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IEP meeting is the meeting between the team of school staff (consists of
SLP, OT, Case manager, Behaviorist and Special education teachers, director, General
education teachers, and admin) and the parents(Public Law 94-142) of the student
for whom the IEP will be developed after a series of comprehensive assessments
within 60 days post the parental consent.
IEP is a detailed plan that outlines the strengths, areas of disability and support
services offered based on the disability throughout the academic year(speech, OT,
reading/ special academic instruction along with other technological services
including the duration and the assigned staff) developed in accordance with IDEA
that ensures that the student receives appropriate free education(FAPE).
As IEP meetings are elaborate(have a lot of team members) and time consuming,
based on the combination of many factors can yield positive or negative
experiences to the parents. A minority of parents claim to have positive experiences
with the IEP team and are satisfied with their child’s overall progress. However the
majority of parents claim their experiences to be stressful and negative post the IEP
meetings based on the school districts that they reside. Further, parents voice out
of the intimidation during the meeting more or less experiencing the predator-prey
dynamics throughout the IEP meetings.
Now, this scenario launches the readers to ask the following questions is the
primary focus of this article.
1)Who should be taking the next steps and what are the reasons for the predator/prey
dynamics in the IEP meetings?
2)Why is it important to shift from the predator-prey dynamics in the IEP meetings?
3)What steps can be taken to ameliorate the negative experiences and shift
completely to yield positive experiences?
The answer to the first question is both the school staff and parents should take
steps to avoid creating negative experiences during the IEP meetings as they are
part of the Team working for the student’s success. Below is the depiction-
IEP Team: School staff + Parents of the student ⇢⇢Student’s Success/Progress
We can clearly see from the above depiction that when both the school staff and
parents work as a Team yields to student’s success provided there is a mutual
alignment between the two parties. In this case it leads to positive experiences
during the IEP meetings thus mutual respect, better communication and trust is
built in.
However, this scenario changes when there is non alignment between the two
parties leading to negative experiences.The possible reasons for non alignment can
be attributed to barriers such as school staff’s -low expectations, leadership crisis,
budget constraints, staff deficiency, lack of availability of the support services,
school-admin culture, difference of opinions, attitudes/ beliefs and the need to wrap
the process as it is time bound. On the other side- parents, are vulnerable being
emotionally involved for their child's future, lack of trust towards the school, lack of
awareness of their Rights or access to legal language, having higher expectations
and don’t want to limit their kid’s success to a mere progress. Thus there is an
imbalance of power between the two parties in their approach to handling the same
situation. With a mismatch in power between the two parties we can see the
manifestations of a predator -prey dynamics that takes role ahead. When one of the
either parties don’t align it would start to strain the student's progress/success
when not fixed early on further down the time can steer towards legal ramifications
causing financial burdens to both the parties which answers the second question.
By exercising retrospection, exhibiting sensible demeanor during the IEP meetings,
and understanding the various mutual perspectives both the parties, i.e. school
staff and parents can change the style of approach towards a democratic one, can
yield to positive experiences in the IEP meetings. When both the parties work
towards the common priority( Student’s success) coming from- “How to "angle it
itself leads to a relationship building that diminishes the Predator-prey dynamics
answers the third question.
With the media and technological advancements there are a number of resources
available around that parents can benefit from. It will be imperative for parents to
understand that IEP meetings are elaborate(with a lot of school staff) and also
time consuming is not easy. Always prioritize and figure out working around being
a part of the team. If for some reason things still don’t work out it would be ideal to
proceed legally to resolve at the earliest as it will be detrimental to the child’s
progress.
Thus, the importance of shifting from the negative experiences in the IEP meetings
is prime. The responsibility falls on both the parties(school staff & the parents) to
work around changing the nature of the approach towards a democratic style with
the common priority- Student’s Progress/Success which would diminish the
predator -prey dynamics. Steps should be taken to mutual relationship building by
exercising retrospections, exhibiting sensibilities during the IEP meetings and
understanding the various mutual perspectives as they are a Team.
Author Bio:
Priya Pasumarthy is a healthcare provider and the author of Halloween At Luke’s
(2019) & Our Little Promise (2022).
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