I recently read a news story titled Modeling the Parent-Teacher Strategies of Education By Laurie McLaughlin(link below) which left me wondering one major question: How Can Educators actively involve parents in the IEP process? The word active is used in the very literal and verb tense. It should be an action, that is parents are providing information, asking questions, sharing in a team dialogue about the child’s needs, and truly part of the IEP team, in keeping with the spirit of IDEA.

It should be no surprise that many parents do not actively participate in IEP meetings. Most parents are invited to an hour long meeting with educators taking turns to read their reports or share their interpretations of the students’ progress. Then at the end, everyone signs on the signature page; however, the parents are most often provided the signature page first. The news story is interesting because it talks about one teacher’s dedication to actively including the parents, yet I see no strategies so I am left only to my own experiences.

My research and practice has afforded me the opportunity to get to know many families. I have worked with active families and then some who did not yet know how to find their voice for inclusion with the team. All of these families have given me insights and ideas. The most essential strategy I have heard from families is to help parents understand their role in the IEP team. I think many families will tell you that before they became involved, they didn’t know they could, or what their role was. Parents can become empowered by simply educating them about their rights in words they are familiar with, ensuring that all of the special education jargon we use in the field is eliminated. Further, informing parents that their involvement can make a significant impact on their child’s academic, behavioral, and social growth also makes the statement of their value as a team member and the urgency for their own involvement.

We typically hear from many educators about the time constraints and resource constraints they encounter. Yet few of these professionals realize the amount of time and energy they could save by simply educating parents about their role in the team. Working together and collaborating helps all of our students grow and therefore saves professionals the time to provide the specialized instruction they are trained to do.

Educating parents can take many forms and could be offered with a continuum of supports similar to the services we offer our students. Teachers can educate parents through newsletters, email list serves, weekly meetings, parent nights, one-to-one sessions with parents, phone calls, back and forth notebooks, etc. It is won’t take much other than to explain to parents how they can be involved and then most importantly, the action of the professionals to welcome those parents into the IEP meeting and to invite them to be active members.

This is only the initial step to active parent involvement; however, I think this is the most essential first step.  How can we get into actual strategies when parents may not even know or understand the meaning behind their inclusion of these strategies? Understanding where we “fit” within a group of people may seem easy yet it is clearly no small feat if we are 32 years past the induction of IDEA and parents are still separated from the team. So… what are the next steps? Where can we go other than to start with education for everyone, including parents and professionals.

To locate the article that inspired this Blog entry, please go to the website below: www.neatoday.org