Recommendations

Some counselors or doctors may make recommendations for school based accommodations based on their evaluation or their work with your child. Ask any doctor who has been seeing your child if they have recommendations and if so, could he or she put them in writing for you to bring with you. For example, a counselor may recommend your child have positive reinforcement programs in place to help with certain behavioral issues. This information is important for the IEP team to be aware of and to take into consideration when developing a plan of action.

Research

Many parents will research and read about their child’s specific diagnosis. If so, there may be valuable information you have read that may be valuable to the IEP team. Most educational and medical professionals will be leery of information copied directly from the internet or from unknown sources. Be sure to include sources of the research, including publication name, author and date of publication. The more reputable the source, the more weight the information and research will carry.

Educational Consultants

Some parents work with an educational consultant or advocate to help guide them through the IEP process. Many times the advocate or consultant will come to the meeting with the parents, however, in some cases, parents prefer to work with the advocate for the purposes of preparing for the meeting and prefer to attend the meeting alone. In this case, the advocate may have completed forms or provided paperwork to back explain his or her recommendations.

Before attending the meeting, take the time to organize your paperwork. There may be some paperwork you prefer not to hand to every team member, such as confidential medical records, but for any paperwork you plan to share with all members, make copies beforehand. For confidential medical records, bring along one copy for review during the meeting.