IEP meetings are most successful when the whole team is involved and no stone is left unturned. As the parent, you know your child best, and your input is helpful to develop the best plan for your child. Here are some questions you can ask before and throughout the meeting if you need a place to start:
Prior to meeting:
What is the goal of this IEP meeting?
Who will be there?
Are there any big changes I should expect?
Could you please provide me with prior access to copies of the notes/reports that we'll be going over?
During meeting:
How does everyone at the meeting know or work with my child?
Could you tell me about my child's day so I can understand what it looks like?
How is what you're seeing from my child different from other kids in the classroom?
Could we walk through the current program and IEP piece by piece?
How is my child doing in making progress toward IEP goals?
What changes in goals would the team recommend?
How is this goal measured and my child's progress monitored?
How will my child be assessed according to grade level?
Who will work on this skill with my child? How? When? Where? How often?
What training does the staff have in this specific intervention?
What does that accommodations/instructional intervention look like in the classroom?
What support will the classroom teacher have in putting these accommodations/interventions into place?
When will the changes to my child's program begin?
How will we let my child know about any program changes?
Can we make a plan for keeping in touch about how everything is going?
May I have a copy of the notes the teacher referenced during this meeting?
If I have questions about the information I've been given about my child's rights, who is the person I should talk to?
Who is the person I contact if I want to call another meeting?
After meeting:
How has my child done transitioning into the new plan?
Now that the plan has been carried out for a few weeks, is the team happy with our decision? Do other changes need to be made?
What does the progress look like so far?