Anatomy of an IEP

IEPs (Individualized Education Program or Plans) can be pretty intimidating documents. Numbering anywhere from 12 to 50 pages (sometimes more!) and filled with words and phrases unfamiliar to parents, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. So I wanted to write a little bit about the parts of an IEP to help readers make sense of them.

No matter what school district you live in or even which state, your learner's IEP will contain these eight items as required by IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). IDEA is the federal special education law that governs IEPs.

1. Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) also sometimes called Present Levels of Performance (PLOP)

2. Ambitious and measurable goals

3. Method for measuring and reporting progress

4. Description of special education and related services and supplementary aids and services

5. Explanation of the extent the learner will not be educated with nondisabled students in the general education setting

6. Statement of learner's participation in state and district-wide assessments

7. The date of service initiation, frequency of service, duration of service, and location of service

8. Transition services (Starting at age 16 or earlier as determined by state)

   
   

IDEA also requires consideration of these special factors:

• Behavioral needs

• Limited English proficiency

• Blind or visually impaired

• Communication needs, and for learners who are deaf or hard of hearing, consider additional language and communication needs

• Need for assistive technology

Okaaayyyyyy... but do these lists look anything like your learner's IEP? Probably not! "Back in the day" IEPs were handwritten, and then typed, but nowadays there are dozens of IEP writing software programs used by school districts. The formats in these programs will look different, but the eight items and special considerations listed above must be included. Additionally, your state may require components above and beyond the minimum requirements of IDEA. So let's just look at an example IEP. I'm in Pennsylvania, so I'm going to use the IEP template from PaTTAN (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network).

(Note- the red writing in upper right corner on the following sample IEP pages will coincide with #1-8 and Special Considerations as listed above. Hope it helps!)

Page One is basic demographic info. Note the date on bottom right corner is NOT related to your learner. That date represents the last time the form itself was revised.

Page Two is the signature page. Signing this page simply records attendance, it does not mean you agree with the IEP.

Page Three acknowledges that you received a copy of your Procedural Safeguards. If you have never read them, please READ THEM NOW! This page also provides info on MA program billing.

Procedural Safeguards found here.

Page Four- here are those Special Considerations we talked about that your team must consider before developing the IEP.

Page Five has the end of Special Considerations, your learner's Present Levels, and the beginning of Transition Services. Note that when completed, your learner's Present Levels section will be multiple pages in length. Take a look at the bullet points to see what should be included in Present Levels. Notice that "Parental concerns" are listed. Your concerns for your child must be included in this section of the IEP!

Page Six, Transition continued... Note that the age of transition for federal requirements is 16, but this template is for Pennsylvania which requires Transition services begin at age 14.

Page Seven includes the end of Transition and beginning of Assessments. Standardized assessments may vary state to state. This section lays out the plan for whether or not the learner will participate in state testing with or without accommodations or if they will participate in alternate testing.

Page Eight, Assessments continued...

Page Nine, more of the Assessments section...

Page Ten, almost the end of the Assessments section...

Page Eleven- the end of the Assessments section.

Page 12 is GOALS! Your learner will likely have one goal per page. The method for measuring and reporting progress are written with each goal.

Page Thirteen- Special Education/ Related Services/ Supplementary Aids and Services/ Program Modifications. This section is broken into several parts lettered A-E. Parts A-C are the special education services the school will provide to the learner and includes location, frequency, beginning date, and duration. Part D is for gifted education. Part E is for Extended School Year (ESY).

Page Fourteen, more of the Special Education (etc) Section...

Page Fifteen- Educational Placement. This section is IDEA's Least Restrictive Environment mandate. It is written in a way that makes teams review their plan to ensure they've done all that is required before removing a student from the general education setting. As a required and equal member of the IEP team, parents play a valuable role in making sure these questions are thoroughly discussed.

Page Sixteen- Educational Placement continued... Itinerant, Supplemental, and Full-Time indicate percentage of time the student receives supports and services provided by special education personnel.

Page Seventeen- end of Educational Placement section.

PennData Reporting- PA requires LEAs report percentage of time students with disabilities are educated in the general education classroom.

Do you see how each of the items required by IDEA are woven into this IEP template? And the order of each item makes sense too. First, special considerations- we need to know if the learner has any of those considerations and ensure those needs are addressed within the IEP. Second, present levels- we need to have a solid understanding of who this student is, what their strengths are, what their needs are, what concerns their parents have, and what vision the learner and parents have for the future. Third, the team will talk about transition and assessments. Once the team understands the first three items, then we can talk about goals. Once we've written individualized, relevant, and important measurable goals, then we talk about special education. And only after all of that has been discussed should the team be talking about educational placement. The order of this IEP template is very intentional and education placement is last on this Pennsylvania template on purpose.

(***Keep in mind that this is just one template from just one state. Your learner's IEP could be formatted much differently. Additionally, once filled out, this template will have many more pages which would make it look different too. Sharing this template is simply a way to provide you a framework to use when looking at your learner's IEP.***)

More in-depth information on each section of the IEP would be beneficial and will be covered in future posts. But for now, I hope this general overview helps you understand what you're looking at when you're reading your learner's IEP!

With Love, Light & Gratitude,

Janell

P.S. Not so sure you want to take on this process alone? I can help! Check out my Packages page to learn about my services or to book a FREE consultation.