AT THE READY: It sounds like a lot of work to place and label essential documents in a binder to facilitate referring to them during an IEP meeting, but it is very important because the review in each area will give a parent a clear picture of the areas the child is struggling in.

Compare past years documents to current and see if the numbers decreased or increased with the scoring across the board.

It may be easier if all the above documents are placed in a binder and labeled accordingly, to facilitate referring to these documents during an IEP meeting. The above sounds like a lot of work, but this is very important, because the review in each area will give a parent a clear picture of the areas the child is struggling in. Each time you speak with a teacher about concerns you have for your child, write down the date, time, and a brief paragraph of the conversation. This should be done for students who are having significant challenges in the school environment. Sometimes the school says one thing about a student and the parent sees it differently. The parent may want to include a “note” tab in the binder to refer to. If it is not in writing, it never happened. By documenting phone conversations, the parent is memorializing that a conversation did take place.

The notes will also show historically, the area the child is struggling with. These are the areas the parent can, not only point out to the IEP team, but note why specific goals and objectives need to be created or have not been met. During the IEP, it is important for a parent to ask as many questions as possible, to better understand the school's test results in the reports. If the assessor provides an answer that is not clear to the parent, the parent should ask for further clarification.

Each time you speak with a teacher about concerns you have for your child, write down the date, time, and a brief paragraph of the conversation.

During the IEP when the assessors are reading their report, it is imperative that the parent asks questions about any test they do not understand. Ask the assessor what the numbers mean, what areas were assessed, what the test measured, and how the tests were implemented. Assessments usually take place in a quiet room between the assessor and the student, making it very comfortable for the student. Due to the fact that the testing is implemented in a 1:1 ratio, it takes away the typical classroom environment, where the student is subjected to 25-35 peers. Although the assessor cannot administer a test in the classroom, it should be noted that the environment in which the test was administered is not typical, and therefore, the results may fluctuate.

The point I am trying to make is that in a quiet place the test results may be better than in a classroom with a lot of distractions. That has to be taken into consideration when the assessor states the student performed wonderfully on a particular test and that the student may not need a particular service. In actuality, the student may indeed need the service, because in a classroom, the student may not have the same success, as with 1:1 in a quiet room. But because the assessor made a positive statement on a test result that the student performed well, it may disqualify a student for a particular service.