E120: Scheduling IEP Meetings
When you are already on edge with an IEP meeting coming up, nothing is worse than not knowing what to expect when it comes to scheduling the meeting itself!
When you are already on edge with an IEP meeting coming up, nothing is worse than not knowing what to expect when it comes to scheduling the meeting itself!
Well, all that stress of scheduling is over after today, because we are breaking down how the process SHOULD go when it’s easy-peasy, and several things that are in your control (aka staying ahead of the process) that makes the whole process less stressful.
In this episode we cover:
1) The steps that should happen to have a happy scheduling of an annual IEP meeting
2) Common FAQ’s when it comes to the school staff’s availability, not making deadlines for the start of IEP meetings, and how you can anticipate the meeting months in advance
3) One of Beth’s mantras for life that absolutely applies to scheduling IEP meetings!
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E120: Scheduling IEP Meetings
[00:00:00] Panic. That’s what I hear from parents with scheduling questions. Um, can I ask them to work off my own schedule? Can we do it before or after school? How long do we really have to get this IEP done? This is one of the things that I love talking about because with a little know-how and a little of, oh, it’s supposed to go like this and knowledge of what you can and can’t ask, you will feel a little bit more calm and organized by the end of this episode. So let’s dive into the topic of scheduling IEP meetings today. Stick with me.
You are listening to the parent IEP lab, the podcast that helps you get an effective IEP plan for your child so that you can get them supported and learning in school. I’m Beth LEAs and fellow occupational therapist, who started to notice trends in parents who got effective IEP for their kids without having to fight the school.
My mission is to help you learn the pillars of knowledge that I saw these effective parents use in their advocacy and also to provide insider knowledge from the school side, so that you have context to turn that into informed, intelligent questions
that actually get you somewhere with the school [00:01:00] IEP team. So let’s dive into today’s topic of scheduling and think about what we can change and tweak to get the right formula for success for your child to learn and grow at school. Welcome to the lab.
Before we get started. I want to ask you a little bit of a favor. If you have found any of the episodes from the parent IEP lab, helpful, then I would love to have you rate and review the podcast in whatever podcast player you’re in. It just takes a couple minutes. And that means that this podcast is shown to more parents, just like you,
that are seeking out information to try to get the best services and supports for their child. Thank you so much for taking the two minutes to rate and review the podcast. Now let’s jump into the episode.
This happened just in the last few months that someone sent me their IEP as part of the IEP prep course to review. And I said, oh, your meeting is coming up. When is it scheduled? And the parent looked back at me with this little bit of a nervous look and said, I don’t know, they haven’t contacted me yet.
And then there’s all these questions about the timing of an IEP meeting and juggling work and the [00:02:00] spouse’s work and juggling kids. And what activities they have after school. That makes it really hard and stressful to get a meeting scheduled.
So we’re answering all of the common questions about scheduling IEP meetings, how it’s supposed to go. And also very frequently asked questions, but if you get to the end of this episode and you’re still like, but I have another scheduling question. Then we have the Facebook group and you should totally click the link below this podcast in your podcast player and join the Facebook group so that you can ask your scheduling question there. And of course we will be happy to address it.
Now I love talking about these things. I love talking about the process because I can tell you the way it’s supposed to go, which absolutely does happen. Like step-by-step really often, but then if it strays from what I’m talking about here, and something is up or something has changed, you at least have some sort of context to request a change to their plan or figure out if it’s actually an issue or it actually works out in your favor from there.
So [00:03:00] first we’re going to talk about the steps in the scheduling process. And this is like in an ideal world, which again happens all the time and I want it to happen for you too. So let’s dive in. So the first step is that the annual review meeting in Texas it’s called an ARD meeting, happens every calendar year.
It has to be started by that calendar year date or the school is in trouble. So keeping this in mind, because we’re actually going to talk about it at the end of the podcast, when it doesn’t. Actually happen before this date. Now a month or so before we hit the meeting deadline, that’s listed on your current IEP, the case manager reaches out to the family, meaning you to propose a few times for the meeting,
you guys have a phone conversation or maybe it’s emailing back and forth and you choose a time and date that works for everybody involved. Right. The next step would be the meeting gets scheduled. A lot of schools use the Google platform. So a lot of places will send you a Google invite and you will also get an official notice of meeting. Sometimes it’s called something different in a different state, but [00:04:00] essentially it is.
Telling you when the meeting is happening, where it’s happening and who will be there sometimes it’s general roles, like it’ll say occupational therapist instead of Beth Lees and Feld. And that’s okay. It’s just telling you who is supposed to be there. Now, the next thing in the process is you do your IEP prep. You think about the strengths that your child has
and the growth that they’ve had over the last year. And sometimes you can even connect that to the services or the accommodations that have been provided. And you also think about the concerns that you still have for your child. If you need help check out the ultimate parent IEP prep course at www.theieplab.com/course. But you can also do this without the course. And you just list your concerns and your strengths for your child. You show up to the meeting, super confident everybody is there, who is supposed to be there.
And you have an amazing meeting full of the team listening to your concerns, putting their heads together, to figure out what plan might work best or what they want to try. Try this next school year to support your child. And they plan to try [00:05:00] some new things, to try to help with those challenges. And there’s always a good plan for communication and follow-up afterwards.
And ideal meeting. Don’t you think? Then the next calendar year, it happens all over again. The meeting will likely happen a week or so earlier in the school year to meet that deadline that it has to be started by. Sounds pretty amazing. Right. And I’m here to tell you that a lot of the times it does actually happen this way, but we know that a lot of things can come up and disrupt this very smooth process. So let’s talk about those next. So the first thing, very common question that I see is just this time crunch.
So here’s where my saying being on the offensive instead of the defensive comes into play, and this is true for everything in life. I actually came up with that while I was running and noticed that I ran way better when I was on the offensive and really. Not attacking the road, but being genuinely engaged in the process instead of sitting back and just kind of coasting and letting things happen to me.
So [00:06:00] again, be on the offensive because you have the current IEP and if you don’t have the current IEP, then you can email the case manager to get a copy. You actually know when the next meeting is due because it’s a calendar year. So things happen where school’s missing the date, especially if you’ve transferred schools mid-year or something has happened, so you can help them be on top of it by sending a simple email to the case manager
and, you know, prepping for the meeting a couple months in advance. Because you actually know when the timing of that is going to be, you know, it’s probably going to be in this week or the week before. Right. The second thing is what if I don’t hear from the case manager about scheduling? And I just said this, but feel free to send the case manager an email asking when they’re thinking that they will have the meeting.
And it’s always nice. If you want to go the step further to say, Hey, I actually prefer doing it during the school day or, Hey, I actually prefer doing it right after school.
And just include that in the email. Right. Easy enough.
The [00:07:00] third really common question is don’t they legally have to schedule it when we’re able to attend. And the simple answer is yes, they do. But within reason,
now, if you are listening to this podcast, my typical listener. Really does not want to create a stink about things. And they understand that teachers and therapists have their own lives and they understand that they need to save their emotional energy and not make things. And not make simple things harder than they need to be.
And if you have been that person in the past, then you might actually be listening to this podcast and spending all this time, educating yourself, because you found that it really doesn’t benefit you at all and especially your child to be very forceful and very determined and not flexible.
So, yes, they should be flexible with you, but they cannot always make meeting happen at 6:00 PM when they get off at 3:00 PM and they have their own children to attend to and get to bed and, and rest for their evening as well.[00:08:00]
So, yes, feel free to request it and say, if there’s any chance to do it at this time, that would be excellent. But we’re willing to be flexible with you and just see what they say back.
And here’s your side note. I actually have had meetings happen that late. And now with virtual being an option, I actually could make that happen a couple of times, but I’m going to be very honest is what happens is if you are very inflexible and you have it at a time where not everybody can come, then everybody just won’t come.
And that stinks, and it’s not productive. Now you have everybody on the team, not really knowing what’s happening at the meeting. And so if one person isn’t there, it’s usually not a big deal, but now when you have three people missing the meeting, that’s not really a productive IEP meeting. So if at all possible try to do it during school hours or right before, right after school. And you’ll have the best engagement from the whole team, which is what we all want, because it makes the better IEP for your child.
Okay, so this next one. I [00:09:00] hear you. I hear you in your head saying I have a really super strict job and I don’t have any paid time off. Or I have clients that I would need to cancel and it’s really hard to move and shift around. I totally get it. You were talking to somebody who had to quit their job because of
These kinds of issues.
So there is somewhat of a reality that if you have kids, you’re going to have to be a little bit flexible if they’re sick or if something happens or if they have a doctor’s appointment. Right. So that’s just kind of part of life, a little bit. But sometimes you have to make it work.
But if you’re experiencing this stress and trying to juggle all of these things, I want to make a suggestion. Instead of getting defensive or feeling stressed first, you have to note that, oh my gosh, I’m getting stressed about this. I need to call myself a little bit and whatever you need for self care to get there, then please get there. Now I just mentioned doing it before school. So I’m wondering if you even knew that that was an option.
It doesn’t happen a lot, but it is absolutely an option. This is why it’s so nice to have [00:10:00] some sort of relationship with your case manager, because oftentimes they might have an idea of when they do some IEP meetings that you don’t even know about and they can offer that to you so often, just to give you an example, the case manager would come to us and say, as a team, Hey, mom works 12 hour shifts as a nurse at the hospital. So our typical day of doing IEP meetings on Tuesday doesn’t work. She really needs it to be on a Friday.
So that gives the whole IEP team context and oh yeah. This mom is a real person. Who’s a working person, just like us, right. Context is everything. So explain the situation to that case manager and then kind of say, what would work best for you or kind of suggest a solution. Can they make that work or maybe they have another option that you didn’t know about that they can suggest that actually would be helpful. So same approach to the IEP meeting that is so effective in engaging people in problem solving and helping each other out.
Totally applies to scheduling as well. So last note about this, you can [00:11:00] access the FMLA for leave for IEP. So this is a federally mandated law that you have to be able to access some time off in order to go to doctor’s appointments. Or if somebody in your family has a medical need.
So if your boss is saying, oh, Nope, you can’t have any time off or, Nope, we can’t accommodate you going and attending, then ask your employer about this. It is the law that they have to let you ought to attend. Now granted, most of this is unpaid leave. FMLA is so just know that it’s an option and it might be a way that you can make this happen with a little bit less stress.
Okay, so next question is how long will the meeting go? And man, oh man. Have I been hearing about some long meetings lately? Good. Goodness gracious. So if it’s not sent out on a Google invite or some other way to really tell how long the meeting is going to be. Then you can email that case manager
or better yet pop your head into their office if you happen to be in the building and just ask, communicate any hard stop times [00:12:00] that you have in your schedule, both when they schedule it. And at the beginning of the meeting, say, Hey, just as a reminder, I have to leave by this time.
Okay. So last thing, and the very first thing that I said, I said the process has to happen by the calendar year due date for the IEP to be in compliance. So let’s say that you’re having scheduling issues. You didn’t get notified until really late that they need to have this IEP meetings scheduled and now you feel super rushed and you’re like, no.
I cannot do it this week. There’s too much going on. We need to do it next week. But the due date is this week. Okay. And I’ve seen other advocates say, you have to be there. They can’t start without you. And I’ve also heard parents kind of use this as a power play to get their own way, or to start off the process with letting the school knows who’s boss. And I am shocked because I know what happens
this is what happens. Apparent can’t make it by the due date, but technically legally, the IEP only has to be started by that date. Not ended by that date. [00:13:00] So the case manager prints out the sign in sheet. And As long as one other staff member on the IEP team pops by their office and signs that they were here, quote unquote, and they quote unquote, started the meeting on that date. Then they’re okay as complainants goes, sometimes it’s not a big deal. It’s literally somebody popping into Jamie’s office and signing that they started the meeting and saying, Hey, when is the actual meeting again?
And they take off and do what they need to do. But sometimes an informal discussion starts about the student and what they plan to say at the IEP meeting. And most of the time, it just happens naturally as they have that kid on the brain. And they aren’t trying to knew it behind your back most of the time, although I can see that happening with different case managers.
So most of the time, they’re not trying to do it behind your back, or they’re not trying to be malicious about it, but sometimes really valuable information can be shared in that time where they meet to just sign that they started the meeting. So what is the [00:14:00] solution to avoid all of this achiness and this drama and messiness it’s to be on the offensive, take a peek at your current IEP a month before the meeting reach out to the case manager to
schedule it. And you are smooth sailing. If you stay on top of the process, it works out so much better.
Now, if you still have questions about scheduling and something happened, that’s kind of out of the ordinary. Feel free to click the link below this podcast in your podcast player and enter into the Facebook group.
Go ahead and post a question and get answered as soon as we can. And if you are thinking, oh my gosh, this process kind of stuff is so helpful than late.
Then you also can use the link below this podcast in your podcast player to access the IEP process step-by-step guide in which we also talk about scheduling in there as well. Thank you so much for listening and see you. Same time, same place next week. Thanks so much.