frequently asked questions - individual evaluational plan (iep)

• The first IEP must be written and your written consent for placement given before your child can receive ese services.
• The IEP is a plan for your child only.
• The IEP describes the services and supports that the school has agreed to provide for your child for one year (or less).
• A new IEP must be written for your child at least every 12 months.
• There is only one IEP at a time for your child.
• Both you and the school may invite anyone you wish to the IEP meeting.
• The IEP helps parents, students, and school staff to make decisions together about a student's education program, educational needs, and appropriate services.

The IEP is NOT:

• A daily lesson plan. The IEP covers a whole year, so it will not tell you each little thing that a teacher will do with your child. It will not take the place of the plans that teachers write for a day or week.
• An evaluation report. An evaluation report describes your child's strengths and weaknesses. It lists his/her interests and special learning needs. The information from an evaluation report is used to help write the IEP.
• A contract. Therefore, it is not a document that guarantees that your child will make progress in school.
• A plan that lasts forever. As your child grows, learns, and changes, the IEP will need to change. It must be reviewed at least once each year. The IEP may be changed more often if your child is not making progress on his or her IEP goals and objectives. The IEP may also be changed as often as needed as your child achieves all of his or her IEP goals and objectives. Therefore, the IEP may be changed as often as you and the school agrees that it needs to be changed.
• Perfect. You and the school will always learn new things about your child as you work with him/her. As you work together, you will find ways to make the IEP more useful.

• Document the resources necessary for your child to receive special education and related services
• Document the decisions made by the team
• Communicate decisions to teachers and others who work with your child
• Provide a blueprint of how your child's individual needs will be met and where

To develop your child's IEP, the team will consider the following:

• What your child knows, what skills your child needs to learn, and your child's present level of performance
• Which exceptional education services your should receive (programs)
• Language and communication needs
• Whether your child needs assistive technology devices or services
• How much time your child will spend in general and Exceptional Education & Student Services (division of day)
• How to measure progress
• How much time your child will spend with general education peers (statement of Least Restrictive Environment)
• Whether your child needs therapy and related services to assist in learning (i.e., counseling, and transportation)
• Strategies to address behavior if your child's behavior interferes with learning or the learning of others

If your child is visually impaired, the IEP must provide for instruction in Braille. However, based on an evaluation, the team may decide that Braille instruction is not appropriate for your child.

• The parent
• Special education teacher
• General/regular education teacher (if the student is, or may be receiving instruction in the general education setting)
• A representative of the local education agency
• An individual who can interpret the instructional implications of the evaluation
• Others at the discretion of the parents and/or the school district
• Student (when appropriate)

• Observe your child and make notes on information important to their learning.
• Visit your child's class.
• Collect, organize and read records that you have on your child.
• Ask to see and read school records.
• Talk to people involved with your child such as teachers, coaches, and doctors.

• Keep a record of what services your child should be getting
• Know if your child is making progress in school
• Know what assistive technology your child is using
• Know which teachers to talk with about your child
• Know what to look for when you visit the school or talk with the teachers
• Plan to help your child make the transition from school to adult living
• Know what information might be helpful to share with the school
• Get ideas about what you can do at home to help your child
• Know what things you have agreed to do for your child

Teachers will use the IEP to:

• Help in the preparation of daily lessons and activities for your child
• Work with each other to help your child
• Help select the right kinds of learning materials and equipment for your child
• Know what assistive technology your child is using
• Plan activities to help your child achieve his/her transition goals
• Know if your child is making progress in school
• Help them share information with you

The school will use the IEP to:

• Record exactly what programs and services your child will receive
• Set up daily and weekly planning to teach your child
• Conduct the annual IEP Review and to develop a new IEP for your child
• Record specific services, accommodations or modifications, assistive technology, and other supports appropriate for your child
• Identify testing modifications and/or accommodations and the nature of participation in statewide or district testing programs
• Record desired long-term post-school outcomes

The school district will use the IEP to:

• Be sure that your child gets the services listed on his or her IEP.
• Plan for the future, making sure that the school district offers the right kinds of services to meet the needs of your child.

The IEP process helps to build parent/school partnerships by providing an opportunity to talk about:

• Student needs
• Student placement
• Appropriate related services (such as transportation, mental health services, and specialized school services)
• Student discipline
• Promotion/retention requirements
• Diploma options
• Vocational evaluation and coursework
• Unique skill courses
• Transition
• Extended school year services

1. The initial IEP serves as the basis for the placement decision and must be written before ese services can be provided. Your consent is required for initial placement.
2. Annual IEP Review must occur on or before the anniversary date of the current IEP.
3. IEP Review/Revision can be called by parents or school staff anytime during the year to review and/or revise the IEP, or to discuss concerns and solutions.
4. An exit IEP meeting is held when a student is exiting the ese program or upon graduation from the school system.

• Type of curriculum appropriate for your child (Sunshine State Standards or Sunshine State Standards for Special Diploma)
• Local and state assessments participation
• Accommodations and/or modifications needed
• Special needs to be addressed

• Information about the student. This information includes the student's name, gender, current grade-level assignment, the name of the school that the child will be attending during the year, birth date, and the student's school identification number as it appears in official school records.
  • The IEP also states the program in which the student has met eligibility criteria, as well as the date when the student is scheduled for the next three-year reevaluation.
  • School and/or post-school outcomes are part of the IEP. These statements reflect a vision and direction for the student and set the overall goal for IEP team members to work toward in completing the IEP.
  • The student's strengths, evaluation results, assessment performance and parent's concerns regarding the student's education are also noted on the IEP.
  • Consideration of special factors, such as strategies and behavioral interventions, language and communication needs, the need for extended school year services, and the need for assistive technology devices or services are included on the IEP.
• Present level of performance describes what the child knows and can do now. The present levels of performance include the strengths of the child, how the child's disability affects his or her involvement and progress in the general curriculum.
• Measurable annual goals are statements describing a skill or task that a child should be able to learn by the end of the IEP duration. These statements describe how a child's progress toward an annual goal will be measured, and how the parents will be kept informed on a regular basis about the child's progress (at least as often as parents of nondisabled children).
• Short term-objectives or benchmarks are statements that break the annual goals into small steps. Short-term objectives and/or benchmarks may be used to help teachers, parents, and students monitor how much progress is being achieved in meeting the annual goals and to determine the amount of progress your child makes during the year. A brief statement is also made about your child's progress on each objective or benchmark on the day it was evaluated.
• A statement of how your child's progress toward the annual goals will be measured and how you will receive progress reports is included on the EIP. Is this wrong? should be IEP? Yes?
• Special education services to be provided to your child are listed or described on the IEP.
• Related services are the services needed to help a child benefit from special education are described. Some examples of related services are counseling, parent counseling and training, social work services, transportation, or adapted physical education. Consideration is given to whether or not a child requires supplementary aids and services that enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled peers as much as possible. Examples of these kinds of aids and services are calculators, assistive technology, help from an instructional aid, large print books, and note takers.
• Modifications or accommodations are the appropriate changes to curriculum materials and strategies, behavior strategies, the learning environment, test taking, time demands and scheduling, and program requirements. A description of the student's need for support personnel is included in this part.
• Supplementary aids and services describe the aids, services and other supports to be provided in other educational settings that will enable the student to be educated with nondisabled students as much as possible.
  • The IEP will indicate whether the student will participate in state and district wide testing programs. If the student is to participate in such programs, the accommodations or modifications needed are described. If the student will not participate in testing programs, the reason is given and the alternate assessment will be listed.
• Beginning date, ending date, length of time, how often, and where each ese service, related service, program modification/support, and supplementary aid and service is to be provided is included on the IEP. The IEP team will identify the type of placement or the setting for ese services.
• Explanation of extent to which your child will be removed from programs with disabled children is the part of the IEP that explains the extent to which your child will not participate with nondisabled children in general education classes, general assessment, and nonacademic activities such as lunch and extracurricular activities.
• Specialized transportation services are included, if appropriate for the student.
• Transition services for students age fourteen or older are discussed at an IEP meeting called the Transition IEP (TIEP). A TIEP describe the student's courses of study related to achieving his or her desired post-school outcome. For students age sixteen or older, the TIEP will identify the transition services needed. These needs must be discussed and updated on the IEP each year.
  • For students ages fourteen and older, the transition services needed for the student will be included on the IEP.
  • A diploma option that is selected by the IEP team for the student is included on the IEP.
• Signatures of everyone who attended the IEP meeting are included on the IEP.