Student Voice in IEP

An essential part of being able to speak up for your child regarding their educational experience is to understand their needs and desires. As a parent, it is crucial to ask your child questions routinely about what they are doing at school and how a particular service is going.

Be sure to ask follow-up questions to get them to share what they are doing at school, like “Can you tell me more about that?” or “Can you give me an example of how that works for you at school?”

Another activity parents and guardians can do is to carefully review your child’s homework or completed work they bring home. You can ask your child questions about the work and notice how they are improving over time on specific concepts or tasks. For example, you might notice that they are advancing to reading books with longer sentences or doing more complex math problems. By sharing with your child that you are noticing that they are making an effort and advancing is a way to reinforce their progress. Always look for ways to praise your child’s efforts and success.

You also can talk with your child’s teachers to see if there is extra work that you can do at home to help your child. An example of this would be to know that your child is working on the “r” sound at the end of words in speech/language therapy, and it is helpful if you work together on the articulation of words like “star” and “car.”

By doing these activities, you can see areas of gain or difficulty that you can then share with the school to help determine if services are on the right path or may need to be modified. Some other activities you can do at home include reading books together, practicing writing or drawing, and playing educational games that reinforce the concepts your child is learning in school.

It also is helpful to share your child’s voice about their special education goals, services, and progress directly during IEP and other scheduled meetings with teachers and staff. As a parent or guardian, your role in these meetings is vitally important. You can share examples from the conversations you have with your child about school and their perceptions of the special education services they are receiving, their goals, and what progress they feel they are making. In addition, you should share what you observe during the activities you do with your child at home.

You can always ask your child if they would like to attend a meeting with schoolteachers and staff. This could be the IEP or a less formal meeting to discuss a particular issue. This is something to discuss with your child and school staff weeks before the scheduled meeting, so that the teacher can set your child up for success and decide the best meeting format.