Collecting Family Input Before an IEP Meeting
As a teacher, there is no worse feeling than going into an IEP meeting and being blindsided by a parent concern. But- as a parent, how would you feel walking into a meeting with a bunch of professionals who all work together, speak the "sped lingo", talking about your child as if you aren't the expert on your child, and having a 20 page convoluted document put in front of you? As teachers, we NEED to be reminded of that whenever we have a meeting coming up. No matter if the student has 1 goal or 8 goals, the IEP team needs to look at the whole child in the most accurate way possible. That is not going to happen if you don't get family input! Yes, you spend 40 hours a week with students in your classroom. Yes, you might have students with you for 4-5 years. But none of that holds a candle to the information that a family has on THEIR child that they have parented/cared for every day for years. If there was a member of the team that was an expert on that child (all of
