Parents as Partners on the IEP Team
Parents of students with disabilities, such as deaf-blindness, are important members of their child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. The IEP itself is a written document detailing the child’s annual learning goals and the services the school will provide. In addition to parents, the IEP team includes the child’s teachers and other professionals. As someone with an intimate knowledge of their child’s disability and needs, a parent can be the child’s best advocate on the team.
Working together, team members design an educational program that best meets the child’s educational needs and ensure the child has access to the general education curriculum for all students in the same grade. The IEP process and the teamwork involved can be complicated, but there are many resources that offer help. To learn more about the IEP process and how parents can improve their advocacy skills, visit The Role of the Family in IEP Development on the National Center on Deaf-Blindness website.
