Transcript

 Hey teacher friends, Antoine here, and welcome to this episode of the Teacher Support Network Podcast. Today, we have an important episode pertaining to supporting all students with disabilities in the IEP meeting. But first, let me ask you a question and see if you've seen yourself in one or more of these situations.

So have you ever ran or been to an IEP meeting where it seems like no one was on the same page? If you're a Gen Ed teacher, have you ever felt overwhelmed in a meeting or just unsure of your role at the IEP meeting?

If you're a SPED teacher running the IEP meeting, have you ever felt frustrated because no one gave you input about the student before the meeting or didn't even show up to the meeting at all?

Have you ever sensed parents or a specialist at the meeting left the meeting upset or just were really quiet because they felt unheard and so forth. Can you relate in any way? 

The goal of the IEP meeting is to better support students with disabilities in the school environment.  But the lack of effective collaboration does not move that IEP team towards that goal. I know IEP meetings can be and feel overwhelming. I can't tell you the number of meetings I've either run, been a part of,  or helped support other teachers with their own IEP meetings.  So I know how IEP meetings can feel really overwhelming at times.

But did you know that students with disabilities are more likely to succeed when their individual education plans are developed through strong collaboration among the Gen Ed and SPED teachers, parents, specialists, and the other key members of the IEP team. 

So today's episode, we're going to cover why teamwork is essential in IEP meetings, what challenges kind of get in the way of that, and then look at some practical ways to improve collaborations in IEP meetings.

Let's look at why collaboration in IEP meetings matter.  IEP meetings aren't just about compliance with the law. IEP meetings are really about creating realistic, workable plans for student success. Those students with disabilities need support in the classroom and in the Gen Ed environment. 

First collaboration really matters because it helps bring a more holistic view of the student to the IEP meeting because each member brings their own unique insights.

If you're a Gen Ed teacher, you can give insights about the classroom curriculum, grade level standards, expectations, and many times you have data on how a student might be performing in your class related to the grade level standards.

Also, in terms of social or behavioral information, you can give a lot of input on that as well. If you're a SpEd teacher, you may also be the case manager. So you have expertise on the IEP process, specific disabilities, accommodations, and individualized supports that can be really helpful in the Gen Ed classroom.

Parents have an in-depth understanding of their own child's strength, their needs, and just experiences outside of the school, which can really help inform how they may be performing in school. 

Then you have specialists like the Speech and Language Pathologist, Physical Therapist, OccupationalTtherapist, Autism Consultant, Counselors, et cetera. These specialists bring a certain level of expertise and solutions based on their training. So they're really important in the IEP meetings. 

Admin really understands the school and the district context, the available resources that are part of the school, placement options, et cetera.

So right there, you have a wealth of people bringing so much experience and knowledge to the table on behalf of the student. 

Then I feel like one of the least used, but most important part of the team is the students themselves, which I'm going to discuss a little bit later in this episode. 

Second reason why collaboration at IEP meetings matters is because it brings better outcomes for the student. When you have a cohesive, well aligned team, it helps create plans that are realistic and actionable for the student. Then it also creates and forces greater trust between the teacher educators and the families and gives more accountability to executing the individualized education plan for the student in a way where everybody's on board.

So those are two reasons why collaboration matters. Now. Let's look a little bit about some of the common barriers to collaboration specifically with the IEP meeting. 

So, we gotta hit a big one, which is time constraints. Teachers often have limited time to prepare for the meetings or even attend meetings just due to the context of having a lot to do at school based on other responsibilities and duties.

So time is always a big constraint. 

Number two, you also have communication gaps. Misunderstandings can occur when team members really don't align or understand the IEP process. And then sometimes even the educational jargon that comes with discussing parts of the IEP or the process can be really confusing, especially if you're a parent and you're not trained on the terms we use in education. Sometimes that can be a communication gap that makes people feel like they're not heard or they just lack understanding. 

The third barrier to collaborating in an IEP meeting is conflicts or different perspectives. You can have disagreements between team members especially when discussing annual goals, accommodations, types of related services, and just in general, based on where people are coming from. 

So these three things are common barriers to collaboration in meetings specifically.

So what are some actionable strategies you can use to have a more collaborative IEP meeting? I want to share some strategies and ideas before, during, and after the IEP meeting to foster better collaboration.

Let's talk about “before the meeting.” One big strategy is having pre meeting communication. There's so many different ways you can do that. Gen Ed teachers and SpEd teachers can have quick check-ins, whether through email or just five to ten minute chats beforehand about the student's progress and any big concerns that might be on their agenda so that you don't go into the meeting with surprises.

One suggestion I’ve used a lot and it was really helpful to me as a SpEd teacher, so I'm talking from a SpEd teacher's point of view right now was to get Gen Ed teachers input on the student’s academic, social, and behavior performances in their classes before the meeting.  I used a teacher input form, which I shared electronically or a hard copy, which would be returned to me and at the meeting they can expound upon it.   But it gave some information so I could come into the meeting prepared and also started the conversation before the meeting was scheduled.

For specialists like SLPs, OTs, PTs, autism consultants, counselors,  you can share updates ahead of time, either in person or through some form of communication, like email or Google docs  Often times, related service providers have access to the IEP system or platform that is used for the meetings and paperwork documents. So they can put that information in before the meeting as well. 

You can communicate with Parents also before the meeting when you're scheduling it, and if you don't schedule it, you can send home a short survey, similar to the teacher input one that I discussed above.

This way, the rest of the school based IEP team can be aware of any kind of concerns that a parent may have before the meeting. Of course, when you go into the meeting, the parent may bring other concerns or go more in depth about the concerns they expressed before the meeting in the parent survey. 

Finally,  this is something I love to do. Whether you're in elementary, middle, or high school, I think you can do some form of it. But to do an interest survey with the students themselves beforehand and find out their interests, their strengths, what works for them and what doesn't work for them at school.  Too often we talk about students, but never ask them for their opinions.

They often never offer it because we never ask. It has to be age and developmentally appropriate. So it may not work for all students, but students often know what they need and older students like middle and high school students can give the rest of the team great insights on how to best support them in the school environment, because they know what they need many times.

Sometimes we just have to just wait and listen and, and, and honestly just ask. 

So, those are some ideas and some strategies you might use before the IEP meeting to collaborate together. 

Let's talk about “during the IEP meeting.” During the IEP meeting, One way to start collaborating is to first, set a positive tone for the meeting by talking about students strengths and their successes.

This can be shared by multiple members of the team from the Gen Ed teacher, to the SpEd teacher, to the related service providers, to the parent themselves, and even using the information that the student gave you about their strengths from the interest survey or talking to them before the meeting. This really helps build trust and engagement with the team as you begin coming up with a plan for the student in the IEP meeting.

Remember going back to the inclusion mindsets we talked about in episode 1. This really starts off the meeting with a strength based versus a deficit based approach to support the student. Many times in meetings, we talk about areas of need, but starting off with what the student is doing well can really help set a positive tone for the IEP meeting.

Another strategy is to have clear, relatable language so all members of the team, especially parents, understand what's going on and how this plan, like the accommodations, for instance, and the annual goals will look like in the classroom for their child.

A lot of times we use educational jargon and it's a lot of words that parents don't understand so they feel disconnected from the meeting, but if we can make it really plain, as best as possible, then they feel like they understand what's really happening with their child at school.

Another strategy is to encourage  active participation for all team members. That way all voices feel valued and heard. 

This leads into the next strategy to foster better collaboration during the meeting, which is collaborative decision making. 

Together as everyone is  actively participating, you're brainstorming solutions together based on the student's needs.  By doing this, you’re making sure all members feel heard and valued. 

Now you've had some collaboration before the IEP meeting. The IEP team met during the scheduled meeting. Now let's look at how collaboration can continue “after the IEP meeting.” 

The first strategy is to follow up with the next steps that were developed from the IEP meeting itself,  especially as it relates to your specific role. For instance, as a SpEd teacher I can make sure that the accommodations that were updated at the IEP meeting are shared after the meeting with important members of the team because a lot of times you might have a student who has an IEP and you got their accommodations at the beginning of the year, and then you have a meeting in the middle of the year and things will change, but people don't have access to the updated information.

As a SpEd teacher, sharing those updated accommodations or any new development is really important, so they can be implemented in the Gen Ed class.

Gen Ed teachers, you may need to follow up with parents about any concerns they expressed at the IEP meeting itself related to the classroom

The next strategy is to keep communication open.

It's a team effort. The IEP meeting is not just a one time meeting or event once a year. Yes, we have it because it's an annual review, but see it as a working document. So have regular check ins between Gen Ed and SpEd teachers;  regular check ins with parents and  related service providers, so that everyone is responsible  for monitoring the progress of the student throughout the year.

It just doesn't happen at the IEP meeting. Also remember, the IEP can be amended if needed as the needs of students may change or issues come up that require an additional IEP meeting with the full team. You don't always need an IEP amendment meeting, but sometimes it's necessary and you don't have to wait a full year for the next annual review. Keep communication open after the meeting and throughout the school year. 

So I want to end with a personal story that really helped me see the value of collaboration with all members of the team, especially including a student as a member of the team, because a lot of times I talked about this earlier that we don't always include them and they don't always have to be at meetings and sometimes it's not appropriate for them to be at the meetings, especially if they're younger and they don’t have an understanding of their the IEP.

But I want to tell  you this story because it really helped me to see the value of collaboration with a team and working with a student as well. 

So I was in a high school and I had a student who I think was a 10th grader.  I always invite my students to the meetings. They don't always come, but I invite them and I at least do an interest survey with them beforehand so I can bring some of their voice to the meeting and put it in the IEP.

So this student was there, his parent, an administrator, and a few teachers. The one that I do remember was an English Language Art teacher.  We were talking and going through the accommodations was preferential seating. This particular student had Other health Impairment as his disability category.  He had ADHD and anxiety.

As we were talking about the accommodation of preferential seating , the ELA teacher mentioned that he was sitting in the front of the classroom so he could focus and not be distracted in class. 

I don't know what made me think of this. I don't know if the student made a face or I just got promoted internally to say this, but I looked at the student and I said, “does that work for you in the classroom?’ And the student said, ‘well, honestly, Mr. McCoy. No.” So everybody was kind of caught off guard and taken back a little.  So I asked the student, “what does preferential seating look like to you in that class ?  Where does it help you focus the best?”

So, you know, sometimes you think students are going to say, by my friends, or something like that... But he said, “Mr. McCoy, in her class, I like to sit in the back to the right.”  The whole rest of the team was a bit confused by his statement.   I asked, “can you explain that to me?” 

So the student basically said, “when I'm in the front of the class, because I have anxiety and because I get easily distracted, I'm always wondering what's happening behind me. But when I sit in the back of the room to the right, (and the door was to the left in the back), I can see who's coming in the room and I can see what's happening in front of me. So I have less anxiety about what's happening behind me and I'm less distracted. And so that helps me focus more in the class.”

I think the whole team was floored.  We never thought about that, but it did make sense for this student.  Just by asking him that question, he was able to advocate for himself and say what preferential seating looked like for him. So, the teacher said she would change his seat and put him where it helped him focus better.

That was one of the changes at that IEp meeting, but that only happened because we included the student in the collaboration process. So, like I said, we were already collaborating as an IEP Team, but sometimes just asking students can really be helpful. I think that change made the student’s learning experience in that particular class a lot better.

So in conclusion, collaboration between the IEP team before, during, and after IEP meetings really leads to better student outcomes. Small actions like pre meeting check ins, teacher, parent, and student surveys, and just getting input from them and  post meeting follow ups can really have a huge impact on the academic and social success of students with disabilities.

So which of these strategies or ideas that we talked about in this episode resonated with you today? 

Then for the next meeting that you run or attend, try one of these strategies that we discussed today, and notice the difference it makes.

Then come back and just share your experience with me in the comments section at the bottom of this show notes page for this episode. I’d really love to hear how it works for you and what really resonated with you in terms of collaborating better and more efficiently at IEP meetings with your fellow colleagues and with parents.

Also, follow me on my Teacher Support Network Facebook or Instagram page, so we can connect further and in different spots outside of the podcast. 

So that's it for today's episode. If you found this episode helpful, or you know anyone who could benefit from the message. Please share it with a fellow educator. As always until next time. Be blessed!!!

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