In this instructional video, Jen, a K‑12 self‑contained special education teacher and blogger for The Autism Helper, walks viewers through her step‑by‑step preparation process for an upcoming Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting. She explains the legal requirement in Illinois to provide parents with a draft IEP at least three school days before the meeting, emphasizing that sharing drafts eliminates surprises and empowers parents as active participants. Jen then details every piece of paperwork she brings: Illinois‑specific forms (PUNS, ABLES), procedural safeguards, each student’s daily schedule, assessment packets (Peak Comprehensive Assessment, Bracken, Handwriting Without Tears, rubrics, STAR/MAP testing), behavior data (ABC charts, FBA/BIP), and service logs from related service providers. She describes her organizational system—black Direct Instruction bins and a master data binder—that consolidates all data, making it instantly accessible for writing the IEP. Jen also outlines her communication with speech, OT, and PT providers to ensure they bring service logs. Concluding with enthusiasm, she affirms that with all documentation, parent copies, provider input, and signature pages ready, the meeting will run smoothly, and she invites viewers to share their own IEP tips.
Chapters
Let's get ready for an IEP meeting. I'm Jen and I am one of the bloggers here at The Autism Helper and I run a K-12 self-contained classroom. You know if you were a special education teacher that IEP meetings are part of the job. If you are a special needs parent like I am, you know that IEPs are part of the job. Let me show you how I as a teacher prepare for my IEP meetings. Because the IEP meeting is tomorrow, I've already done a significant amount of work to to prepare for this meeting, including sharing all of the data, all of my reporting, and a draft copy of proposed goals to parents. Depending on where you teach or where your child goes to school, you may or may not have a draft requirement. In Illinois, where I live, I am required to provide a draft copy of a proposed IEP to parents at minimum of 3 school days prior to that IEP meeting. So for example, this IEP meeting is on Thursday, so Thursday doesn't count. If we go backwards, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, I provided the draft on Friday. When parents are given the same information that teachers have, they have the ability to be active and meaningful participants in their child's IEP, and in fact, that's their legal right. And so I want to make sure that I'm supporting parents just the same way that I'm supporting students in my classroom and allowing them that benefit and that ability to be a meaningful and active participant. I want to make sure that they've got all of the same information that I have. What I love about drafts is that there are no surprises at the IEP table. I hate surprises. There should never be surprises at the IEP table. And so by providing this information ahead of time, it really allows me to also ask ahead of time what parent concerns are. I can make sure that we document those concerns and that we make sure that those are addressed within our meeting. So I sent out the draft and I sent out all of my data, and I'm going to show you the other things that I'm bringing to the IEP meeting in case there are any questions or concerns that I'm not aware of that I can address. Let me show you. So additionally, I've got my draft and then I've got my Illinois-specific paperwork of PUNS and ABLES, but additionally I have my procedural safeguards here so I can make sure that parents receive a copy. They should have already received a copy, but I want to make sure that I've got a copy handy. I always bring a copy of my students' daily schedule. This right here is their day-to-day. I've got this for every student in my classroom, and that way if there's any questions about when the child is pulled, um, when like a related services, I've got the schedule right here at my fingertips. I always bring my computer because goodness knows we need to print. My district loves for us to sign in blue so we know what the original is, so I always bring a blue pen, and I bring all of the data that I have shared with parents right here. I have assessment information in here, everything from our, you know, classroom assessment. This student is in kindergarten, so this is our assessment packet. I do Peak Learning with this student, so I've got the PCA, which is the Peak Comprehensive Assessment. Additionally, I do the Bracken. I also do Handwriting Without Tears. Um, here are the rubrics for the report card every year. If there's any social skills that I'm measuring, this is where I keep the rubrics, and same for independent functioning. Our district does STAR and MAP testing, and so I put that down here. And if the child has an FBA and a BIP, I keep all of my ABC charts and my behavior data right here. Tonight I'll send out a reminder to my related service providers that are sitting in on this meeting, reminding them to bring a service log. That way parents know exactly when their child was seen for their related services. So this child specifically receives speech, OT, and PT, so I will email those providers and remind them to bring that service log. When I talked about direct instruction, we talked about these black bins right over here. Between those black bins and that data binder that I showed you, literally everything that I need to write an IEP at any moment in time is at my fingertips. I'm measuring those IEP goals with everything in that black bin. I don't have to worry about if I'm missing something or if I'm not gathering data for a goal because everything is organized right there and staff are ready to take data in a second. Everything is collected, everything is in one spot, even our data sheets. And then I transfer those data sheets right over to the data binder so that way I've got the data at my fingertips. When I need to write that IEP, I simply pull that data binder off my shelf and I have everything ready to go. If you work in a classroom like mine, you know that data is key. In fact, data's key in all education, especially special education. And I would argue, especially in an autism classroom, we should be taking data on a million different things and it can become overwhelming. So these Direct Instruction bins have been a game changer in my classroom. And in managing data. So with that, I think we're ready for an IEP meeting. I have all my paperwork in order, the parents have everything that they need, related service providers are ready, my LEA is gonna be there, I've got signature pages printed and ready to go. Sounds like we are ready for a great IEP. I've got everything on my desk ready to go for tomorrow morning and I couldn't be more excited. I love to talk student progress and I love to brainstorm and think ahead of where students are going to go from here. It's honestly one of the best parts of the job. I would love to know your favorite IEP tip. Drop it in the comments, let me know. I love learning from you guys, and I can't wait to read all of the comments of all of the different things that everybody does to help IEPs go smoothly.
