TATRA Navigation Menu
Student Directed IEPs
By Deborah Leuchovius
My job at PACER allows me to look at the area of transition from several perspectives: I work with both researchers who identify the best (or most widely accepted) practices in transition and with families who live with the reality of transition. As the mother of Freddy, an eighteen-year-old with disabilities, my view is a bit more focused--I experience transition personally.
Like many others, our family tries to use what researchers suggest as best practice in transition. We find that when the services Freddy receives reflect best practice, he is successful. When they don't, he is not.
Promoting student self-determination, self-advocacy, and student-centered planning for young adults with disabilities is a best practice on which stakeholders--parents, educators, and researchers--agree. Yet, both research and families indicate that far too many transition-aged students are not learning the self-determination skills they need for life in their school programs.
Why not? I believe that time constraints affect the practice. For years I asked teachers to implement curriculum that would help my son prepare for a more meaningful role in his Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. For years, his teachers agreed, but could never quite manage to squeeze one extra thing into the school day.
Two years ago we postponed Freddy's IEP meeting until he could talk with key members of the team to develop and write IEP goals in his own words. The transformation resulting from this simple approach was dramatic. For years Freddy attended IEP meetings, but he was barely able to sit through an entire session.
When Freddy was prepared for the meeting, however, he was more comfortable talking about his disability and was better able to express his needs and goals. Technology played a key role in helping Freddy prepare for his IEP meeting. By writing out his goals in advance, and replaying them at the meeting, he became a confident and active member on his IEP team who made sure everyone else had an opportunity to contribute at the meeting.
Based on Freddy's experience, as well as a growing body of research on the importance of developing self-determination skills, I believe that all students with disabilities should have the opportunities they need to develop self-determination skills while they are still in school. In addition, I believe it is important for them to
- learn about their disability and how it affects them,
- recognize the accommodations they need to be successful,
- develop self-advocacy skills to express their needs in school and other settings, understand the basics of laws that address the rights of people with disabilities, and
- specifically apply these skills to their own IEP process and transition planning.
To do this, students and school staff need scheduled time during the school year to focus on these issues. Ideally, school districts will adopt policies and integrate self-determination curriculum into their transition programs.
Even if a school district has not yet adopted structured self-determination training as part of their program, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that transition students attend and participate in their IEP and transition meetings. Parents can help make this a meaningful process for their youth by working with educators to make this a self-directed process that builds their son's or daughter's abilities and confidence.
Adapted from an article in the PACESETTER, Winter 2003, Vol.26, Issue 1.
For information about PACER's transition programs and materials, call (952) 838-9000 or (800) 537-2237 (Greater Minnesota) or visit www.pacer.org
Online Resources on Self Determination
PACER Center handout on Self Determination - includes a listing of on-line articles, fact sheets and web sites
Student-led IEP Guides
Kupper, L. (2002)
Helping students develop their IEPs
Washington, DC: National Information Center
for Children and Youth with Disabilities
McGahee-Kovac, M. (2002)
A student's guide to the IEP
Washington, DC: National Information Center
for Children and Youth with Disabilities
McGahee, M., Mason, C., Wallace, T., & Jones, B.(2001)
Student-led IEPs: A guide for student involvement
Arlington, VA: The Council for Exceptional Children
Ordering information available online: http://www.cec.sped.org/bk/catalog2/transition-lcce.html
Selected Books
Bassett, D.S., & Lehman, J.(2002)
Student-focused conferencing and planning
Austin, TX: Pro-Ed
http://www.proedinc.com/store/index.php?mode=product_detail&id=9292
Field, S., Hoffman, A., & Spezia, S. (1998)
Steps to self-determination: A curriculum to help adolescents learn to achieve their goals
Austin, TX: Pro-Ed
http://www.proedinc.com/store/index.php?mode=product_detail&id=7799
Field, S., Martin, J., Miller, R., Ward, M., & Wehmeyer, M.(1998)
A practical guide for teaching self-determination
Reston, VA: The Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org/bk/catalog2/self.html
National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, & State of the Art
My Future My Plan: A Transition Planning Resource for Life After High School (2003)
Minneapolis, MN: Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require