Ways for Teachers and Parents to Help Increase
Student Participation:
1. Have a Plan
2. Don’t expect a student to be comfortable and lead their first meeting.
3. Preview the meeting and the student’s role.
4. Role-play the meeting.
5. Explain to the student why it is important.
Why it is so important for students to participate in their IEP meetings?
One of my professors from grad school always stated that school is not the destination. The goal of the school is to help students be successful in school and beyond. Not only is this a good thing to do it is required by law. By law the team is required to address students needs both academically and functionally (Friend, 2008). Additionally the team is required to have a transition plan for students with disabilities by the age of 16 (IDEA, 2004).
The importance of student participation in the IEP can have lasting impact. Ultimately what a student and a family decide for their future is their decision but the IEP team often knows of resources that can help the student and family achieve their goals.
The team can only provide information if they know what information the family or student is looking for. For example, I have some students who want to travel as adults without their parents and parents are leery of it. As a teacher of students with intellectual disabilities I know of www.tripsinc.com that provides escorted trips for individuals with intellectual disabilities. This is not information I generally share at meeting because it often seems irrelevant, but I am also not trying to withhold this information either. If my student had not been present at their IEP I would not have known to share or look into this organization.
Travel might not seem as important as other things like employment but knowing students interests can be important in finding the appropriate resources. Some agencies work on job placement and the client has to accept any job placement that they find and others work closely with the individual to find a job in the field that they desire. This might seem simple that everyone would pick the agency that helps individuals find a job in the field that they desire but it is not that simple. Agencies that work to find jobs in specific field generally take longer to find a placement and if the placement is not right it takes longer to find a second placement. Agencies that just place people get people working right away. Some families care very much where their child works and other families just want their child to have a job even if it is not perfect.
These are just two examples of the million of decisions that we make everyday for ourselves about our lives. Some would argue that the ability to make these decisions is a human right and that they should not be taken away from anyone, especially for those with disabilities.
The reality is post secondary outcomes for individuals with disabilities generally are not great, especially for students with intellectual disabilities. After high school students with intellectual disabilities, when compared to students with other disabilities, are less likely (1) to have competitive employment, (2) live independently, and (3) attend postsecondary education (Grigal, Hart, & Migliore, 2011).
Since students have the most to gain or lose from their education plan, shouldn’t they have more of a say in their education.