Treasuring the Present: IEP Season

 
With the arrival of mid-March and April comes IEP Season in my world.

IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan which is a plan for an individual student in public school who has specialized education needs.  In short, an IEP is the legal document of how a school is teaching a student who is in Special Education.

In my case, every student I serve throughout the five school districts I cover have their own IEP.  A student has to qualify for vision services according to the state qualifications, and then I write an IEP to explain how I am going to meet their visual needs in and out of the classroom.

All IEPs are updated annually... and, for some reason, most annual IEP meetings occur in the Spring.  I, for example have two IEPs this week, one next week, two the week after... three in the past two weeks, and probably more that have slipped my mind off the top of my head.

IEPs mean a meeting with a student's parents, teachers, administrators, and other special education teachers and my reporting what kind of visual progress the student has made this year, and the goals I hope they will meet in the next year.

I really like IEP meetings a student's ENTIRE team comes together (which happens so rarely) and works together and brainstorms ideas for the next year.

That being said, IEPs are a lot of work because they require a LOT of paperwork, a lot of really specific progress data and information regarding that students and the meetings can be tiring.

However, I am treasuring this present IEP season, because they are meetings that happen once a year, and each one I complete is one I can check off my list for this year!  It is a great feeling to come out of a meeting of the minds with parents and to feel like we've really worked together and created a positive plan for the coming year.

IEP season forces me to be very organized because I still have my usual caseload of students I see every week, PLUS I have the meetings, PLUS I have to make time to write the reports for the meetings.

By the end of this week, I will have two IEPs completed -- that is going to be a great feeling.  By the end of this month, I will have almost all my IEPs for the year completed.

I am thankful for IEP season, and I am thankful it only happens once a year.  :-D