Overwhelmingly our special population’s teachers and staff receive and deserve praise for the services they provide for their students. However, there are times when families express concerns and frustrations about the services or structure of their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
Elizabeth Janca, experienced school administrator, licensed professional counselor, and Possip Reporter shares ways to respond to family feedback regarding IEPs.
We know staff and administration want to help families and provide empathetic and effective responses to address frustration or concerns. To that end, we’ve analyzed family and staff questions and concerns we’ve seen in Possip reports and provided suggestions for next steps. Comments provided by families or staff regarding special population serves and IEPs usually fall into three categories: “Quality and Frequency of Related Services”, “Accommodation and Referral Requests”, or “Director/Leadership Feedback.”
Quality and Frequency of Related Services
“My student is not receiving speech therapy services”
Next step suggestions: For comments regarding the frequency of therapy services we want to ensure that families know who their case manager is and how to reach out to them. If staff vacancies are the cause for services not being provided, communicate to families the reason and a plan of action to address the lapse in services.
“Need more training for teachers regarding accommodations for dyslexic students.” (from a staff member)
Next step suggestions: For comments regarding additional training, asking your special education department to present staff training for that topic can be helpful. In this case, we would ask the SpEd department to do a training on dyslexia with tips and tricks that are effective and easy to implement in the classroom
Accommodation and Referral Requests
“I have requested accommodations for my child and the staff is not listening to my concerns and glossing it over.”
Next step suggestions: It can be helpful in campus communications to remind families who they can reach out to at the grade level, administration, or special population levels for academic assistance. If a family member requires a follow up, we recommend connecting with them to discuss their concerns and best next steps. The grade level chair or AP can be a good team member to do this with the SpEd case manager or director.
“The process to get students extra help (both academically and behaviorally) is TIME CONSUMING! More often than not, an entire year goes by and the students STILL has not received the services they need. Teacher “gut” means nothing any more. The amount of data/paperwork to get a student evaluated is ridiculous.” (from a staff member)
Next step suggestions: You can collaborate with all stakeholders to review the referral and evaluation process to determine if there is any room for improvement and streamlining. Teachers and family members, or even students, may be able to help identify ways to streamline processes for ease of implementation.
Direct / Leadership Feedback
“I am concerned that we have a new Director of Special Education and she has not yet reached out to our teams.”
Next step suggestions: Changes in staff, especially at the administrative level, can lead to uncertainty for families. Collaborate with the special populations director at the start of the year to introduce themselves and set up a meet and greet or office hours for families to attend. Doing this during open house or meet the teacher may be helpful. Additionally, being present for parent teacher conferences is a good way to connect with families.
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In general, it is important to have a point of contact, whether it’s the grade level AP, case manager, or SpEd director, reach out to families to let them know their voices have been heard when their information is provided. Comments provided anonymously can be addressed generally in an upcoming campus or SpEd communication.
For a general overview and additional information regarding IEPs, you can visit the Department of Education here: A Guide to the Individualized Education Program.
