{"id":6651,"date":"2012-03-14T12:37:53","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T16:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=6651"},"modified":"2017-03-15T10:10:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T14:10:08","slug":"parent-school-partnership-the-effective-iep-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parent-school-partnership-the-effective-iep-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Effective IEP Teams: Reality or Impossible Dream?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Effective%20IEP%20Teams%3A%20Reality%20or%20Impossible%20Dream%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>When parents build an effective team with the school, what does it look like?<\/p>\n<p>What happens at IEP meetings when staff and parents come together to develop an effective plan for a child with disabilities?<\/p>\n<p>It is basically the same set of people.\u00a0 What is different about an <em>effective<\/em> team?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter \" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/istock\/mtg.graph.jpg\" width=\"498\" height=\"335\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1.\u00a0\u00a0 Parents will get more information before the meeting.<\/strong>\u00a0 Staff will both share their observations of your child and seek input from parents.\u00a0 The school will test your child as needed without having to hold meetings and negotiations.\u00a0 The school will give parents test results and explain the facts. Parents will learn what the test results mean in terms of what their child needs to progress.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.\u00a0 There will be much less \u201cprofessional\u201d turf war posturing.\u00a0<\/strong> Neither staff nor parents will have to defend their observations or opinions.\u00a0 Each team member will see the other as an equally important part of the team.\u00a0 Differing thoughts do not become personal attacks.\u00a0 It is not an insult to question an opinion. Questions become a way to more fully explore the needs and present levels of your child.\u00a0 All team members learn back up their opinions with factual observations, test results, and findings by qualified professionals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.\u00a0 The team follows the IEP process.<\/strong>\u00a0 The team does not propose goals before they establish the present levels.\u00a0 Availability or budget does not determine services. The team will look at the individual child in total, examining present levels in all required areas.\u00a0 Then the team sets the goals. If there are unmet needs for supports for staff, the team will provide training and support for teachers, aides, cafeteria workers, or anyone in the school who interacts with your child. Time lines to measure effectiveness will be in place and followed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.\u00a0 The team has up-to-date information on everything<\/strong> that relates to effective teaching and learning for THIS child including curriculum possibilities, teaching techniques, and creative use of related services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.\u00a0 Staff will have \u201cbuy in\u201d. So will parents.<\/strong> The plan is much more likely to be followed fully. Administration is less likely to try to intervene or adjust the required services and support.<\/p>\n<p>If changes are needed before an annual review, it is more likely that either staff will request a meeting or they will supports a parent\u2019s request.\u00a0 If your child is not getting to where the team intends, the brakes will go on.\u00a0 The team will say, <em>What do <strong>we<\/strong> need to do differently?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>True Team Development<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Does this mean there will be no conflicts, no differences of opinion? Absolutely not.<\/p>\n<p>Conflict, resolved thoughtfully, can produce better outcomes than either position alone would have produced.\u00a0 Being willing to openly consider a new concept is one of the hallmarks of true team development.\u00a0 Differences will not become \u201cline in the sand\u201d issues.\u00a0 \u201cMy way or the highway\u201d does not happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What this really looks like is a child who makes progress.\u00a0<\/strong> Your child benefits the most from effective team building.\u00a0 Staff benefit from support, concrete goals, parental support, and recognition of their efforts.\u00a0 Other students benefit from effective ways of teaching and learning.\u00a0 Anyone think that only one child benefits from effective methodology used in a classroom? NOT!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it worth it to make the effort to build an effective team? It sure is!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Is it easy, or done, after the first few effective meetings? No, it is an ongoing effort, kind of like trying to keep up with the laundry.\u00a0 You get it done one day, but by the next, you have more to do.<\/p>\n<p>There will always be situations that don\u2019t present a quick solution. There will always be days when parents or staff simply go \u201coff track.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The longer an effective team functions, the more likely it is to continue.\u00a0 It can spread to meetings about children you may not even know.\u00a0 Staff learns what supports and training they need and feel free to seek them. Teachers can recognize methods that might be more effective for another child in their class.<\/p>\n<p>It takes some of the pressure off parents.\u00a0 When you don\u2019t feel you have to fight for everything your child needs, you can spend more time working with staff to provide effective education.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building an effective, collaborative IEP team is one of the best long-term efforts a parent can make.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When parents build an effective team with the school, what does it look like? What happens at IEP meetings when staff and parents come together to develop an effective plan <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parent-school-partnership-the-effective-iep-team\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[883],"tags":[792,160,79,153,181],"class_list":["post-6651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parent-school-relationship-2","tag-effective-advocacy-strategies","tag-iep-team","tag-iep-team-members","tag-parent-involvement","tag-positive-parent-school-relationships"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6651"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21630,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651\/revisions\/21630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}