpose of an IEP is to also make sure that everyone (family, student, school staff) knows what the student’s educational program will be for the year. Each year the IEP is developed with the parent(s) and discussed in a formal IEP meeting where the parents participate and provide input.

Dr. Gale Ferraro, Jefferson’s director of special services, gave a detailed presentation that broke down each section of the IEP document and described what types of information each section contains.

Karen Helmstetter, a JTSNAP veteran member whose 20-year-old son Doug attends Jefferson High, was happy to see this event happen, especially for those parents who have younger children coming up through the system. Before Monday, Helmstetter and JTSNAP weren’t able to have an open information forum to go over such an important topic.

“This was a wonderful thing because this is the first time we’ve ever had an IEP meeting where it’s been explained in real detail,” Helmstetter said. “In the past, the IEP was left as this magical document that the department wanted you to accept at face value.”

Ferraro also went over some useful tips on how parents can prepare before the IEP meeting and how they can be active and engaging during the meeting as well. In short, the advice was to be prepared and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

“We want parents to be participants in their child’s meetings,” Ferraro said. “We want them to be able to share, we want to develop that collaborative relationship and the more they can bring to the table it makes our job easier.”

The parents in attendance for Monday night’s meeting asked a wide variety of relevant questions.

“I feel happy that people felt comfortable enough to ask questions,” Ferraro stated. “My purpose here was not only share with them what the document contains but also make them feel comfortable and be able to express their thoughts and ask questions and reach out when there’s a need for the case managers because that is a case manager’s job.”

In the end, the common goal is the same for both the parent and administrator – to find the best ways to help educate the child to the best of their ability.

When Ferraro took over her position in August, one of the first things she did was reach out to JTSNAP.

Ferraro’s idea was to open up communication between the department and the parents. This move was aimed at developing an environment where both groups could work together in a collaborative effort to provide the best benefit to those students with special needs.

The idea was well received by the members of JTSNAP. Since meeting with Ferraro in September, an effective partnership looks to have taken shape.

During their first joint meeting, the members of JTSNAP came to Ferraro with a list of items or topics they felt would be beneficial to discuss in an informal, yet informational session. Both parties decided that they would get together at various times during the school year and hold informational meetings to help educate and empower the parents who have children that are eligible for special education services.

In January the first group informational meeting, “What is Assistive Technology?,” was held.

For more information on the Jefferson Township Schools Department of Special Services, interested parties can visit: http://www.jefftwp.org/specialservices/specserv.shtml.