Take a moment and think about the last IEP meeting you attended. Keep that meeting in mind as you read on.

Traditional IEP Meetings

Teachers take the lead and describe how/what the student is doing in school.
Interactions are focused on families/caregivers and their views.
Energies are committed to establishing relationships with families/caregivers.
Questions are asked of the families/caregivers about their child.
Student rarely attends the meeting, and if they do are bystanders rather than contributors.

Often in IEP meetings, teachers tend to take on the lead and do most of the talking with little interaction with others around the table. When interactions do occur, they are often directed to the adults in the room, like the families, teacher, or support staff. Rarely are they directed at the student.

Relationship building is also focused on the families/caregivers. And those relationships are important. This meeting is often the first time the teacher has had a chance to meet or talk with the family at any length, so there’s often an impulse to use this time to connect.

When the student does attend their IEP meeting, they may not be engaged in questions about what they want, what they’re learning, and where they might need additional supports.

Questions to Consider

Do we encourage students to become involved in their IEP meetings?
Does this involvement begin at an early age?
Do we allow students to help decide whom to invite to their IEP meetings?
Do we give students opportunities to be responsible for the goals in their IEPs?
Do the students have their “voice” heard?
Do students know that the IEP meetings are for them, and that the intent of the IEP process is to design a plan—a blueprint—that will help them be successful in school and in life?
Do the students have buy-in to their plan?

(Adapted from Van Dycke, Martin & Lovett, Why is This Cake on Fire? 2006)

The Importance of Student Voice

“Student voice allows students to share who they are, what they believe in, and why they believe what they do, with their peers, parents, teachers and their entire school.”

(Salim, A., The Importance of giving students a voice, 2015)

We often use the phrase, student-voice, or having one’s voice heard. We recognize that student voice is going to look and sound different for different students. There may not be a verbal component to a voice. But what we’re referring to with student-voice is the students’ wants, needs—their own ideas, communicated by them. And that’s what we’re looking to cultivate and support here.

What can this mean for students with disabilities? For many, it may be the first time anyone has asked them what they hope for and dream about in their high school years and after high school. And that’s why getting students involved in their IEP process is so important. It can give young people an opportunity to share who they are, what they believe and why, with the people in their lives.

IEP Participation: Who Talks?

Bar graph illustrating that special educators do most of the talking in IEP meetings and students do the least

(Introduction to the Student-led IEP Initiative, 2014)

Here is what the research tells us about typical IEP participation. As you can expect, SE Teachers lead and speak the most in the meeting, and students speak the least. In between we hear from GE teachers, family members and support staff.

Just imagine how different a meeting might feel if we tipped this graph upside down! Can you imagine the difference in the discussion and the information that we would hear if students had a chance to use their voices?

Impact of Educator-Led IEPs

“Teachers, parents, and other professionals are usually the ones that are making decisions for students with disabilities. So it isn’t surprising that students with disabilities usually lack self-determination skills.” (Arndt et al., 2006)

When educators are the lead in the meeting, students can find themselves at a disadvantage. They may not know why they’re in the meeting, which makes it difficult to make any sort of meaningful decisions. They may not know what is expected of them, which results in their voices going unheard.

Not only can educator-led IEPs result in a lack of self-determination skills for the student, which we’ll talk about next, but also the lack of buy-in for the content of the IEP. Think about the last time someone set a goal for you, rather than you setting it for yourself. Think about what it means to not have any input on that goal or how to go about achieving it. Would you embrace that well?

Next – Defining the Student-Led IEP