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Rochelle’s Special Education Tips
Will This Meeting Ever End?
Whatever happened to the one hour IEP meeting? Why are IEP team meetings taking up an entire morning or afternoon? It is obvious that the losers are the children. Plus, how effective is the team after sitting and debating for hours? Sometimes people will sit for hours without even taking a break. Often, these long meetings are connected with advocates pushing an agenda. Or more often, the parents or advocates are teasing out every nuance in every Present Level or goal or objective. What to do? Set an ending time for the meeting. A two hour meeting is long enough. Learn to say, “We have heard and considered your concerns, but a decision has to be made. The goal is going to read, _____. We will note your disagreement in the Prior Written Notice.” Have a written agenda distributed to the meeting participants. If you are dealing with parties who digress or enjoy debating, not only have the written agenda distributed to all team members, but post the agenda on an easel or blackboard so you can point to it when people go off topic.
