Multilingual Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)

Multilingual Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)

This page includes tips and valuable information for creating IEPs and holding IEP meetings with a bilingual family.

Translated IEP forms

Translated IEP forms in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese from the Oregon Department of Education .

Legal Considerations

The following laws are taken from the Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) section on special education, the full text . Page numbers within this document for the laws noted below are provided in each section.

Parent Participation

Members of the IEP team must do everything they can to ensure parent participation in the IEP process. The typical means of communicating with parents is through written notices; however, many families from minority cultures prefer to communicate orally. The law allows for communication in different forms. OAR 581-015-2310 (5) states that: “If the native language or other modes of communication of the parent is not a written language, the school district must take steps to ensure that: (a) The notice is translated orally or by other means to the parent in the parent’s native language or other modes of communication; (b) The parent understands the content of the notice” (see SPEDOARS pg.33). A culturally conscious SLP who knows that a family comes from an oral culture might be able to use this law as a rationale for additional time to talk with a family in person or on the phone instead of sending home written information.

In addition, OAR 581-015-2195 (2) states that: “If neither parent can attend (a meeting), the school district must use other methods to ensure parent participation, including, but not limited to, individual or conference phone calls or home visits” (see SPEDOARS pg.46). This means that an IEP meeting may be held in the home, which might be a constructive way of ensuring parents are included in the IEP process.

Interpretation

OAR 581-015-2190 (3) states that: “The school district must take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the parent understands the proceedings at a meeting, including arranging for an interpreter for parents who are deaf or whose native language is other than English” (see SPEDOARS pg.32). The law does not require that the IEP, goals, or progress notes be written in the parent’s native language. In a perfect world, this translation would be done without questioning it, but it means more time and money that some schools may not wish to invest in the real world. The details of the IEP are explained to the parents during the annual IEP meeting, but that is much information to remember from one very long meeting. Parents may wish to review the information regarding their child when they receive the paperwork and find themselves unable to do so because it is in English. If faced with this problem, an SLP should counsel the family on their right to request another meeting before the following annual review.

Standardized Assessment

Contained within the special education laws are statements about what must be included in an evaluation. (See OAR 581-015-2135 for Communication Disorders, SPEDOARS pg.24-25) This law does require at least one standardized assessment to be performed during the assessment process. However, the law does not state that those scores must be reported for language disorders. “The child’s language in the area of syntax, morphology, semantics or pragmatics is significantly discrepant as measured by standardized test(s) or other evaluation data” (OAR 581-015-2135 [2dA], SPEDOARS pg.25).

It is well known that standardized language assessments are generally not valid for bilingual populations, and as such, it is not recommended that standardized scores be reported. Reporting scores that are not valid will confuse people who do not understand the issues with standardized testing for bilinguals. It is recommended that the SLP instead report that the measure was conducted and explain that the scores are not valid. However, the qualitative information gleaned from the test is still valuable for assessing the child’s abilities. Alternatively, the SLP could use a standardized teacher questionnaire to fulfill their standardized assessment requirement.

Furthermore, OAR 581-015-2110 (4) states that assessments “(A) Are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis; (B) Are provided and administered in the child’s native language or other modes of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so” (see SPEDOARS pg.21). This law may be helpful as further rationale for not reporting scores as it is currently “not feasible” to report valid scores.

What is different about a bilingual IEP meeting?

• The view of the importance of active participation by family members in their children’s education is a value of the dominant culture. Different beliefs may be held about the role of parents in education and the IEP process by the students and families for which Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) work. SLPs need to understand the viewpoints of the parents and other family members to help prevent misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflicts during the IEP meeting.

• SLPs need to realize that the definition of parent that is typically used may need to be expanded to include extended family members and others, such as godparents. Another family member (e.g., a grandparent, aunt, or godparent) may play a significant role in a student’s life, share responsibility for the well-being of a child, and may be able to provide more detailed information about the child than the parent during the IEP meeting.

• To help promote the active participation of family members in the IEP meeting, SLPs must look at their cultural values and bias and understand those of the family. They must determine if there are differences and what those differences may be. Finally, SLPs must determine how the school can acknowledge, respect, and accommodate the student’s and family’s values.

Cultural Factors to Consider

Information regarding cultural factors that should be considered was adapted from Artiles, A. J., & Ortiz, A. A. (Eds.). (2002). English Language Learners With Special Education Needs.

• The cultural comfort zone of each family. The SLP should prepare and research various cultures represented in their caseload to have background information regarding each culture (whether they have an oral language and written language).

  1. For example, the expectation that parents have the right to disagree with school personnel may conflict with their belief that harmony is more important than individual rights/needs.

  2. Professionals should recognize that some families may not be comfortable with the expected level of participation. For example, some cultures may give all authority to school personnel and not be aware that their feedback is expected.

  3. Personnel should be aware that in some cultures, head nodding is not necessarily a sign of agreement.

     • In some cultures, head-nodding may mean that the message was understood but does not mean agreement.

• Professionals should be culturally aware of the populations they work with to understand cultural influences in behaviors, values, and beliefs that may be reflected in educational practices.

• Professional understanding that cultural competence will promote successful intercultural communication.

• There should always be respect for the family’s cultural traditions. The professional can demonstrate this respect through a willingness to work within the family’s comfort zone.

• When requesting informed written consent from parents/caregivers, it should be noted that not all people are literate in their native language or English.

  1. Some languages may not have a written language, and families from these cultures may highly value oral communication. 

  2. The SLP may have to make phone calls or arrange meetings to orally communicate with parents/caregivers with the assistance of an interpreter if needed.

Questions to Ask to Engage Parents

Listed are potential questions to ask parents to engage them in the meeting process as taken from the Michigan Department of Education website under “Collaborating for Success” Parent Engagement Toolkit .

• Ask them to please describe what schools are like in the country from which they came.

• What are the significant differences between schools in the country from which you came and schools in Oregon?

• How do parents help the teachers? What is their role in helping a child learn?

• How can the schools help your children be successful? What do you want or expect from the schools?

• What kind of information do you want from the teacher? The school? What would help you?

• What is the best way to give you this information? To whom should we give the information?

• What do you do to help your child do well in school? What would you like to do?

• How can parents and teachers work together to help the child do well in school?

• What would help the teacher/school better understand your child and your family?

• What can the teacher/school do to help you feel more comfortable contacting us, working with your child at home, or coming to school?

• Will you need an interpreter? See basic interpreting for more information. 

Examples of Common Goals Translated into Spanish.

The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR), funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education, has many topics in Spanish. Such topics include the short and sweet IEP overview, annual goals, the contents of the IEP, and developing the child’s IEP. These topics can also be accessed as an English speaker through the index to resources in Spanish.

Role and Implications for the SLP: Client/Family Advocacy

The SLP’s role is to provide services to bilingual clients that support their individual needs as it is with all clients. Evaluation and development of the IEP must consider the linguistic and cultural needs of that client and their family. The SLP must do their due diligence to know what cultural and linguistic factors might come into play and come to the table prepared for them. The SLP should also come to the table with an open mind and know that their own culture colors their opinion as it does for everyone. The SLP should keep an eye on their behavior and the behavior of others to make sure that cultural factors are not harming the progress of the IEP meeting or development.

It is also the role of the SLP to advocate for the client and family to make sure that all members of the education team are meeting their needs appropriately. This may mean educating colleagues and being willing to stand up on the side of the family if there is a point of contention. This also means that concessions may need to be made if it is something that the family believes strongly in, and it is the role of the SLP to figure out how best to integrate those beliefs into the system allowed by the school.

Resources and References  

• The Oregon Administrative Rules for Special Education .

• ASHA’s ethical position on working with bilinguals.

• The website for the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR), funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education, has many topics in Spanish, such as the short and sweet IEP overview, annual goals, the contents of the IEP, and developing an IEP. These topics can also be accessed as an English speaker through the index to resources in Spanish.

• Artiles, A. J., & Ortiz, A. A. (Eds.). (2002). English Language Learners With Special Education Needs. Washington D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.

• Examples of Goals in Spanish and English.

• Michigan Department of Education website “Collaborating for Success” Parent Engagement Toolkit.