IEP meetings-Did you know this?

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if parents are aware that they can ask for their child's aide/para to attend IEP meetings. I have attended many as a para. There have been years when the head of special ed would not allow paras to attend, unless the parents asked for it, then apparently admin can't say no. The main reason admin would say no is they have less control over what a para or aide will say than they do over teachers. Despite this, it is sometimes problematic for a para or aide to attend an IEP meeting because they are put in a position of not knowing how much to say (reveal?) and what not to say, with the possibility that their job is at risk. Even so, some paras (me) say what they want to say with the best interest of the child uppermost in mind.

I just wanted to throw that out there for parents who aren't aware of this. It may not be something you want to do but often the para/aide is the person who knows your child best due to spending a whole lot of time with them and getting to know them very well. Also, especially if they are 1:1, they may spend most of or the entire day with the child and see them in many different settings which typically the teachers do not.

[Anonymous]

If a parent wants to have a meeting with the teacher and the aide to discuss their student, that’s fine. There’s no legal requirement that an aide has to be at an IEP meeting simply because the parent requests it.

[Anonymous]

Actually, the IDEA legislation specifically provides that parents are equal members of the IEP team and can invite anyone with “knowledge or special expertise” about the child.
IDEA §300.321(a)(6) and (c).

She more here from https://www.parentcenterhub.org/participation/#refs :

“It’s referring to IDEA’s provisions that, at the discretion of either the school or the parents, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child may be invited to participate in the IEP meeting as members of the IEP team. For example, related services personnel (e.g., a speech language therapist or physical therapist) may be invited (if appropriate) if they have knowledge or special expertise about the child—the same as a teacher, specialist, friend, or family member with special expertise or knowledge of the child might be.

Who determines if the person to be invited has knowledge or special expertise about the child? According to IDEA, the party (parents or the school) that invites the person to be a member of the IEP team. Thus, it’s not necessary to demonstrate or prove the person’s knowledge or special expertise regarding the child.”

I always invite other family members so the IEP meeting can’t gang up on me by myself. You can have a doctor, a tutor, a friend, a nanny or babysitter, other family members, etc. you can also have people call in and participate by phone for some or all of a meeting. (Making it less expensive to get service providers to participate because you don’t have to pay for their travel time).

I often invite specific teachers, and in all the time I have done that I have only had one teacher asked to be excused, and she basically did so only after she said a sentence or two supporting my DC.

It looks really unprofessional for a teacher to refuse to participate, and the IEP team cannot refuse to invite anyone.

But, whoever you invite, make sure they know what their brief is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the IDEA legislation specifically provides that parents are equal members of the IEP team and can invite anyone with “knowledge or special expertise” about the child.
IDEA §300.321(a)(6) and (c).

She more here from https://www.parentcenterhub.org/participation/#refs :

“It’s referring to IDEA’s provisions that, at the discretion of either the school or the parents, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child may be invited to participate in the IEP meeting as members of the IEP team. For example, related services personnel (e.g., a speech language therapist or physical therapist) may be invited (if appropriate) if they have knowledge or special expertise about the child—the same as a teacher, specialist, friend, or family member with special expertise or knowledge of the child might be.

Who determines if the person to be invited has knowledge or special expertise about the child? According to IDEA, the party (parents or the school) that invites the person to be a member of the IEP team. Thus, it’s not necessary to demonstrate or prove the person’s knowledge or special expertise regarding the child.”

I always invite other family members so the IEP meeting can’t gang up on me by myself. You can have a doctor, a tutor, a friend, a nanny or babysitter, other family members, etc. you can also have people call in and participate by phone for some or all of a meeting. (Making it less expensive to get service providers to participate because you don’t have to pay for their travel time).

I often invite specific teachers, and in all the time I have done that I have only had one teacher asked to be excused, and she basically did so only after she said a sentence or two supporting my DC.

It looks really unprofessional for a teacher to refuse to participate, and the IEP team cannot refuse to invite anyone.

But, whoever you invite, make sure they know what their brief is!

Of course the parent can invite whomever they want. But we’re not talking about a family member or an advocate or a neighbor. We’re talking about a school employee who would need permission from their supervisor (the principal) to attend the meeting rather than perform their instructional duties. Who is supposed to provide coverage while the aide is attending this meeting? If the meeting is held outside of school hours, who is paying this aide? Or can they even work then? In our district, instructional assistants cannot work “overtime” or outside their contracted hours. It would be a violation of Fair Labor & Standards Act.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the IDEA legislation specifically provides that parents are equal members of the IEP team and can invite anyone with “knowledge or special expertise” about the child.
IDEA §300.321(a)(6) and (c).

She more here from https://www.parentcenterhub.org/participation/#refs :

“It’s referring to IDEA’s provisions that, at the discretion of either the school or the parents, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child may be invited to participate in the IEP meeting as members of the IEP team. For example, related services personnel (e.g., a speech language therapist or physical therapist) may be invited (if appropriate) if they have knowledge or special expertise about the child—the same as a teacher, specialist, friend, or family member with special expertise or knowledge of the child might be.

Who determines if the person to be invited has knowledge or special expertise about the child? According to IDEA, the party (parents or the school) that invites the person to be a member of the IEP team. Thus, it’s not necessary to demonstrate or prove the person’s knowledge or special expertise regarding the child.”

I always invite other family members so the IEP meeting can’t gang up on me by myself. You can have a doctor, a tutor, a friend, a nanny or babysitter, other family members, etc. you can also have people call in and participate by phone for some or all of a meeting. (Making it less expensive to get service providers to participate because you don’t have to pay for their travel time).

I often invite specific teachers, and in all the time I have done that I have only had one teacher asked to be excused, and she basically did so only after she said a sentence or two supporting my DC.

It looks really unprofessional for a teacher to refuse to participate, and the IEP team cannot refuse to invite anyone.

But, whoever you invite, make sure they know what their brief is!

Of course the parent can invite whomever they want. But we’re not talking about a family member or an advocate or a neighbor. We’re talking about a school employee who would need permission from their supervisor (the principal) to attend the meeting rather than perform their instructional duties. Who is supposed to provide coverage while the aide is attending this meeting? If the meeting is held outside of school hours, who is paying this aide? Or can they even work then? In our district, instructional assistants cannot work “overtime” or outside their contracted hours. It would be a violation of Fair Labor & Standards Act.

You are completely wrong. I invite specific teachers every time to kids IEP meetings. The school administration cannot prevent the teacher from attending. The school administration must provide coverage for the aide. IEP meetings are never held outside of school hours, IME. (You are right, teachers should be paid for attending, although union contracts often require teachers to be at school before or after the school day for a certain period of time.)

A school who refused to invite teachers with knowledge of the child or who prevented teachers from attending, for whatever reason, would be in violation of federal legislation. They would be treating parents as less than an equal team member (because they would be team members without the power to request teacher attendance and the school would have that power, thus flouting the federal disability law).

If your school has told you that you cannot invite a teacher, or that teacher cannot come because they have obligations that cannot be covered, please write a letter to the associate superintendent of special education citing the IDEA section I wrote above, and ask the associate superintendent to provide the school with the necessary resources to provide coverage so the teacher can attend and “bring the school into compliance with IDEA” and that you “look forward to participating in the IEP team as a full and equal team member” and that you hope this can be done swiftly so that you “do not have to pursue my due process options.”

I can guarantee that the Assoc.superintendant of special Ed will recognize the legal liability presented by refusing to invite or facilitate the attendance of teachers requested by the parent.

Also, if this happens at a meeting - simply say that it’s unfortunate that the team couldn’t find coverage and you are requesting that the meeting be reschedule to a time when the requested teacher can participate. Make it clear that you are not refusing to participate in an IEP meeting, but merely want it scheduled when all relevant teachers can attend and within the required legal timeline. You should refuse to waive timeline if asked.

[Anonymous]

The para always attended part of the meeting, OP. I never thought to ask anything.
We're in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

If my child had a para, which I have been fighting to get for my him without success for a while now , this might be more useful to me. But thank you for sharing. Hopefully one day I will have a problem where this is relevant. For now my child is just not educated at all and no adults at school have the special expertise needed to comment on this because they aren’t paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Nothing here says the parent gets to demand whichever staff they want be present. It’s at the discretion of both the parent AND the agency (aka the school). The school gets to choose which staff members attend.

[Anonymous]

Parents may invite whomever they want that works with the child or has knowledge of the child in an educational or personal setting. Parents have invited doctors, SLP, BCBA, OT, PT, paras, lawyers, advocates, grandparents, etc. Always a good idea to have the child make an appearance regardless of age too, even if only for a couple minutes.

However, If your para works for the school system there may be a conflict of interest and schools often pressure paras into saying whatever the school wants. Best to get a para contracted out rather than hired directly by the school. It provides more leeway into what one can say professionally and dictates the child to be put first and not the school. It should be this way regardless but honestly I’ve never seen it happen that way.

You can also take home based providers with you, you just might need to pay out of pocket for this service but it’s well worth it imo because they usually can be more honest as well.

www.wrightslaw.com

[Anonymous]

We can’t get subs for our paras so they would have to attend during their 15 min contractual break otherwise, it’s pulling services from 2-5 other kids. Teachers are already doing coverage every day since there aren’t subs. This means a teacher can’t spot a para to go to a meeting. It sucks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my child had a para, which I have been fighting to get for my him without success for a while now , this might be more useful to me. But thank you for sharing. Hopefully one day I will have a problem where this is relevant. For now my child is just not educated at all and no adults at school have the special expertise needed to comment on this because they aren’t paying attention.

Do you mean a one-on-one?