Ensuring the IEP Received Reflects What Was Agreed at the IEP Meeting

One of the most frustrating things that happens to parents is that they work so hard to advocate for what the child needs at an IEP meeting and the IEP team finally relents and agrees, only for the parent to later read the IEP and see that it does not reflect what was agreed upon at the IEP meeting. This is a real problem, for getting the IEP team to agree a second time is even harder than the first time, and there are both innocent and nefarious reasons this may occur.

So, we like to focus on ways to prevent it. First, as soon as you receive notice of the IEP meeting date, reply by email indicating that you intend to record the IEP meeting. Some states have minimum recording notice requirements and, by promptly responding that you intend to record the meeting, it tends to avoid any issues as to insufficient notice as to the recording.

Second, at the very start of the IEP meeting, remind the IEP team of your email giving notice that you would be recording the meeting, indicate that you still intend to record the meeting, and notify the team that you will be starting the recording right now (and do so). Most parents use the voice recording app on their cell phone to record the meeting, but be sure to do so in airplane mode as parents have reported notifications turned off the recording. Other parents are afraid of offending the IEP team with such a request, but be assured it is common practice to record an IEP meeting and, in such instances, the district will likely record the meeting as well. With a recording in hand, you have proof of what was agreed upon during the IEP and, in the event you need it, you can always transcribe the part of the meeting that differs from the IEP and use that to remind the district as to the actual agreement at the IEP meeting.

Third, at the start of the meeting, request that the IEP team save time at the end of the meeting to summarize the goals and services agreed upon during the meeting and to read aloud the IEP notes. With 10 or so minutes left, or when the time comes to close the meeting, the parent can remind the IEP team of her request and ask the note taker to read aloud the the goals and the services agreed upon as reflected in the IEP, along with the IEP notes to ensure they reflect any specific programs or other important issues that were discussed at the meeting. This allows the parent to make changes right there if there are any errors or omissions. If there are an extensive number of goals, or only one or two areas of concern, the parent can ask them to read aloud the goals and services of concern, i.e., the reading goals and services to ensure they were recorded accurately.

If the team comes to an agreement on any critical issue during the meeting or planned to do further assessments or present additional data at a continued meeting, the parent will want to ensure the resulting agreement was included in the IEP notes. In order to do this most efficiently, the parent should request that those agreements be included in the IEP notes as they are discussed. For instance, the parent might look to the notetaker and ask her to record this agreement in the IEP notes (if important enough we would have her read it back immediately). If a parent records the meeting, and has the district summarize what was agreed during the meeting by reading off the IEP at the end of the meeting, it will be much harder for the district to present an IEP that differs from what was agreed at the meeting.

Finally, when in doubt or no summary was held at the end of the IEP meeting due to time, it may be helpful to write a “thank you” email to the IEP team for a cooperative meeting and confirm what was agreed upon at the meeting. No issue is too small to be reflected in this email, especially when you as the parent prepped and worked so hard to gain the agreements you did. We might suggest ending the email with a “please notify me immediately if this email does not reflect the decisions of the IEP meeting during the IEP meeting of [insert date].”

Of course, there is no guarantee a district will not disregard what happened at an IEP meeting, but these steps certainly help you to make your case should it ever occur.